bobbywalter
TRS Technical Staff
TRS Event Staff
V8 Engine Swap
TRS Technical Advisor
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- Joined
- Aug 9, 2007
- Messages
- 23,470
- Reaction score
- 4,667
- Points
- 113
- Location
- woodhaven mi
- Vehicle Year
- 1988
- Make / Model
- FORD mostly
- Engine Type
- V8
- Engine Size
- BIGGER
- Transmission
- Automatic
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
- Total Lift
- sawzall?
- Tire Size
- 33-44
- My credo
- it is easier to fix and understand than "her"
Well I spent the spare days I had over the winter off school swapping a V8 into my Ranger, alot of money later and alot of time later...I get it running...drove it maybe 5kms in total (working out bugs)...and now the tranny is effed. Tried to fix it... nope. Ask the experts...and she is likely effed up. $1600 to fix...
Back story: I had a 4.0L with a 4R55E...which I eventually blew (which I accept full responsibility for, big tires and low gears), so I bought a 5R55E to swap in...spend some time and money on that and....it was a piece of shit, flared between shifts, dropped outta overdrive (also due to the big tires and underpowered engine).. so I said screw it I am dropping in a V8 powertrain...
So I did that and now I am back to square one. Except minus a couple thousand dollars and a couple hundred hours.
I am so frustrated I want to sell it...except I would never get anything near what I would want (of course)
I think in the past two years I have drove it maybe...150kms tops in total.
Its a nice truck...here is a pic:
What should I do: swap in a manual? How hard is that? Roll the dice with a junkyard engine? Any suggestions are welcome as I am bummed out...
P.S. Oh it is a 96 Ranger, with powertrain from a 96 Explorer, tranny is a 4R70W
sorry its gotten to this point.
question 1, was the powertrain rock solid and operating correctly before you swapped it in.?.?
question 2, how did the trans feel over the distance driven, fluid condition and flow rate through the return line from the cooler. is it possible you janked up the pump gear?
question 3, pressure tests and pcm communication are important things to know, did you take it to a shop for diagnosics for the 1600 dollar estimate or was it over the phone? that is unclear to me.
question 4, did you unplug the trans connector to make sure it defaults to 2nd gear? if there is no 2nd unplugged then you have to get it out of there and go thru it or get another know good trans. and you need to go thru th entire pcm connections
if it does go to 2nd and reverse you need to find out where you fawked up the harness...and the pcm needs to be looked at for damage.
the 4r70 is by far the strongest trans of the windsor era....stronger then even the c6.
the 4l80 is a fawking brute too.
and i kill them all. you have one of the bad stories, but even with a stronger trans you need spares. i am out of transmissions right now...and engines....
fix it. break it, fix it mo betta....break it........endless.