Recent content by 94' Ranger

My voltage consistently fluctuates between ~12-16 volts at idle, I'm worried that this will eventually kill my battery. I neatly stripped and re-did my battery top-posts and all connections to my alternator, no change. The alternator less than a month old and the battery is maybe 1 year old...

The cam journal bearings were the last thing I was concerned about during reassembly. One or two of the journals had very minor scratches/grooves, I taped a microfiber cloth to a long metal rod and spun it around the cam bearings to check for any 'grab points' where it had raised metal. Luckily...

Just like @RonD said, I refused to put my truck back together until I definitively knew the true cause of the lifter damage. I hate to admit the root cause of all the damage was such a stupid, easily avoidable mistake, but here's what happened. I'll start where I left off. I found my 2 missing...

I inspected the bottom of my lower intake today, no cracks or major damage but it does look like the intake on valve #5 took a couple of hits. My lower intake still appears to be functional, this damage does not warrant a replacement, correct? I finally have some free time to work on my...

What makes you say that? Nobody else mentioned my head needs replacing including the machine shop that verified my head is not warped and it holds compression perfectly. I showed up half an hour before they closed and they ran those tests in front of me, I saw the straight edge test and watched...

The crack in my head was about 3/4in long but it was mostly on my valve seat, it carried over like a 1/4in into my head. I brought my heads to the most reputable machine shop around and they did a great job. Cleaned inside and out like brand new, replaced all valve seats, did a good job welding...

Well, I would be willing to replace the cam if that's what needs to happen but I do not intend on removing the block. I've replaced my clutch before, separating the block from the trans is not a job I want to do again anytime soon. I plan on doing the best cleaning I can with the oil pan + front...

I had a small crack on the intake valve of my 456 head, I had consistent bubbles in my radiator for over a year. I decided to do everything included in the head gasket kit in one big job, including the timing chain + front engine cover gasket, and oil pan gasket.

Got another opinion from a friend/mechanic, Does anyone here disagree with the following as the root cause of my issues? ~An overheated motor caused a pre-detonation, maybe at the same time as its neighbor was firing. Head gasket fails, 2 of the driver's side cylinders sucked in coolant, then...

I worked on my truck inside my garage for about 8-9 days in mostly dry weather (just some morning dew), I would be very surprised if moisture corrosion was the culprit here. Since my oil and coolant are mixed I need to clean everything out as much as I possibly can anyways, should get the metal...

I was careful to drive it gently during that entire test drive, I don't have an RPM gauge but I would guess I never revved it over 4000rmps.

I watched every lobe on my camshaft for 1-2 full rotations and I now know the totality of the damage the camshaft sustained. There were two lobes that sustained minor damage on their sides/edges as shown below. It does not appear that the rollers on the lifters would ever make contact with...

I did not notice any unusual amount of smoke out the tailpipe when I was driving, though it was late at night. I know for certain when I pulled into my driveway before she idled to a stall it was not smoking out the tailpipe, I would have noticed. When I pulled my 456 head off there was still...

I'm a little late to the party but here's my gas mileage over the last ~2 years in my 1994 3.0 Ford Ranger. Was 99% stock when I bought it, made a few changes over the last two years like new shocks and springs and deleted my AC. Gas mileage 15.96 17.90 15.92 15.59 16.46 16.32 16.43 Bought...

Yes, I should have mentioned that. With a head torch on I spun the crankshaft and inspected the cam lobes for a good 15 minutes. My camshaft looks like its still in good shape. The worst and only damage I could find is one very small straight gouge in one lobe, less than 1mm deep. Also, I...