Losing water in my '90 Ranger

[rsrob5617]

I've been driving my ranger around for a couple hundred miles now after I bought it about a month ago. I do check my fluids regularly and have noticed I've been using about a gallon of water every 100 miles. I looked my engine over and eventually found that my heater bypass hose was cracked at one end and then replaced it. A day or so later I noticed it still needed water even after refilling it and bleeding the air out, and now I see moister buildup in the oil, but not so much as to explain where all the water is going. I see no dripping and no smoke out the exhaust. Earlier today I tried to do a compression test to see if the head or gasket is leaking or busted, but I'm not sure if I did it right. I removed all my spark plugs and connected the gauge to cylinder 6 and got around 50 psi then 5 and got 40 psi and 4 had 55 psi.

 

[Andy D]

You have to wire the throttle open to get a good reading. What did the plugs look like? Does the engine skip?

 

[hank857]

couple of things you can try. 1 fill the rad to the top, run and top off again and wwhile running look into the rad to see if there are any bubbles coming out. If there are bad head/head gasket. 2. as noted above the throttle has to be kept open to get air into the cyl to do a comp check, look for all to be withing 15% I think it is of each other. Do one dry then do a wet, squirt a table spoonful of engine oil into the cyl and redo the comp check. will indicate valves or rings. 3. LOOK real close at the water jacket connections to the block. I was using water could not figure out where. Thought I had bad head gasket but could not verify as the leak started to be out side of firing chamber. Redid head gaskets, still had leak! Turns out to be where the water pump manifold bolted to the block. A gasket had deteriorated and let go with a seep than a leak. Never enough to see on ground initially just some streaks on the block where it blew back.

This on 94 4.0, what engine you dealing with?

As ron d below this post indicates I also at one time had a rad leak at the tanks! They leaked and the flow never really showed. Yes a pressure test is good.

 

[RonD]

Yes, what engine is this?

Engine won't run at 50psi compression so it wasn't a good test.
Throttle being close wouldn't account for that low a reading.
Expected compression on engines that run regular gas is 160psi, 150-170 range, higher means carbon build up, lower means ring wear.
Under 110psi is where ignition of air and gas becomes iffy.

Yes, all spark plugs removed, throttle open, good battery, cold engine is fine, in fact better if you think there is a leak, cold metal contracts so any leak would be "larger" when cold.

I would rent a rad pressure tester, pump it up to 20psi and listen for the leak.

I had a 4.0l with a cracked overflow hose, where it ran across the top of the rad, coolant evaporated as it leaked and only when overflow was active so when coolant and rad were hot, also sucked air back into the rad when cooling, real PITA to find that issue.

 

[adsm08]

Well, if your engine runs I would say you did the compression test wrong. 90 PSI is the minimum it needs just to run and it won't run well or go uphill at that point.

I am in agreement with the other so far. Pressure test the cooling system and the cap. A bad cap can allow coolant loss at a rate about what you describe, and show no visible point of loss.

 

[Gilbee01]

All good info above. But the main thing is what's your engine and is it the original .


-gil-

 

[rsrob5617]

Sorry about the absence, really busy this week. I pulled apart the engine down to the intake manifold to find the gasket had busted. I replaced it with a fel-pro gasket kit and also found my heater core has had a leak. And as for the compression test, I found the gauge was faulty. But thank all of y'all for all the help and suggestions

 

[rsrob5617]

The engine I have is the OEM Ford 2.9 v6

 

[rsrob5617]

Well, if your engine runs I would say you did the compression test wrong. 90 PSI is the minimum it needs just to run and it won't run well or go uphill at that point.

I am in agreement with the other so far. Pressure test the cooling system and the cap. A bad cap can allow coolant loss at a rate about what you describe, and show no visible point of loss.

I have noticed that on the highway, it is a bit of a challenge to hold 75, but I haven't driven it yet after reassembling it, I should find out today or tomorrow to see if I got my power back

 

[rsrob5617]

I've fixed the coolant and oil issue and ran into another. Either my timing is way off and/or a cylinder isn't getting power. I've driven around about 2 1/2 miles and have to rev up a lot to get it to move with my 5 speed manual.

 

[RonD]

I would first check the sparking timing.
Good info here on the Ford TFI system:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/TFI_Diagnostic.html

To set Base spark timing you will need a timing light hooked up to #1 wire
Clean off degree plate near main pulley and make sure TDC line on pulley is clean enough to see
To set base timing at 10deg BTDC you need to prevent the computer from running the timing.
So you disconnect the SPOUT(spark out) control, there is a simple connector to do this
Picture of SPOUT connector below

You pull out the insert and that disconnects the computer control.
Loosen distributor bolt just enough to move it.
Start engine
Set timing at 10deg Before TDC(BTDC), some say 12 deg BTDC is better, up to you.

Tighten distributor
Reconnect SPOUT


If there is no improvement I would test all 6 cyl compression numbers, those first numbers were way off for a running engine, even a badly running engine.

Another test you can do is to get a socket wrench for the main pulley(crankshaft).
Remove distributor cap.
Move main pulley with wrench one way then the other, just a little, 1/8th turn, distributor rotor should move with that movement, if movement is delayed then timing chain tensioner is not working, so there is slack in the chain, this will cause loss of power.