Well THAT'S a problem 05 2.3 2Wdr

[RonD]

Electricity travels on the outside of a copper wire, which is why stranded wire can carry more amps than solid wire
Stranded wire just has more surface area, having several separate wires to carry the load

Romex is fine for 110v because the amps are low, 15 to 30amps
In 12volt systems the amps go up pretty high, i.e. the lower the voltage the higher the amps for the same watts
Starter motor needs 50-75amps at 12volts, which is why the bigger battery cables are so big, lol, and stranded, same as jumper cables use stranded wire

And negative battery cable has to carry the same amps or there is a bottle neck
If positive battery cable can pass 75amps but negative cable can only pass 40amps then 40amps will be the maximum amps that the "circuit" can flow
So both positive and negative must have good connections

Jumper cables are fine for this but are limited in the AMPs they can pass, they are made to do about 50amps max, to "help" another battery start an engine
They aren't made to be "battery cables", they are way too long for that

But your setup should have worked for cranking?
Romex for starter activation is fine that's less than 1 amp
So maybe the negative cable wasn't on clean metal for starter ground

 

[DaveH]

Thank you for that explanation. I think I'll pull the starter and bench test it with stranded wire. I'll also test the battery after cranking tomorrow morning to see if the battery held the charge. It is a 6 year old battery from my truck. I replaced it a few weeks ago and charged it before attempting to do this test.

 

[scotts90ranger]

A leak down test would probably tell you more anyway, you have an air compressor? I work in Tualatin, I could loan you my leak down tester if you wanted...

 

[DaveH]

A leak down test would probably tell you more anyway, you have an air compressor? I work in Tualatin, I could loan you my leak down tester if you wanted...

I do have one. One of the tests I want to do before I begin thinking about rebuilding a motor.

 

[scotts90ranger]

leak down will tell you more than a compression test no matter what and finding TDC and holding the crank in place on each cylinder is easier than rigging up a starter, heck a lot of engines you can't even mount a starter without a transmission or at least bellhousing... if the leak down is 10% or lower I don't think I'd worry about it...

 

[DaveH]

Scotts, Ron, PJtoledo. Good day! Learned a bunch today and I think I'm in LUCK! Pulled the starter and bench tested it,, It's fine! The battery I was using was down a bit and still wouldn't turn the engine very well. I suspect the CCA are toast in the battery. All the plugs looked good. Opened up my leak down tester which I've not used in years and discovered a home made reed that tells me TDC on compression stroke. Whistles while on upstroke in compression. I'd forgotten I made that years ago. lMAO. All cylinders were well into the green at TDC on leak down test. One blew air past the throttle body and I double checked. LOL, I'm glad I did, the piston was on the up intake stroke and hadn't reached TDC. When bringing it up all the way it had zero bypass and the gauge only showed 10% leakage. Now I have some minor prep for this bad boy. Some dumb ass in the past tried to "weld" as in Mig weld the exhaust pipe to the exhaust manifold to the donor engine. On top of being a shitty idea they were shitty a welder. Thankfully I have a good exhaust manifold to work with. The seller also cut the main wiring loom to expedite the engine removal SO I'm going to use my main loom.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I like the idea of the whistle. Care to elaborate? Pics too please.

 

[DaveH]

I like the idea of the whistle. Care to elaborate? Pics too please.

Funny thing, I had one and lost it. So I went into the back yard and cut a stick of bamboo. I just notched the bamboo and blew until I found one that whistles loudly with a little air. The 1/4" works with my leakdown tester so I put a 1/4" connector to a quick coupler and taped the whistle to the 1/4" connector. Voila' push of the piston on compression stroke a loud whistle comes out. I pull the threaded connection and use a piece of Romex to watch the piston come up the final bit of compression stroke. Works easily and quickly. I KNOW the tool is out there but heck it works why buy? lol. Cheap me, product of depression era parents. Photo of my Shady oak whistle attached.

 

[RonD]

I use a piece of rubber hose that fits snug in a spark plug hole, put the other end in my mouth, lol
Original idea was to put a balloon on the end of the hose, but wasn't as accurate as ME for TDC

 

[DaveH]

I use a piece of rubber hose that fits snug in a spark plug hole, put the other end in my mouth, lol
Original idea was to put a balloon on the end of the hose, but wasn't as accurate as ME for TDC

You can buy the whistle on Amazon. Works great, or just make one

 

[G8orFord]

Y'all do know there's a TDC mark on the harmonic balancer/ front pulley, right? 1-3-4-2 is the standard firing order (not sure on this engine) either way is pretty easy to get the other cylinders to TDC after #1. A dead stop in the plug hole is another good way too. I guess a whistle works too. if that's your style.

 

[DaveH]

Y'all do know there's a TDC mark on the harmonic balancer/ front pulley, right? 1-3-4-2 is the standard firing order (not sure on this engine) either way is pretty easy to get the other cylinders to TDC after #1. A dead stop in the plug hole is another good way too. I guess a whistle works too. if that's your style.

First Ford engine, not familiar at all with these. With the whistle TDC confirmed as only with all valves closed will the sound be heard.

 

[DaveH]

Update on the spare engine. I did a Leak Down test on the engine with good results. Today I replaced my compression tester with an Autozone one and the compression was disappointing to say the least. The lowest number was cylinder #4 at 90 PSI. The highest one was 2 and 3 at 180 psi. Needless to say this compression tester isn't the best available but the numbers are so far apart I'm going to rebuild this sucker. For you rebuilders out there are there any specific areas in Ford 2.3 that really need attention???

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm not very familiar with the Duratec engines but they have some quirks like some of the timing pulleys not having keys on the shafts so that can be interesting

As for TDC marks on crank pulleys, those are out of style anymore, even though they're helpful they're apparently not worth the effort for the manufacturers to install for future use...

 

[pjtoledo]

Update on the spare engine. I did a Leak Down test on the engine with good results. Today I replaced my compression tester with an Autozone one and the compression was disappointing to say the least. The lowest number was cylinder #4 at 90 PSI. The highest one was 2 and 3 at 180 psi. Needless to say this compression tester isn't the best available but the numbers are so far apart I'm going to rebuild this sucker. For you rebuilders out there are there any specific areas in Ford 2.3 that really need attention???

did you squirt some light oil in each cylinder for a wet test?
were any of the plugs oil fouled?

by the time my 2005 had compression that low in cyl #1 it was using a quart of oil per tank of gas. the other 3 were still above 180