What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[scotts90ranger]

Left Friday to go camping and offroading in the sand dunes for the weekend, 5 hour drive each way... Towed the '90 with the F350 with the camper so easy going there other than the 7.3L is gutless but that's nothing new... the transmission fluid smell on the way up the mountain pass was new, gotta investigate that (I did drive like 6 miles in 3rd gear going up hill at 10psi and 2500rpm... ran out of power and was getting warm, normal...)

Anyway, the suspension modifications I made earlier this year to the '90 are a complete success!!!! It drives so much better on the dunes, I'm gonna have to relearn my limits as I find myself going faster... One downside is I think the coil springs are not liking the new setup, the drivers side coil is hitting the bucket somehow so it's a bit twisted or something... I think I need to get the bump stops working now though, the tires stuff right into the inner fender perfectly at the top of travel... need to massage the inner fenders in a few key spots...

The dumb problems I found on the ranger this weekend is the starter relay picked a dumb place to die on me but then worked later? I'll replace it, that happened about the time the IAC decided it was going to be lazy and stalled randomly... at least those are easy fixes...

 

[scotts90ranger]

The other two dumb things on the Ranger that I forgot about a few minutes ago... apparently the turbo oil seals are shot as at high rpm there's a good smoke cloud following me (since it actually has oil pressure, like 50psi when it's smoking), annoying but is using less oil than when it leaked from everywhere...

The next thing is it STILL squeaks when using 4x4, no squeak when hubs locked in... looks like the passenger shaft is rubbing slightly on the back of the window in the beam for some reason, might take a come along and bend the bottom of the pivot bracket backward, only thing I can think of I haven't touched recently... it did this before all the front axle work too

 

[Rick W]

I pulled the vinyl tubing out from the charcoal canister, and I replaced it with real vacuum tubing, and I reset the trouble light, but I didn’t drive it anywhere. We’ll see how it does later.

The vinyl tubing was almost flat over half its length, and it was kinked in three places.


View attachment 118533View attachment 118534View attachment 118535

When I replaced this tubing, I reset the trouble light by disconnecting the negative battery cable. When I got in yesterday to go to caffeine and octane, the light was still on, not a total tragedy, but made me mumble a little bit.

Halfway out there, I remembered some yokel added a second battery to that truck and if you don’t disconnect that battery, it doesn’t reset. I did that quick, and no more trouble since.

On the downside, I realized I still have a clearance issue between the neck and pin mechanism of the step trailer to my fifth wheel on the Road Ranger. The wider part of the trailer mechanism is hitting the inside corners of the diamond plate deck above the tail lights. When it is parked on flat ground, there’s about an inch and a half clearance. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized what was happening.

When the city widened the road and put in sidewalks, they made my driveway twice as steep, and the sidewalk is actually a crown, and then there’s a little decline back to the pavement. When the truck is over that crown, at the same time I’m turning left or right, it brings down that mechanism just enough that it clips the corners.

I’m going to start by trimming those two corners off and trimming off about a quarter inch of the bracket that hangs down. If that doesn’t work, I have this in the shed of miracles., but I went to a lot of trouble to level out the trailer compared to the truck, so the last thing I wanna do is raise it back up a couple inches. But, function over form.

it’ll get done…

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

Been a busy few weeks since I've been on here, it's good to be back.

Washed the truck today, knowing full well it will be covered in gravel dust after about 2 seconds on the road- sure @85_Ranger4x4 can relate.

 

[JoshT]

So when last I posted I'd just removed the EGR valve to see if it fixed any of my running issues. Driving it yesterday and today it acted about as well as can be expected for a vehicle that needs to be tuned. That is to say that all of my idle and stalling issues were gone. So placed an order for anew EGR valve and solenoid through Rock Auto this afternoon.

Also recieved the new intake tube that I needed courtesy of @corerftech. Looks good, and will be a great addition to the list of fixes when next the tube comes off. The bad one is sealing right now so I don't want to touch it.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

So when last I posted I'd just removed the EGR valve to see if it fixed any of my running issues. Driving it yesterday and today it acted about as well as can be expected for a vehicle that needs to be tuned. That is to say that all of my idle and stalling issues were gone. So placed an order for anew EGR valve and solenoid through Rock Auto this afternoon.

Also recieved the new intake tube that I needed courtesy of @corerftech. Looks good, and will be a great addition to the list of fixes when next the tube comes off. The bad one is sealing right now so I don't want to touch it.

Every so often I am reminded how lucky I am to drive a 2003, I have an EGR delete from factory and never have to worry about it.

 

[JoshT]

Every so often I am reminded how lucky I am to drive a 2003, I have an EGR delete from factory and never have to worry about it.

You also don't have a 5.0 swap from a 200k mile donor, the 200k mile 4.0L that it repalced didn't have EGR problems either. It's all part of tinkering with old used stuff.

FWIW, you should still have an EGR on the 2003. It left from the factory with one anyway. All NA Ranger since the 80s have had EGR, likely all gas powered Fords have. Even the new stuff has EGR.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

You also don't have a 5.0 swap from a 200k mile donor, the 200k mile 4.0L that it repalced didn't have EGR problems either. It's all part of tinkering with old used stuff.

FWIW, you should still have an EGR on the 2003. It left from the factory with one anyway. All NA Ranger since the 80s have had EGR, likely all gas powered Fords have. Even the new stuff has EGR.

I know, you’ve got something far more unique than I probably ever will. And more patience.

Unelss someone has chopped up the harness and removed every aspect of the system, I don’t think so. From my research, the 2003 3.0 and 4.0 don’t have EGR, ford managed to meet emissions that year with valve timing. It holds open the exhaust valve longer to suck a bit of exhaust back in.

 

[JoshT]

I know, you’ve got something far more unique than I probably ever will. And more patience.

Hardly, just something a lot more worn and cobbled together. You'll put your mark on yours and make it what you want.

Maybe they did, but everything I've seen suggest that it should still have EGR. No issue for me either way, I don't and probably never will own a newer Ranger that the one I've got. I'll make it look a little newer, I've got about 75% of the parts to facelift to your year, but that's about it. If this Ranger is ever gone beyond repair, it's probably onto a fullsize if it gets replaced at all. I've already got too many rides.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

View attachment 118689

Hardly, just something a lot more worn and cobbled together. You'll put your mark on yours and make it what you want.

Maybe they did, but everything I've seen suggest that it should still have EGR. No issue for me either way, I don't and probably never will own a newer Ranger that the one I've got. I'll make it look a little newer, I've got about 75% of the parts to facelift to your year, but that's about it. If this Ranger is ever gone beyond repair, it's probably onto a fullsize if it gets replaced at all. I've already got too many rides.

You’re right, and I suppose I slowly am.

And you could still be right about the EGR, I just googled it when I first discovered it missing and it lead me to “it doesn’t have it this one year”. It means one less headache because it can’t break, but I might have worse fuel economy, at least on paper.

 

[JoshT]

And you could still be right about the EGR, I just googled it when I first discovered it missing and it lead me to “it doesn’t have it this one year”. It means one less headache because it can’t break, but I might have worse fuel economy, at least on paper.

ADSM knows more about them than I do. Newest I'm aware of having touched is my dad's 2001. Well the one I robbed the grill from last week might have been newer, but I didn't pay much attention to what was under the hood.

 

[bobbywalter]

egr is hit and miss especially with the ohv.

its one of the many reasons swapping a 4.0 is such a pia when mix and matching engine years and harnesses and computers.

 

[JoshT]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I finally stopped in and got a quote for exhaust on my V8 swap. A 2.5" dual system from headers to bumper with mangaflow and x pipe, $1600.

I mean, I know it won;t be cheap and I knew that place was going to be more expensive option. I just wasn't expeciting it to be that high. That was not including converters and I'm not planning for a delete. I'm also not wanting to use magnaflows that he was quoting, I'd prefer a quieter turbo muffler.

I'll be doing some more shopping.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You also don't have a 5.0 swap from a 200k mile donor, the 200k mile 4.0L that it repalced didn't have EGR problems either. It's all part of tinkering with old used stuff.

FWIW, you should still have an EGR on the 2003. It left from the factory with one anyway. All NA Ranger since the 80s have had EGR, likely all gas powered Fords have. Even the new stuff has EGR.

Tinkering with old stuff, especially doing engine swaps to something that was never in the vehicle, causes all sorts of little gremlins. I should know, lol.

EGR has been hit and miss over the years in our trucks. The 2.9 when it was introduced used an EGR for the first year or two, then it went away through end of 2.9 production. The early 4.0 OHV had no EGR, I’m running a 91 Ranger harness and computer in my Choptop and there’s no EGR. The 91 Ranger with a 4.0 never had an EGR. At least for Federal Emissions regs , not sure about the California Emissions regs.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

egr is hit and miss especially with the ohv.

its one of the many reasons swapping a 4.0 is such a pia when mix and matching engine years and harnesses and computers.

I don’t really find it a pain. I just pull everything that doesn’t match off a donor 4.0 OHV and put on what I run. My Choptop currently has a 96 Explorer 4.0 OHV, my 92 Ranger has a 2000 Ranger 4.0 OHV, and we are putting a 95 Explorer 4.0 OHV in my buddy’s 00 Ranger. It’s a little annoying to have to swap stuff instead of just dropping it in, but it’s really not that difficult