1985 ranger

[Barbara]

U all are going to love this. I bought this 85 ranger v6 2.8 litre 4 wheel drive 6 months ago, found in a barn for 1000$ good find, minimal rust some bondue on rear wheel wells, solid suspension n lifted. So far I have had to put a starter in it, a new carb a regulator and that's it. So I decided to winterize it and change the thermostat and flush radiator. The thermostat is located on the bottom hose and has a rear thermostat housing that bolts to the water pump n front housing, never saw anything like this before. So I take the thermostat housing off and no thermostat, but it was blowing hot air I was confused. I put the new thermostat in and it over heated, now I'm really confused especially after I put the therm in bowling water n it worked. So I started looking at houses and other things and noticed a metal housing thing clamped in the middle of the top radiator hose. Looked in the book couldn't find anything like it. So I took it apart and ha ha someone had put a thermostat in there so the truck was overheating cause I had 2 thermostats in it. So I eliminate the make shift one into the top radiator hose and put it all back to original. Still overheated. So I took the therm out and runs fine just no hot air. I'm going to put it back the way they rigged it cause it worked and 2 of the bolt holes in the bottom rear housing stripped out. I'm not taking the chance of taking it apart again the can't tighten the bolts down. Needless to say I've searched salvage yards and on line for that rear housing can't find it anywhere. Never ever thought changing a thermostat would have put my truck down for a week, wow. My next project that should b easy is changing the oil, let's c how that goes.

 

[97RangerXLT]

sorry to hear you are having issues, but keep in mind on the weird set up for the thermostat is 1985 is in the era that Ford thought it was a great idea to move the horn button from the center of the steering wheel to the turn signal lever... lol

Good luck on your parts search. 2.8's are getting a bit rare. you might put a WTB add in the classified section on this site to see if anyone has an old 2.8 laying around that they swapped out for a 5.0...

and welcome to TRS

AJ

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

sorry to hear you are having issues, but keep in mind on the weird set up for the thermostat is 1985 is in the era that Ford thought it was a great idea to move the horn button from the center of the steering wheel to the turn signal lever... lol

83-84 had the horn on the stalk, 85 is when they "fixed" it by putting it on the wheel.

For the outlet, pull the power steering pump/compressor bracket off and get that out of the way. It should flop somewhere else without messing with the hoses. Mine didn't have a compressor on it when I did it so there might be more fiddling with that, I don't know. Then both sides of the timing cover are in plain view which you have to have to see what you are doing and to get that back gasket surface clean. Drill out the threads in the back housing, get longer bolts that go thru both housings and the timing cover and just put lockwashers and nuts on the back side.

You didn't have a thermostat down low? Late '85's actually had the thermostat in the top hose so you might have one there.

I am getting ready to pull my engine in the pic but you can see how wide open it is without the PS pump in the way. You can also see my late '85 upper radiator hose thermostat housing.

 

[Barbara]

83-84 had the horn on the stalk, 85 is when they "fixed" it by putting it on the wheel.

For the outlet, pull the power steering pump/compressor bracket off and get that out of the way. It should flop somewhere else without messing with the hoses. Mine didn't have a compressor on it when I did it so there might be more fiddling with that, I don't know. Then both sides of the timing cover are in plain view which you have to have to see what you are doing and to get that back gasket surface clean. Drill out the threads in the back housing, get longer bolts that go thru both housings and the timing cover and just put lockwashers and nuts on the back side.

You didn't have a thermostat down low? Late '85's actually had the thermostat in the top hose so you might have one there.

I am getting ready to pull my engine in the pic but you can see how wide open it is without the PS pump in the way. You can also see my late '85 upper radiator hose thermostat housing.

 

[Barbara]

The thermostat is located in the bottom hose and it bolts through the waterpump and through as I call it a rear thermostat housing. I'm trying to send a pic.

 

[Barbara]

Thank you for your reply. The thermostat as you can see in the picture is located in the bottom radiator hose. The front housing bolts go through the waterpump and bolt onto the rear housing as I call it. It's almost impossible to get behind there to put a bolt and nut on. I had already thought of that. The only sure way would be to pull the waterpump.

 

[franklin2]

I went through this same thing about a year ago when I got my 84. He is correct, you can get a little bit longer bolt and put a nut on it. It's not that hard to reach around and get the nut started, even though you can hardly see it. The German guys that built this engine are probably turning over in their grave, but I used 1/4-20 bolt I think the original is a 6mm bolt. I think I had to drill it out just a tiny bit. No problems after that.

I too had it over heat after I changed the thermostat. Part of the problem is the fill procedure I was using. I usually pull one of the heater core hoses off the engine(the highest one) and then fill the radiator till fluid runs out and then stick it back on and continue filling. I then run them with the radiator cap off till the thermostat opens. Even then I usually have some coolant loss from it burping itself.

But this 2.8 was different, it really got hot during the burping process. So I did some research, and found on this engine the factory recommends taking the upper radiator hose off, and pouring coolant directly into the engine before starting it. That really helped the first time I did this and it straightened out.

Fast forward 6 months, I took the thermostat out again for another reason, and used my "factory fill" procedure again, and even then it still got hot on me. I turned it off and let it settle down, poured some more fluid down in the engine, and it finally straightened out again. This thermostat design must be bad for getting a air pocket in it when the coolant is completely drained.

 

[black_demon69]

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