1988 2.9 5 spd questions

[milkie62]

Hello everyone, I am looking into buying a 1988 2.9 5spd 4wd ranger pickup. Frame is extremely clean for the age. A little bit of sanding and it should be ready for paint. I know the guy selling it. He brought it from down south. Said he thinks the head is bad. (cracked). Wants $1500 for it with 150k miles. For the cosmetics on it for my area I am willing to sink another $1500 into to make it a daily runner for hunting,fishing & trapping to keep the miles off of my 2019 1 ton. I would be planning on taking bed off and do brakes,brake lines, sand and paint frame and any engine work necessary. More of a retirement project vehicle. What could I expect to spend on engine work with me doing the take apart and putting back together ? BTW this is the best vehicle I have seen for lack of rust in my area which is important. NE saltbelt. Thanks in advance, Ed

 

[Josh B]

Hello Milkie (you live on a farm? or a space traveler? ) Welcome to TRS
I once got an 87 for free, due to massive rust conditions, but it had an almost new engine in it, almost flip side of your equation. This was roughly 2000/2002. Getting it road worthy cost me about 1500, which was at that time about what I would have paid for it(or figured it was worth) Wish I had kept that truck, but after acquiring a 93 Ranger I let it go for $350(from where it possibly went straight to the scrapyard :/

Things have also changed a bit since then, you'll rarely find as many Rangers at the PicNpay as Explorers since they are much more coveted these days. They also command higher prices.

As long as your estimates are anywhere near accurate, and you run in to no unseen/unexpected serious disappointments, and are able to absorb the loss if worse case scenario developed, I hardly see how you could go wrong

Also you'll find some very fine 2.9 experts here on TRS

 

[milkie62]

Well I have a 2019 1 ton that I ordered. Loaded it up pretty good. Just do not want the fish,blood & coyote smells in it. I am hoping I can do the engine for around $1k. New nuts & bolts,brake lines,brakes all the way around,POR 15 the frame, and a camo wrap on the body. Home done Rhino liner paint. I do not mind sinking some money into it because then basically a percentage of it will be new. But the no rust is the big deal up where I live.

 

[milkie62]

Plus I like that square front end look.

 

[Josh B]

Please note that last line I edited in there also ED

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Mine is.same vintage, didn't have bad heads, though.

J&c enterprises in wv carries fully dressed aftermarket heads. If you replacebone, replace both. You wont regret it.

Gasket match with a die grinder while you're in there. You wont regret that, either.

 

[wildbill23c]

If you do all the work heads would be about $600 from Rock Auto. Course you would need gaskets too. If the truck has been sitting quite a while you'd better off doing a tear down of the engine and replacing every gasket and seal, every sensor, etc...I got a cheap 87 Ranger that I am currently dealing with the aftermath of it sitting for 4 years. As a result seals, gaskets, sensors, etc. are all failing and having to be replaced....so I'd plan on a few thousand dollars in parts and several weeks or months worth of tearing things apart and replacing gaskets, seals, sensors, fuel lines, fuel filter, etc.

 

[1986RangerXL]

I got a cheap 87 Ranger that I am currently dealing with the aftermath of it sitting for 4 years. As a result seals, gaskets, sensors, etc. are all failing and having to be replaced..

Couldn't agree more. I'm in same situation but mine sat for ten years. Especially once it started getting cold here, so many problems that it did not have when it was warm.

If the truck has been well-maintained the job should be simple enough. Problem is even if you know the guy some people just have no idea what is going on with their vehicle. Parts for these trucks are fairly cheap, but it can take months chasing issues (especially on a budget) if the truck was poorly maintained

 

[wildbill23c]

Couldn't agree more. I'm in same situation but mine sat for ten years. Especially once it started getting cold here, so many problems that it did not have when it was warm.

If the truck has been well-maintained the job should be simple enough. Problem is even if you know the guy some people just have no idea what is going on with their vehicle. Parts for these trucks are fairly cheap, but it can take months chasing issues (especially on a budget) if the truck was poorly maintained

I'm mostly chasing some minor engine issues right now, I think I've narrowed it down to possibly a bad EGR valve, if that isn't it, its the ECM...everything else has been either replaced, or confirmed good...so I'm left with those 2 possibilities right now.

About 4 years ago I picked up an 88 Ford Bronco 2 which at least the seller was open about the transmission needing replaced or rebuilt as overdrive was gone in it, but it didn't stop there, it leaked oil really bad, engine was burning oil and ultimately led to a rebuilt transmission and a re-manufactured engine LOL. I don't think the 87 Ranger is nearly as bad, it runs and drives great just intermittent power loss while accelerating, so I'm thinking the EGR valve is sticking. We shall see soon though, hopefully tomorrow, if the weather cooperates.

 

[milkie62]

The guy has driven it recently. Do not know why he thinks head is cracked. He is not much of a mechanic. He will let me do a complete look over before I buy,if I even buy. But it does look pretty good for the age and like I said it will either get a flat olive drab/military looking paint with maybe a bottom realtree wrap. Body is straight but it is too cold to really look at it now and its not going anywhere.

 

[Josh B]

I would suggest first confirming it's even a head, what makes him think so, and what is the evidence. It could be a gamble or maybe not

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The guy has driven it recently. Do not know why he thinks head is cracked. He is not much of a mechanic. He will let me do a complete look over before I buy,if I even buy. But it does look pretty good for the age and like I said it will either get a flat olive drab/military looking paint with maybe a bottom realtree wrap. Body is straight but it is too cold to really look at it now and its not going anywhere.

Truthfully you would pry be cheaper and further aheah if it is a bad head to find a whole 2.9 and drop in.

A good used 2.9 can usually be had for 5 or 600 bucks. I say this because if it does have a cracked head, and its been ran a decent amount with coolant getting pumped into the oil, then chances are the bottom end is going to be on borrowed time.

 

[milkie62]

Truthfully you would pry be cheaper and further aheah if it is a bad head to find a whole 2.9 and drop in.

A good used 2.9 can usually be had for 5 or 600 bucks. I say this because if it does have a cracked head, and its been ran a decent amount with coolant getting pumped into the oil, then chances are the bottom end is going to be on borrowed time.

I would have to agree with you on that. This week will be warm and snow is gone. May have a good look at it.

 

[franklin2]

I swapped the heads on my 2.9 in my 86 ranger. I bought the heads that were mentioned on ebay. I remember them coming from West Va somewhere.

I went ahead and pulled the engine, I was having freeze plug rusting/leaking problems also. Glad I did, there is a freeze plug on the back of the engine hidden behind the bellhousing, and it was seeping. I checked the bores out on the cylinders, they were perfect. This engine didn't use any oil, even though it leaked here and there, another reason to pull it.

When I pulled it to work on the freeze plug problem I was using brake cleaner to clean the original heads up. On one of the heads, I kept getting this strange black line come up in the casting in a flat area under the valve cover area on top of the head. I could spray it off and it would go away, and a little bit later it would come back, Looked like a crack to me, so I bought the new heads on ebay. I will warn you, when you pull the exhaust manifolds off the heads, I had every last one of the bolts break off on both heads.

 

[milkie62]

What did cousin Eddy say on Independence day ????? I'm back... Well anyway my daily driver car's frame rotted out and the pass wheel almost fell off. I have been too busy to go look at that Ranger till now. So sometime tomorrow I will be taking a ride over to look at it and hoping to get it for a grand. If it checks out being what the undercarriage looked like IMO it will be well worth fixing up. I had an '89 Bronco II with same engine with 3.73 gears and it ran great and got in the low 20's for mpg even with the auto hubs. So I will be crossing my fingers that this truck will be a nice retirement project. I retire in March. Until then I will be driving a mini-van for my daily driver to keep miles off my 2019 1 ton. I will report back on how I make out. A question though. Does anybody know what kind of axle gearing these had ? And what was the tranny gearing on the 5 spd ? I may bring a jack to check axle gearing.