2.8 Delimia

[fordblueblood]

My idiotic step son used our Bronco and while he was driving one of the heater lines busted. He claims he didn't drive it far as he claims it happened almost at our house. Now when I crank it, it bellows out nice white smoke and the engine won't stay cool. No water in the oil as of yet but I have a feeling either it has blown head gaskets or worse.

My question is do I find another motor, rebuild this one or say to heck with it and go the 4.0 route? Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Big Jim M]

Did you turn the heater on while filling the coolant? The system will NOT fill completely without the heater turned on and the engine running..
Big Jim

 

[fordblueblood]

Yup, had heater on.

 

[dangerranger83]

Its probably a head gasket or a cracked head. Lets hope its not the head.

 

[enginepaul]

" My question is do I find another motor, rebuild this one or say to heck with it and go the 4.0 route? Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. "
Well, the bigger motor is nice. I have rebuilt two 2.8's and they can get expensive; the parts just aren't cheap if you need any, even the gaskets are about $100 - $150 if I remember. BUT once you have a good 2.8, you have a like-new engine for many miles. I live in California and an engine swap is a pain with our regulations, otherwise I would have went for a bigger - and cheaper - engine. I'd pull apart the current engine to see what is needed before searching for a new one.

And as far as filling the radiator: people make a big deal about this, but just fill it as far as you can, then add water after driving a bit. Even Ford says the hose removal thing is so that repair customers don't come back.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

The best way I found to fill the cooling system is with the flush tee in the heater hose. I have got mine plenty hot multiple times. It gets the bubble in the heater core and is hard to burp it. I just drain it and put a gallon of anitfreez in it till it dont take no more. Hook the hose up to the tee in one of the heater hoses and slowly add water as it is running until it runs out of the radiator. Once you get heat from the heater your good. Put the cap on the tee and the radiator cap on fill the reservor. and let it cool it should pull the coolant from the reservor as it cools down. Do it with just water first to see if it is leaking for sure first before you panic. How long did you run it if it is cold out they blow white smoke for a while the cats pull in alot of moisture in the cooling process. You can burp it 100% of the time with the flush kit in the heater hose. I put a shut of valve on the end of the hose for better control of the fill especially when you put antifreeze in. All turning the heater on does is tell you when it is burped when the heater works.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Actually if your careful you can check for leaks by pressurizing the system with the hose to look for leaks just too much pressure might create a few you did not have.

 

[Big Jim M]

Gentlemen!!! Hooking a 60 pound pressure water hose to a 16 pound system is ASKING for problems!! YOU may be able to do that and get away with it... but telling the NOVICE to do it may result in a failure of a seal or gasket that the NOVICE didn't allow for..
BEST bet on filling a Ranger cooling system is to park or JACK-UP till the radiator cap is higher than any other part of the cooling system.. TURN the heater ON, Then and only then put a gallon of antifreeze in it and start her up then trickle water in the cap for 5/10 minutes till the thermostat opens and coolant is circulating.. at this point the system is completely full.
The heater should be putting out hot air at this time..
There ya go....finished!
Big JIm

 

[strvger]

^^ one addition: i'd use distilled water to keep out all the contaminants in tap water or bottled spring water or the 50/50 pre-mixed antifreeze without any water. just my $.02.

btw, i'm thinking head gasket as well and, hopefully, nothing more. good luck!

 

[Hotrodlincoln]

i'd use distilled water to keep out all the contaminants in tap water or bottled spring water or the 50/50 pre-mixed antifreeze without any water. just my $.02.

Because that will make such a huge difference on a 25 year old engine? It's really not that big of a deal.

Unscrew the temp sensor from the top of the thermostat housing to act as an air bleed.

Don't think you have to do a block test if it's blowing white smoke. Pull the heads and take them to a shop for pressure testing. If one is cracked, a junkyard is probably the best bet for a cheap replacement. Hopefully the block hasn't been damaged or you'd be doing a lot of work for no gain. Kind of a toss up, so depends on how much work you feel like doing.

You'll have to bring in tons of other stuff for a 4.0 swap, electronics, fuel tank/pump/lines, wiring harness, have to decide what you want to do for a transmission, basically need a whole donor truck.

Or you might get lucky and find a good 2.8 in a junkyard.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Gentlemen!!! Hooking a 60 pound pressure water hose to a 16 pound system is ASKING for problems!! YOU may be able to do that and get away with it... but telling the NOVICE to do it may result in a failure of a seal or gasket that the NOVICE didn't allow for..
BEST bet on filling a Ranger cooling system is to park or JACK-UP till the radiator cap is higher than any other part of the cooling system.. TURN the heater ON, Then and only then put a gallon of antifreeze in it and start her up then trickle water in the cap for 5/10 minutes till the thermostat opens and coolant is circulating.. at this point the system is completely full.
The heater should be putting out hot air at this time..
There ya go....finished!
Big JIm

This will work with a engine with the thermostat on the intake manifold but does nothing for a 2.8 with the thermostat on the lower radiator hose going into the engine. The tee in the heater hose works the best I have found using a flush kit from the part store. I believe it was in 85 the B II with A/C has the two piece stat housing with the bypass that makes it like a normal engine. The thermostat is on the intake manifold going to the radiator.

 

[strvger]

Because that will make such a huge difference on a 25 year old engine? It's really not that big of a deal.

it will if you want to try and keep it for another 25 years.

 

[Hotrodlincoln]

At some point during that next 25 years, you're going to have to rebuild the thing. A proper rebuild would include hot tanking it, which will remove any mineral deposits in the water jackets.
Doing regular coolant changes makes a bigger difference than the type of water you use.