2000 4 cyl 2.5L Ford Ranger Trying to remove cylinder head

[johnrhadfield]

Hello,

I am new to this Forum.

I at least blew my head gasket. I removed my thermostat and put in a new one. Immediately got radiator fluid in the pistons and it locked the engine.

I drained the radiator fluid from radiator.

I removed all 8 spark plugs and turned engine over to kick out radiator fluid out of the pistons.

Now, I am trying to remove the cylinder head on my 2000 2.5L 4 cyl Ford Ranger.

It's outdoors so I am thinking of using gasket maker to seal the engine holes once I remove parts.

I haven't thought of how to cover the fuel line once it is removed.

The first thing the Chilton manual says is to move the first piston to TDC, by the "TC" mark and pointer? I don't understand or see a TC mark. I found out from a Ford technician though that I could mark the camshaft sprocket belt and crankshaft sprocket and belt with whiteout. This would accomplish eesentially moving the 1st piston to TDC.

Do I have that right?



John

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Welcome to TRS!

I moved your post to the appropriate engine section of the forum to try and help to get you some good answers sooner!

 

[4b316]

There are marks there.You can line them up now or just wait till you put it back together.I would wait cause I always seem to be turning the engine over apart whether cleaning out the bore or just checking stuff out.Just take the intake off at the head and set it to the side of the fenderwell.Exhaust manifold the same way.

 

[johnrhadfield]

Welcome to TRS!

I moved your post to the appropriate engine section of the forum to try and help to get you some good answers sooner!

Thanks

John

 

[johnrhadfield]

There are marks there.You can line them up now or just wait till you put it back together.I would wait cause I always seem to be turning the engine over apart whether cleaning out the bore or just checking stuff out.Just take the intake off at the head and set it to the side of the fenderwell.Exhaust manifold the same way.

To 4b316:

That's all? Well for some one who has not removed a cylinder head before I probably need the "newbie" details.

I am probably making too big a deal out of it.

I am kinda tripping on the idea of the timing. There is a big warning in the Chilton manual "The timing system is complex...if you are unsure...consult..."

Also, anyone have any other major/minor warnings?


I hope to document this with pictures as I go.

I am going to take my time though. Probably I will get most work done on weekends.



Thanks,

John

 

[steve63]

take the valve cover off,watch on cylinder no.1(very front cylinder),rotate the engine until intake valve opens then closes,then watch youre timming mark on the harmonic balancer it should be close to top dead center,put it on TDC,youre marks inside youre timming cover should be lined up,theres a couple of plugs on youre timming cover you can pop off to check youre cam timming,once youve done that youre home free,prolly should replace the timming belt while youre in there.

 

[4b316]

The manual will tell you the small stuff,unhooking the battery,releaseing fuel pressure,drain the water,remove the timing belt cover,might have to remove the fan belt,set your timing marks if you want,loosen the timing belt and get it out the way,,unhook wire plugins while marking them if you can't recall where they go.pull the exhaust,pull the complete intake and set to the side.unbolt the valve cover,you will probably have to remove some rockers to get at a few head bolts,take out the head bolts,reverseing the torque sequence and remove the head.I don;t think I forgot anything,if I did, someone will chime in.I'd tell you we do it at the track at 11 oclock at nite for tech and it takes a half hour-45 minutes but you probably don't want to hear that.

 

[johnrhadfield]

take the valve cover off,watch on cylinder no.1(very front cylinder),rotate the engine until intake valve opens then closes,then watch youre timming mark on the harmonic balancer it should be close to top dead center,put it on TDC,youre marks inside youre timming cover should be lined up,theres a couple of plugs on youre timming cover you can pop off to check youre cam timming,once youve done that youre home free,prolly should replace the timming belt while youre in there.

So I know I'm in the clear, are there any "failsafe timing moves"? For example (I'm guessing): "When turning the engine over it should have a slight smooth resistance with nothing jamming the revolution or clanging noises"?

Thanks for the detail

John

 

[johnrhadfield]

The manual will tell you the small stuff,unhooking the battery,releaseing fuel pressure,drain the water,remove the timing belt cover,might have to remove the fan belt,set your timing marks if you want,loosen the timing belt and get it out the way,,unhook wire plugins while marking them if you can't recall where they go.pull the exhaust,pull the complete intake and set to the side.unbolt the valve cover,you will probably have to remove some rockers to get at a few head bolts,take out the head bolts,reverseing the torque sequence and remove the head.I don;t think I forgot anything,if I did, someone will chime in.I'd tell you we do it at the track at 11 oclock at nite for tech and it takes a half hour-45 minutes but you probably don't want to hear that.

Is that Texas Tech?

lol and it is a bit depressing knowing that y'all can do it that fast.

Thanks for helping me outline this in my mind

John

 

[johnrhadfield]

To 4b316 steve63 and this forum:

I am certain that at least the cylinder head gasket is gone. Initially when the problem occured I replaced the stuck thermostat, started it up, and immediately smelled a foul burning smell of radiator fluid (white smoke)and then after I turned engine off green radiator fluid leaked out the exhaust pipe.

The engine did get hot but never in the red. That's how I got in trouble. I relied on the temperature guage, which "said ok"( which increased but not into the red). Well I later learned that if the radiator fluid does not surround the temperature sensor device in the engine(because all the water and radiator fluid had all evaporated) then I didn't get an accurate temp measurement and the engine overheated. That's when I replaced the stuck thermostat.

So, there might be more than just a blown out head gasket ie: cracked cylinder head, cracked block, valves etc..

Once I get the cyl head out I can get it pressure tested for 35 dollars to see if it checks out or not.

Is there any simple method to determine if the block is cracked? It sounded as if it was running fine before it locked up(with raditor fluid (which I later removed spark plugs and turned engine over to get rid of most of the radiator fluid).


John

 

[johnrhadfield]

In any case, the 1st step for now is just to pull the cylinder head and get it tested. The same engine machine shop in town can probably test and inspect the block as well as the cyl head.

Afterall I may need to get a rebuilt engine put in.

Or I may be lucky and just need a head gasket and a resurfaced cyl head.

John

 

[steve63]

definetly sounds like a cracked head,the lima block is pretty tough and hard to crack,no simple way i know of to check for a cracked block,standard way i know of is to magniflux it,any 2.3 head 94 and above should work with youre cam sensor,you might wanna check the deck on youre block for warpage while you got the head off,take a GOOD straight edge,lay it on the deck of youre block and get a feeler gauge and try to stick it under the straight edge,you shouldnt have more than .004 warpage.

 

[4b316]

It will have to be a 95 and above head,the 94,s still had the bigger valves.look between the valve seats,that is where they usaully crack.We race our race and often have to tear it down to check something,for bigger valves,porting,big cam or something.Never got DQ for anything.Heres a picture of our truck . http://www.turn4photos.com/2010-Thu...ners-09-11-10/13731926_FC9YJ#1004050463_V7wk7

 

[Duane867]

Remove battery, Remove fan shroud and fan, remove coolant hose and drain coolant. Remove serpentine belt, crank pulley, water pump pulley, then all accessory brackets attached to the head. Remove crank sensor hub behind crank pulley, remove timing cover and timing belt. Remove pcv valve and all vacuum hoses. Relieve fuel pressure from the fuel line via the schrader valve on the fuel rail. remove valve cover. Remove upper intake, remove intake manifold, remove exhaust manifold. remove head bolts.
Remove head.

Timing means nothing at this point so don't worry about lining any thing up any where.
You worry about that upon reinstalling. Then is when you want to bring the #1 piston to TDC and line the cam and crank up.
Other wise its pretty futile to try and keep it all lined up while your taking the main timing component off with the head ( the cam shaft )

 

[johnrhadfield]

definetly sounds like a cracked head,the lima block is pretty tough and hard to crack,no simple way i know of to check for a cracked block,standard way i know of is to magniflux it,any 2.3 head 94 and above should work with youre cam sensor,you might wanna check the deck on youre block for warpage while you got the head off,take a GOOD straight edge,lay it on the deck of youre block and get a feeler gauge and try to stick it under the straight edge,you shouldnt have more than .004 warpage.

To steve63:

Wow. I did not know I could use another cyl head from a 2.3 on my 2.5 4 cyl 2000.

Is the cam sensor the only thing that needs to be matched?

Thanks,
John