2004 Ranger Flood Victim

[donimbimbo]

Hello All,

New to the forum. I recently acquired a 2004 Ranger 4x4 from my Brother-in-law. He was going to scrap it, needed the money, so I bought it from him (earned me a few points with the Wife!).

The catch is, the Ranger spent 2 weeks under water up to the bottom of the windshield! It occurred during the big floods we had in Eastern PA back in September.

I had a 1990 Ranger that I put 247,000 miles on. This 2004 Ranger has only 127,000. Body is in very good shape, style side bed, it has the 4.0 liter engine, auto trans.

If you were going to make it road worthy again where would you start? Clearly the entire interior needs to be scrapped, IT REALLY SMELLS!

I thought I might have to replace the entire dash. And of course the Engine and trans may have to be yanked and gone through.

Anyone you know ever try to pull off this kind of restoration?

Comments welcome,

Don

 

[adsm08]

That will not be a fun project.

I would pull the engine, check the bottom end and clean and re-lube everything. Same with the axles, pull the covers, spray them with lots of parts cleaner, new oil.

Just replace the transmission. Buy a reman unit and replace it. The glue that holds the friction material to the plates is water based so the ATF doesn't dissolve it. But that means that if you get water in the trans, the glue comes apart.


What part of NCPA are you in? If it's not some ungodly drive I'd be willing to help you out in my spare time once I get my B2 put back together.

 

[06RangerXLT]

id go this way:

new wiring harness throughout
new pcm most likely
gut the interior, bedliner the floor and put some racing seats
new fluid in the diff's
rebuild that motor
new starter most likely
gonna need a re and re on the trans
you may run into more issues along the road.

didnt insurance set it as water damaged and write the truck off?

take some pictures BTW

 

[donimbimbo]

New wiring ? Really? This was fresh water (but muddy) so I thought the wiring should still be OK. Just unplug stuff and clean the connections. Just took some pics today, I'll get them up soon.

I was thinking about buying a wrecked doner truck, easiest way to swap the interior.

Thanks for the advice on the auto trans, the problem with the clutches would not have occured to me.

Don
Wellsboro, PA

 

[adsm08]

Got dang. Why is everyone in freaking Wellsboro? That wasn't a horrible drive when I lived in Williamsport. It's almost 2 hours now.

 

[donimbimbo]

OK - some pics of the Ranger Mud Fest (without the bikini clad chicks).

I got it to dry out enough so that the smell does not knock you over when you stick your head inside.

I have to get the trans out of park so that I can move it with my tractor. Then I can do some power washing on the outside and engine. I've never owned a late model auto trans with the interlock on the shifter (column shift). I guess I'll put the battery back in and see if I can move the lever with the key ON.

I'm still trying to decide whether I should scrap it or go for a restoration. My 1990 Mustang was a restoration job, but it ran when I got it.

Later,

Don

 

[adsm08]

The easiest way to get it out of park will be to hop underneath, pop the shifter cable off the side of the trans and move the pawl forward 2 clicks by hand.

 

[donimbimbo]

adsm - thanks for that. Today could be our last mild day, so under the truck it is. Maybe even drain some of that oil/water out of trans and engine.

 

[06RangerXLT]

your going to have to do a complete rebuild on that motor. i say do it. parts are reusable, just dirty.

 

[AgPete139]

My Mustang was a flood victim from a good Houston flood a decade ago. Be prepared for shorts, grounding issues, and malfunctioning windows.

Getting a brand new wiring harness is not necessary, but you should probably want to look into the contact points of the main initial parts, at least. Starter, lights, ignition, relay solenoid, etc. These get corroded easily, and can make you chase electrical gremlins all week. It is seriously a PITA to go back, rip open your dash, and use a multimeter or test probe to locate the point on a wire that doesn't light up anymore or get 12V.

Just be as thorough as you can. Taking off your door skins and looking at all of hte locking mechanisms and power mirrors/windows are also critical. If you have an alarm, same thing. One door lock can make your truck go off at midnight for no apparent reason and disturb the neighbors.

As far as rebuilding the motor, I dunno about that. That's a call you have got to make. It's normally a closed system that got penetrated through the intake (and filter). I would take off the top end of the motor, and peer down past the upper intake plenum. Take off your valve covers, and check everything to make sure it's normal.

Give it a fresh set of gaskets, and put the motor back together. Put cheap oil & filter in it, run & idle it for 5-10 minutes, then drain. Replace with better oil and a filter, and inspect the oil. You may have to do it one more time before making sure it's clean. That's all I would do, and I'm sure this truck would be fine as well.

I agree on the transmission and getting another 5R55E.

 

[whale]

New wiring ? Really? This was fresh water (but muddy) so I thought the wiring should still be OK. Just unplug stuff and clean the connections. Just took some pics today, I'll get them up soon.

I was thinking about buying a wrecked doner truck, easiest way to swap the interior.

Thanks for the advice on the auto trans, the problem with the clutches would not have occured to me.

Don
Wellsboro, PA

Hate to break it, but flood water is FAR from "fresh, but muddy" Think of all the overflowing sewer systems upstream. Yeah.

I went through this a couple months ago, as my truck had the similar situation. I drained / changed all the fluids, pulled the whole interior blah blah blah, however nobody offered to come and help me...

I ended up scrapping it, but only because a better truck turned up, otherwise where I stopped, was having to put a new 4x4 computer in. It ran, but it still reaked.

All that said, mine had a lot more issues to start, and was a '93.

FWIW, I personally will never fugg with a flood vehicle again.

Will

 

[piscespokerbrat]

I would say part that truck out. Take a pressure washer to the inside and out, and for gods sake, get all that shit off of it!!! Depending how much you gave, you can probably double or triple your money on parts alone.

 

[donimbimbo]

I'm continuing this over in the General Discussions area.