4 banger ranger

[fusion1620]

Hello, Just bought my 1st truck. Yea.. A 1991 for ranger 2.3l 4 banger. 4x4 5 speed. Anyway, The original motor took a dump, so the guy I bought it from put in another 2.3l 4 banger out of a 97 ranger. I'm guessing that he used the wiring harness and brain that came with the truck. He is saying that the engine doesn't run because the crank sensor in the 97 is different. He says I need to swithc the crank sensor and bracket. Is he right? The crank sensor in the 97 won't work with a 91 WIRING HARNESS? Thanks in advance for any replies...

 

[scotts90ranger]

correct, the crank sensors on the two are different (that's about all that's physically different that you will notice). if you have the '91 engine you will probably have to take off the front seal housing and put that on the new engine, while the front seal housing is off and make a template of the 3 holes for the crank sensor and drill them into the block. The stock bolts are 6mm, two of them are threaded into the block and one of them is a dowel pin in the stock setup, 6mm roll pins are hard to find and 1/4" is too big, the easiest solution is take a long 6mm bolt and bottom it out in the hole (loctited in place) then cut the head off, that's what I did. the things you'll need off of the original engine are crank sensor and bracket and possibly the front seal housing (there's a possibility that the one on the engine will work)

it's very doable, and it should be able to be done in the truck you just might need a right angle attachment for your drill. I converted a '86 engine to use this setup with nothing special... the only special tools you need is a 6mm tap

 

[fusion1620]

Thanks. I will be changing the sensor soon

 

[scotts90ranger]

if you need any further help with it let me know, you will also need the crank pulley from the original engine, take the reluctor wheel out of the middle (3 bolts with 10mm heads) and align the crank sensor with the vanes on the hub, once you get there you will see, just center the outer vane in the slot in the sensor.

 

[fusion1620]

I was wondering if the thing on the back of the crank pully was different . The guy didn't give me the old one. oops.. What did you use to make the template? It seems that the guy did give me the wiring harness and the brain that belongs to the motor. I will have to look and see if switching the wiring harness and brain is an option...Thanks..

 

[scotts90ranger]

for a template I just marked the holes on a piece of plexiglass, but poster board would be easier...

 

[fusion1620]

Looks like I foundthe pulley. Looks like it uses a smaller belt. The one on the left is the one that needs to be installed. Should work right?

 

[fusion1620]

Got the vain style crank sensor properly installed and plugged into the harness. Tried to crank it over and not getting spark.. I noticed that the guy I bought the truck from has spliced some wires. The intake manifold was not changed over and the dis is not mounted. The dis needs to be grounded from what I know? Electrical nightmare... Any tips?

 

[Bryan22]

all my experience with the ICM mounted on the intake manifold has shown me that if it's not propaerly mounted with all 3 bolts in it, it won't fire. i suppose you could just run a ground from the ICM though and mount it anywhere you like. I think on the older trucks (89)they were mounted on the fender well. might check to see how they were grounded.

 

[scotts90ranger]

even back in '89 they were mounted on the intake, mine is on the fender because I'm using the '86 manifold... I don't have it grounded and it works.

check out THIS link to check your wiring

also check out the following links, there's diagrams for a few different years, most of it is turbo related, but the ignition system wiring for '89-94 should be the same and I know there's a diagram for at least one of those years in there...

post from turboford about this

post on turboranger forums

Dave's swap thing in tech library has a pinout of wiring, helps in the swap to DIS, some of the involved pins don't exist on the '86 ECM

sevensecondsuv's wiring stuff also from the tech library, includes several wiring diagrams for comparison as well as side by side excel sheets for a couple years.

 

[fusion1620]

Looks like the complete 97 2.3l... Intake, alternator, starter.. ect... was dropped into the 91 ranger. Some of the plugs are not matching up My friend has a 93 ranger with the 2.3, so I'm going to have him park it next to mine and try that. Going to have to splice things together..

 

[Bryan22]

in 97 they didn't have an ICM anymore. The computer controlled spark by itself. i don't know which computer you're trying to use, but the intake manifold on a 97 probably wont have a place to mount the ICM. seems like this might turn out to be a major head ache.

if it were me, i'd pull the motor and sell it to someone needing a newer one and buy a motor, harness, and computer from something pre 94. That way you wont have to retro fit any of the connections and kill so much time trying to troubleshoot.

 

[fusion1620]

Plug from alternator. Where does it go?

2 plugs close to the intake, not sure yet...

Two bigger plugs. Look important..

This is what the truck looks like..

Any tips???

 

[scotts90ranger]

that's exactly like mine started out as

those two big plugs you say look important are the alternator wires, that's all I can recognise right now, I'm too pissed off at my truck right now to think straight... stupid hoses...

 

[Twisted_Steel]

Fusion,

Where are you located? I'm in NC and am about to take a 2.3 out of my 91 Ranger. Maybe we can work something out