99 ranger 3.0 with rebuilt heads

[ick]

I just got done rebuilding the heads in my 99 ranger as I was getting bad plug fouling on the number 2 and number 6 cylinder. Upon head removal, I discovered the oil seals were not set properly around the valve guides on those two cylinders. While rebuilding the heads I thought I would "Port" them out a bit and ground material from the intake and also from the exhaust. I also opened up the ports on the lower and upper intake manifolds. I got it all back together and now I am getting a P0174 (lean on bank 2). I suspect I need a fuel filter as the truck sat for about 3 months with very little fuel in the tank. It also backfires really badly through the exhaust on heavy acceleration. Any other ideas? Anyone ever do a street port/polish on there heads before with similar or not similar results?

These are cast iron heads. I removed the valves, ground down rough edges in each intake port and ground out material to make the opening bigger. I also ground out extra material in the water jackets. I used the intake gasket as guide and just marked lines with a pencil. I got the idea on therangerstation: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/pdf_documents/head_porting.pdf. I also ground some material out of the exhaust manifold and polished them up. I've had a glass pack "cherry bomb" muffler on there for a few years and think that maybe I should replace it (the glass is pretty much all burnt out). It may not be supplying the back pressure needed to prevent a lean burn situation. Especially after all the grinding I did. Is there a easy/inexpensive way to enrich the fuel mixture?

 

[ick]

Nevermind folks. I got it figured out. I scanned it after running a few mles down the road and was misfiring on 4 and 6. I discovered that I improperly connected the #4 and #6 plug wires. (strange because it idled better than ever). After I switched the plug wires it is running great. Now if I can just get it to pass emissions...

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

why isnt it passing emissions?

 

[ick]

It wasn't passing emissions because the CEL was on and I was gettig misfires on #2 cylinder as well as Idle Air overrun or something like that (idle too high). Kind of a long story but about a year ago I overheated it and cracked one of the heads. I found a couple of rebuilt heads on ebay and put it back together. It never really ran right after that. Idle was high and it would miss frequetnly. When I pulled the plugs the #2 and #6 was extremely oil fouled w/ deposits. Others were normal. I thought for sure I had a bad ring or two but decided to tear into the top end and go from there (rebuild the bottom if it needs). When I removed the lower intake manifold I found my problem. The gaskets on both sides were not seated properly and had shifted so it was letting air in. I can't believe I did that when I put it back together the 1st time. I may have been in a hurry as it was my only vehicle at the time. I also found 4 of the oil seals had popped up off of the valve guides (the 2 on number 2 and the 2 on number 6) - I guess that's what I get for buying online. I drove it into work today and a few miles from home got the #4/#6 misfire code. I hopped out and changed the wires around now it runs like a champl I am just waiting for the computer to cycle through and hope I don't get any more codes.

 

[dangeranger88]

Just curious--how did you overheat the motor? I bought a 99 ranger that someone had taken the thermostat out to hide the fact that the head gasket was screwed....ended up getting rebuilt heads and new gaskets under warranty (thankfully)...i think they overheated it towing something but still, i would think the driver would know when to stop...

 

[ick]

dangeranger88, I overheated it driving to work - I was in a hurry and couldn't stop - look where that got me. The radiator wasn't cooling as well as it should have and I was filling it up about once a day. I think I've learned to start doing things the right way.

 

[Beef52751]

so did it feel like it had more power? how bout mileage?

 

[ick]

I don't know about mileage and "butt dyno", as I've heard some call it on this forum, is out of tune because I haven't driven it for awhile (it was down 3 months while I rounded up the gumption to tear it down again). I would say it feels like more torque. One think I definitely noticed was the ping under load - just disappeared - I guess it's amazing what happens when you make sure the gaskets are on correctly. It's not leaking oil anymore and i've been driving it for two days. I did get it past emissions today so HOORAH! there. I'll let you know on mileage because I had been getting 14-17 pretty consistently after the first "rebuild" on the top end. Before that I was getting pretty consistently over 20, ,more like 21-23 although 23 was on a good week with minimal traffic. I just have to remember to keep my foot out of the floorboard because I am so happy to have it back.

 

[ick]

Wicked, I took a look at your truck. Nice packs. I have single exhaust w/ a cherry bomb. Do you have catalytic converter? If not, does the CEL come on or how do you get around that? Also, Can you post some pics of your 2-way radio setup? what type of antenna did you use and have you had trouble with it as far as drive-through or low garages like at an airport?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

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