- Joined
- Sep 12, 2025
- Messages
- 17
- Points
- 101
- City
- Seattle
- State - Country
- N/A
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 4WD
- Engine
- 3.0L
- Transmission
- Manual
~275k miles on my 94 3.0 4x4 with the 5spd. Its a great little truck, I've put loads of work, time, sweat, and tears into it. It starts right up every time and has done everything I've asked of it.
I got the truck at 260k, previous owner had just put new heads on it and stated they did a valve job (16 yo kid and his older brother, so who really knows). Also was told that the owner before them had all the seals redone (would have been 3-4 years ago now, not sure how accurate this info is).
When I got it, I pulled and ported the upper and lower intakes (replaced plenum with a two piece style off a taurus), cleaned and rebuilt injectors, new plugs and wires, rebuilt the distro, new ignition coil, cleaned MAF, new IAC, new TPS, flushed coolant system + all new coolant hoses, new timing chain, fan clutch, water pump. A fair bit of work to try and ensure it would run well for the next few years.
The idle has always been a bit off, sometimes fluctuating a couple hundred rpm, but otherwise seemed ok. I checked for vacuum leaks and couldn't find any. Over the past year and a half I've had it, the vibration at idle has increased, but the excess vibration goes away under throttle and she runs just fine with the pedal down. It does have white steam/smoke out of the exhaust usually until it warms up. I've normally chalked it up to moisture collecting in the exhaust. It doesn't drink coolant, but does drink a quart of oil every 3-5k miles. I run seafoam in the oil a few hundred miles before every change. I use 5w-30 Valvoline maxlife high mileage full synthetic and wix filters.
I drive fairly aggressively (not the most fuel efficient) but I still get 12-15mpg around town and 16-20mpg on the highway. Pretty normal for me with other v6s I've owned. For a lifted 30+yo truck with 32" tires, can't complain too much.
Did a OBD1 KOER test and cylinder balance test a couple nights ago and came back with a weak cylinder #1.
I finally did a compression test last night, and the results are a bit concerning. Was done with engine warm, fuel pump relay out, all spark plugs pulled (plugs all looked good and the same across cylinders). All cylinders were within 5psi of 150, except cylinder #1, which was 92. I added ~3ml of oil through the spark plug hole and tried again, 105psi. Added ~7ml more (about 10ml total), and it shot up to 150 psi.
By my understanding, this indicated an issue with the rings/cylinder wall not sealing properly. Is there anything else it might be or anything else I should test? If it is the rings on that cylinder, is there a way for me to repair it other than a complete teardown of the whole engine? Would a leak down test tell me anything else?
It's my daily and my only vehicle so having it out of commission for a while would be not ideal. An mTDI swap down the road would be the dream, but may be too big a project to take on at the moment. Any insights, wisdom, and ideas are very much appreciated.
I got the truck at 260k, previous owner had just put new heads on it and stated they did a valve job (16 yo kid and his older brother, so who really knows). Also was told that the owner before them had all the seals redone (would have been 3-4 years ago now, not sure how accurate this info is).
When I got it, I pulled and ported the upper and lower intakes (replaced plenum with a two piece style off a taurus), cleaned and rebuilt injectors, new plugs and wires, rebuilt the distro, new ignition coil, cleaned MAF, new IAC, new TPS, flushed coolant system + all new coolant hoses, new timing chain, fan clutch, water pump. A fair bit of work to try and ensure it would run well for the next few years.
The idle has always been a bit off, sometimes fluctuating a couple hundred rpm, but otherwise seemed ok. I checked for vacuum leaks and couldn't find any. Over the past year and a half I've had it, the vibration at idle has increased, but the excess vibration goes away under throttle and she runs just fine with the pedal down. It does have white steam/smoke out of the exhaust usually until it warms up. I've normally chalked it up to moisture collecting in the exhaust. It doesn't drink coolant, but does drink a quart of oil every 3-5k miles. I run seafoam in the oil a few hundred miles before every change. I use 5w-30 Valvoline maxlife high mileage full synthetic and wix filters.
I drive fairly aggressively (not the most fuel efficient) but I still get 12-15mpg around town and 16-20mpg on the highway. Pretty normal for me with other v6s I've owned. For a lifted 30+yo truck with 32" tires, can't complain too much.
Did a OBD1 KOER test and cylinder balance test a couple nights ago and came back with a weak cylinder #1.
I finally did a compression test last night, and the results are a bit concerning. Was done with engine warm, fuel pump relay out, all spark plugs pulled (plugs all looked good and the same across cylinders). All cylinders were within 5psi of 150, except cylinder #1, which was 92. I added ~3ml of oil through the spark plug hole and tried again, 105psi. Added ~7ml more (about 10ml total), and it shot up to 150 psi.
By my understanding, this indicated an issue with the rings/cylinder wall not sealing properly. Is there anything else it might be or anything else I should test? If it is the rings on that cylinder, is there a way for me to repair it other than a complete teardown of the whole engine? Would a leak down test tell me anything else?
It's my daily and my only vehicle so having it out of commission for a while would be not ideal. An mTDI swap down the road would be the dream, but may be too big a project to take on at the moment. Any insights, wisdom, and ideas are very much appreciated.
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