2.3L ('83-'97) Bad vibrations at idle

[Camerondebusk]

96 ranger 2wd 5 speed 160k

Cabin is very buzzy and vibrates pretty heavily at idle. Can also hear noise from engine either sounds like cam spinning and hitting rockers, or fan hitting shroud but can’t find signs of either.

Oriellys motor and transmission mounts a month ago

new double plat plugs and wires

oil change done 100 ago

no codes no overheating, oil pressure is a dummy switch but no signs of that being an issue

has an intermittent miss- almost like a misfire or ping, not specific to any piston best I can tell, happens every 3-5 seconds best witness thought a larger tremor in shifter. Again no codes

normal for old engine? Bad cab mounts? Bad brand of motor mounts? Valve train or other imbalance?

any guidance or tests I can run would be great.

 

[Camerondebusk]

Forgot to add.

idle is at a consistent rpm but vibrations clear up under acceleration so maybe vacuum leak or dirty intake or injectors?

iac is 2 months old

 

[scotts90ranger]

After I rear ended someone that broke both motor mounts on my '97 I put in new solid rubber mounts and it vibrates way worse at idle (stock were hydraulic, that style is no longer available), it's not super consistent but it's there, and I get some weird noises like that here and there... I've just been ignoring it and putting it for later investigation

Wouldn't hurt to hook up a OBD II reader of some form (even the cheap blue thing and the torque app) and check fuel trim and stuff and maybe clean the MAF

I'll think on it more later and see if anything I've done to mine might help...

 

[Camerondebusk]

After I rear ended someone that broke both motor mounts on my '97 I put in new solid rubber mounts and it vibrates way worse at idle (stock were hydraulic, that style is no longer available), it's not super consistent but it's there, and I get some weird noises like that here and there... I've just been ignoring it and putting it for later investigation

Wouldn't hurt to hook up a OBD II reader of some form (even the cheap blue thing and the torque app) and check fuel trim and stuff and maybe clean the MAF

I'll think on it more later and see if anything I've done to mine might help...

Haven’t done maf but downstream 02 is brand new. I’ve got obd2 hooked up pretty much 24/7 due to a busted coolant gauge and so far fuel trims have been normal from what I’m seeing on the forums

 

[scotts90ranger]

Let me guess, coolant temp always at the C and never goes up and reads like 160 on your OBD II? I've been fighting that for 5 years on my '97. The best fix I've done so far is put a new thermostat housing on with a Motorcraft thermostat and tweaking the little tabs that hold the T stat into the housing... Dumb fact the Motorad T stat does NOT fit in the Motorad T stat housing, I mean it fits but it does NOT work correctly. The coolant temp is read in the bypass hose that goes to the heater core and to read right the thermostat has to seal to the housing and the heater core has to flow (or the diverter valve has to work if you have A/C, I don't so I don't have one). Unfortunately for me I've eliminated everything and have gotten it better but I'm down to having to change the heater core which I'm dreading... I have one, it's on the list...

The downstream sensor doesn't do much of anything other than test the front cat, if the front sensor is original (mine still said motorcraft when I changed it a couple years ago) it wouldn't hurt even if the fuel trims are right. I changed mine since I was occasionally getting a fuel trim fault even though while I was watching the values it looked fine but that went away when I put a set of injectors in it, didn't change anything else on drivability or anything though...

I think these things do odd stuff here and there, it's not the most refined beast.

Out of curiosity, what kind of fuel mileage are you getting? Mine gets 22-24 with car tires, subtract about 1.5 for all terrains... in 90k miles I've tried like 4 different sizes and a couple types just to find where I wanted to be... all the testing was in the first 30k though, the rest has been very consistent.

 

[Camerondebusk]

Let me guess, coolant temp always at the C and never goes up and reads like 160 on your OBD II? I've been fighting that for 5 years on my '97. The best fix I've done so far is put a new thermostat housing on with a Motorcraft thermostat and tweaking the little tabs that hold the T stat into the housing... Dumb fact the Motorad T stat does NOT fit in the Motorad T stat housing, I mean it fits but it does NOT work correctly. The coolant temp is read in the bypass hose that goes to the heater core and to read right the thermostat has to seal to the housing and the heater core has to flow (or the diverter valve has to work if you have A/C, I don't so I don't have one). Unfortunately for me I've eliminated everything and have gotten it better but I'm down to having to change the heater core which I'm dreading... I have one, it's on the list...

The downstream sensor doesn't do much of anything other than test the front cat, if the front sensor is original (mine still said motorcraft when I changed it a couple years ago) it wouldn't hurt even if the fuel trims are right. I changed mine since I was occasionally getting a fuel trim fault even though while I was watching the values it looked fine but that went away when I put a set of injectors in it, didn't change anything else on drivability or anything though...

I think these things do odd stuff here and there, it's not the most refined beast.

Out of curiosity, what kind of fuel mileage are you getting? Mine gets 22-24 with car tires, subtract about 1.5 for all terrains... in 90k miles I've tried like 4 different sizes and a couple types just to find where I wanted to be... all the testing was in the first 30k though, the rest has been very consistent.

Gauge reads below cold on startup and about 1/3rd when at temp obd2 puts my truck at about 177 consistently, so if 160 is expected then it’s probably time for thermostat.

I get about 19 putting around town on 195/70/14(all my local shop had when I blew two tires) and about 25 highway. I do have a camper shell on there so it probably dings my fuel a bit. Town driving hurts economy quite a bit when I’m flooring it at every light trying to not hold up traffic

and I’m glad I’m not the only one with a “list” for this truck, I think next up is an exhaust overhaul or throwing sound insulation in the cab when I redo the floors

 

[scotts90ranger]

With your mileage being good I think your engine is about like it should be... over the years I've seen several complaints very similar to yours and mine is about as dumb... I don't think these are completely ironed out. that said I haven't thought about the issue much yet