Big weekend for the Ranger

[chrisser]

So I finally got my garage cleaned out and the Ranger in there.

Got the last of my parts today.

Swapping out the automatic with an M5od. New clutch, master and slave. Swapping out the T-case with one in better condition from the boneyard.

Going to drain and change all the fluids. Have new belts and radiator hoses, new plugs and wires, cap, rotor, pickup. New carpet, shocks, and a new Y-pipe, along with front/rear bumpers, door weatherstripping, driveshaft center bearing, and a bunch of little parts.

We're supposed to get a break in the weather (above freezing, at least) for the weekend, then it's going to get really cold next week. Don't know if I'll get everything done in a weekend, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Hoping to have it on the road finally soon.

 

[96Indyram]

Sounds like a long list of stuff to do. I am getting ready tomorrow to do alot of the same to my 87 4x4. have fun.

 

[chrisser]

Got a lot done today. Not exactly what I planned...

Ended up installing a new front fender I picked up. It's an aftermarket and frankly doesn't fit all that well, but at least it's not all dented up like the old one.

Also got new front and rear bumpers installed and a new front grille. Polished up all the front and side marker lights and put a license plate on the front.

Sprayed penetrating oil on all the fasteners for the trans and removed the trans cooler off the front while I had the grille out.

Also changed out all the Explorer aluminum wheels for some 15" steelies I picked up off Crown Vics a few months ago - I like the look and they'll dent if I hit a rock rather than cracking. Eventually I'm going to put narrow trim rings and moon caps on it for an old school look, but that'll have to wait until after the winter - no sense salting up those pieces when the truck's going to be covered in muck for the next few months.

Had to pull it out of the garage for all that, and it's back in the garage now.

Put the new slave cylinder on the manual trans, going to start pulling the automatic tomorrow. Not looking forward to pulling the Y pipe off the manifolds, or off the converter, but that'll hopefully be the hardest part of the trans swap.

 

[chrisser]

Got the automatic out today. What a PITA.

I guess that's the good news.

The bad news, is I drained the oil so I could pull the oil filter to get to the Y pipe. The oil is milky.

I'm guessing either a cracked head or a blown head gasket, but I'll search around to see if anything else could be the culprit.

Looks like it's going to take a little longer to get it on the road...

 

[feellnfroggy]

you have the flywheel for a manual truck and all that? sux about the heads...

 

[chrisser]

I do have the flywheel.

So I took out all six plugs. They're all uniformly carboned, so if the heads are leaking, it's probably not into the cylinders.

I pressurized the cooling system, hoping to maybe hear fluid leaking. Had the oil drain plug out to see if anything came out.

Unfortunately, I appear to have a leak in the heater core. Enough's streaming out that I can't really pressurize the system for any length of time.

So, I gotta fix that, and then maybe figure out where the coolant's coming from.

This truck sat for a long time outside, and I haven't driven it other than off the trailer and to move it in the driveway (the trans main seal was leaking badly). Is it possible the oil is contaminated from condensation accumulating in the crankcase over time? I hate to tear into the engine if it isn't necessary.

Probably take off the valve covers and see if there's any evidence of coolant and/or sludging.

If I can't find a leak after fixing the heater core, I'm leaning towards just changing the oil, running it for awhile, and monitoring it.

 

[wildbill23c]

I have an 84 Bronco 2, and after having the head gaskets replaced I still have some moisture issues, its definitely not coolant though as the system was pressure tested and held pressure for quite some time. can't figure out what the moisture problem would be though. Oil level never gets any higher so its not coolant getting into the oil. The only thing I can think of is its just not ran long enough to burn off the moisture that was left from doing the head gaskets.

The heater core shouldn't be too bad, my only issue was trying to get the air purged out of the system after replacing mine.

 

[chrisser]

I haven't checked the manual yet. Does the heater core come out from the engine compartment, or from under the dash?

 

[wildbill23c]

Mine came out from under the dash, yours should be the same.

 

[chrisser]

Interesting.

My leak is coming out from the bottom of the blower box on the firewall in the engine compartment (I don't have A/C). Maybe the core is OK, but the hoses aren't tight and the coolant's running down the inside of the blower box.

I guess I ought to check the carpet too...

 

[wildbill23c]

Check the carpet. I'm not sure if my old one really had failed or not, but it or the hoses were leaking into the perfect spot to fog up the windshield on my way home from work one night, so it got replaced. I had a heck of a time getting the hoses in the right spot and tightened down so they wouldn't leak. It took about 10 minutes total to replace mine and that included the cussing at the heater hoses trying to get them connected again.

I don't have any carpet in my B2 (thanks to the PO's idiot son's many things he should be beaten for touching). But had a puddle of coolant on the floor on the passenger side. I think there were either 2 or 3 fasteners that held the heater core in under the dash, it was more of a pain trying to get up under the dash than it was doing the replacement. I took the glove box out for easier access.

 

[det107]

This truck sat for a long time outside

Just adding if you can see the timing marks on crank pulley/ harmonic balancer since it was stored outdoors-

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This truck sat for a long time outside, and I haven't driven it other than off the trailer and to move it in the driveway (the trans main seal was leaking badly). Is it possible the oil is contaminated from condensation accumulating in the crankcase over time? I hate to tear into the engine if it isn't necessary.

It is fairly common in engines that are only ran for short periods of time in cooler weather. When an engine gets warm it will cook the moisture out of the oil.

When you get it going I would change the oil and drive a distance and see how it goes.

 

[chrisser]

So I pulled the heater core tonight. Carpet was wet.

Core looked fine and wasn't wet. I hooked it up to the heater hoses, but inside the engine compartment. Pressurized the system - no heater core leakage. I have to assume the PO didn't put the hoses on correctly.

So I went ahead and pressurized it again. Some leakage at the radiator hoses - tightened the clamps.

Pressurized again. Found the radiator is leaking at the tank.

So looks like a new radiator is forthcoming. I also noticed the fan has a lot of cracking.

Until I replace the radiator, I can't troubleshoot the milky oil. However, I didn't get any coolant coming out of the crankcase or any hissing in the cylinders. I'm leaning towards just putting it back together and running it to see if the oil gets milky again.

 

[chrisser]

Before I went to bed last night, I pressurized the system again.

The radiator starts to leak at about 15 psi.

Came out this morning, and the system was still at 12 psi about 10 hours later. No sign of coolant coming out of the crankcase (I left the drain plug off)

It's possible whatever may be leaking coolant into the crankcase only does it when hot, but, at this point, there doesn't seem to be any way to positively identify it. I'm not going to open up the engine unless I'm sure I have a coolant leak.

I'm going to proceed with putting it back together. When the new radiator arrives, I'll pressure test it again. If I can hold the cap pressure overnight (have to check, but I think it's 16psi or something in that ballpark), I'm not going to troubleshoot any further unless coolant shows up in the new oil once it's running again.