Big weekend for the Ranger

[chrisser]

Pulled the passenger side valve cover. Valvetrain looks good, but there was a little coolant visible.

Soaked it up with a paper towel. Pressurized the cooling system and watched. Eventually found it seaping - head's cracked.

Looks like a trip to the junkyard is in order.

I eventually will be putting a 4.0 in it, but right now I need to get the 2.9 running. Hopefully I can find an intact head this weekend at the Pull-A-Part.

Going to check the driver side head tomorrow night.

 

[94 lngbd]

milky oil is a good sign of blown head casket

 

[zekew64]

It's not a head gasket, it's the head itself. And usually, if it's not leaking in the cylinders themselves, it's leaking from a water jacket somewhere. And since the coolant level isn't changing all that much, I'm willing to bet that within 6 months to a year, if the heads aren't changed, you'll blow the motor and hydraulically lock it up. My brother had the issue of internal coolant leakage in his '89 Jeep YJ; could never figure out where it was leaking, but my guess is that it was leaking through the head. Seems to be the same case here.

 

[wildbill23c]

If I remember correctly the 2.9L heads were prone to cracking due to overheating conditions.

I drove my Bronco 2 to Boise the other day and my moisture issue in my oil is gone for a while again, it will be back soon though just because I don't get to drive too far.

 

[chrisser]

The head's definitely cracked. I can see the coolant seaping out of the crack and, now that I know where it is, I can see an actual crack on the lip that the valve cover seals onto. It's between the two valves on the first cylinder on the passenger side (don't know if that's #1 or #2). The coolant leaks into the valvetrain area and then into the crankcase.

I didn't get to the other side tonight - we had company.

Now that I know the head is cracked, I'll probably jack up the engine, pull the oil pan, and see how the main bearings are.