Can I put a 4.0 from a 93 explorer in my 93 4.0 ranger?

[caliranger]

Ok so I have a 93 ranger, 4.0, 5 spd. The other day I got it really hot to the point that it was knocking real bad. I didnt realize it was overheating until it was too late (temp gauge wasnt giving an accurate temp because there was no coolant) anyways the thing died. I tried to restart it, it turned over real slow but wouldnt fire. So I let it cool down, filled it back up with water, and it started right up. The knocking stopped but now im getting a ticking noise from the top end. Also if I run the engine with the radiator cap off there is white foam coming from the radiator. Its not oil foam, its air buble foam. This foam dramatically increases when I give it a little gas and it also spews water out the neck of the radiator. So right now Im about 98% sure I got a blown head gasket and possibly some other internal issues. Anybody wana back me up on that? So I found a 4.0 out of a 93 explorer. Will that motor fit directly into my ranger? The guy is selling the motor for pretty cheap, its out of the vehicle, and he says it has 40-50k on a rebuild. How can I be sure that this motor is sound? What should I look for to determine if this motor is in good shape?

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Bolt it up and go... If you ran it long enough without coolant for it to die I'd pull it and replace, especially with good 4.0L's in front of bad A4LD's so common it's easy just to "unplug" one and "plug" in a new one... About trying to find out if it's good or not, if I were to buy an engine "out" of a vehicle and wasn't able to hear it running I would consider it a "core" and good only for a rebuild... If you can see the original Explorer it might give you more peace of mind (if the car was totalled, you know it was running immediately before then, most non-running vehicles don't usually get run into that much, lol)

 

[caliranger]

Thats what i was thinkin... So your sayin its a simple engine swap? what is a bad A4LD's??? Im new to Fords. I just bought this truck 2 weeks ago..

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Yeah, pretty much an unbolt and bolt in affair... A4LD is the automatic transmission that Ford put behing the 4.0L... it's terribly unreliable and most of them fail before the engine does...

 

[caliranger]

Lucky for me I got the 5 spd, the explorer is an auto, and the guy said the trans is out and thats why he is parting it out, I guess he is chopping the vehicle up for scrap... he said the engine is still in it but he flipped the car over and its been sittin on its lid for a few days, is this going to damage the motor?

 

[AllanD]

Presuming your "Cali" user name means you live in Cali and your truck was originally sold ith Cali emissions your '94 WILL have EGR.

The 1993 Donor may or may not. The basic engine is the same.
But unless it has EGR and the cam synchronizer installed you've
got some swapping to do...

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