Cold weather warm up questions.

[Joey Stacks]

92 Ranger 2.3 Manual Tranny
First off this thing wont warm up if its sitting even if its sitting there for 20mins, but if you drive one mile after its been warming up the oil temp gauge finally goes up. Also it never gets to the normal heat range (according to the gauge) its always within normal and cold even in the summer.

Second The clutch pedal seems to be freezing. Its like there is no fluid in it when you give it a cold start. Pedal goes to the floor with a quarter inch of travel that will actually engage it. Recently I made the mistake of not checking the clutch fluid and almost ran out but I refilled it and now think that It needs to be bled due to a little bit of spongyness. Is this a common problem or is there another root to the problem.

 

[modelageek]

I would replace the Tstat with a MOTORCRAFT. The slave cylinders in these trucks are prone to failure. There is a slight chance the clutch master cylinder is leaking but it is prob the slave. I don't think bleeding will help you need to stop the leak

 

[modelageek]

I reread the thread. I might have missed something. Does your heat work. I did not know these trucks came with a "oil temp gauge"

 

[ianthegreat]

he's probably talking about the coolant gauge

 

[srteach]

The coolant temp sensor will not send a hot signal until the thermostat opens up. Change the thermostat.
You need to bleed the clutch master cylinder to get back the pedal feel. There is a leak in the clutch hydraulic system. Most of the time it is the slave cylinder that leaks, but occasionally it is the master. Find the leak, repair it, and bleed the clutch system.

 

[modelageek]

If it is your clutch master that is leaking I would recommend getting one that comes prebleed. In the event you end up getting one that needs to be bleed let me know and I will post a video showing how to do it. You do this before you install it. I have it bookmarked on another puter. I am betting on your slave having the leak. I also noticed that on my truck unless the coolant is completely filled and the air burped out the gauge will fluctuate when you rev the engine because it is forcing coolant over the sensors.

 

[Joey Stacks]

what happened with the clutch is I ran the fluid really low and the pedal is spongy now that I refilled it.I dont think there is a leak because I park it in a garage and dont see any spots when I pull it out.

 

[Joey Stacks]

oh and the heat works

 

[RangerFabWorks]

sounds like your low on coolant.

and i would replace the slave anyway. it may not be leaking enough to see a puddle, but it will trust me.

 

[Joey Stacks]

nah coolants good just flushed and refilled myself bout 2 months ago and I check it almost daily
found thermostat for 11bucks at napa gonna put it in this weekend

 

[modelageek]

nah coolants good just flushed and refilled myself bout 2 months ago and I check it almost daily
found thermostat for 11bucks at napa gonna put it in this weekend

if i was you I would run not walk back to napa and return the tstat. then i would get a motorcraft tstat. I went thru 2 napa tstats and and i froze for one winter all to save $9 . in the end had to buy 3 tstats.....but its your truck

 

[Joey Stacks]

thanks for the tip bro I will keep that in mind

 

[modelageek]

the motorcraft tstat has a bleeder on it and it has the proper gasket. these trucks run cool natuarly so you want to try and get as much heat out of them as you can

thanks for the tip bro I will keep that in mind

 

[Mr.Stoke_Me]

hey bro...i may have just wrecked mine.. but i do know the my ol girl used to do the same thing..i thought it was the thermo, replaced it annd it kept doing the same thing...never warming up(even on a hot texas summer day) i moved to ky and really needed a heater..but when i started to use it..it never worked right..and blew a sweet smelling smoke out the vents..so i replaced the heater core cuz it was in horrible shape, took me about 30 minutes..it was very easy just a few simple tools and a little patience. after i put the new core in, it would warn right up and on a cool kentucky day it would run low normal temps..

just a thought...could be an easy fix and they dont cost much. i got mine from advance auto and it cost maybe 30 bucks!!if you need any hellp on figuring how to replace the core, just message me..and if you dont have a book for it ill take a pic of the page in mine and post it up for you!

 

[modelageek]

Mr stroke me. i agree with you that the heater core is an easy, cheap fix for 1994 and older trucks. it is a 20 minute job and cost $25 in parts. For a 1995 and newer the parts are still $25 but it takes about 10 hours to pull the dash and replace the core. The OP was describing what seemed like an issue with the actual engine warming up. I got the impression that the engine would not warm up so that is why we were suggesting the tstat. the OP has not really followed up and given us any updates....I had the same issue and I did not solve it until I installed a MOTORCRAFT tstat