Hello from Ohio, First Truck

[dsm21]

Hello ya'll

I have been lurking the forums the past few weeks and finally got my first truck.
1999 Ford Ranger 4.0 XLT
4X4
Automatic

Little back ground, My favorite cars are (DSM's) 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse/Eagle Talon/ or Plymouth Lasers. I am not ricer, I dont throw giant rediculous wings or put stickers on my cars. I keep them factory and just make them faster.

Now the truck, bought the truck a week ago for about a grand, has 120,000 mi, clear body. Bought it from a friend, The truck has new tires and brakes all the way around. Only thing wrong with the truck is the ABS is out (Just unplugged it) and has a small head gasket leak.

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I am considering just putting a new head gasket on, but this might be a good excuse to do an engine swap. Thinking about putting a 99 Ford Explorer SOHC in the Ranger, but do not know if it would be a direst swap or a tideous task, I have searched and there are many different views about... any advice and thanks for all the help in advance.

 

[kunar]

Welcome fellow ohioan! What's going on with the engine that makes you think it needs a head gasket?

 

[dsm21]

I haven't run any test yet..... (I should) But

runs rough when I first start it, rus fine when up to operating temp.
White smoke coming from the tail pipe
And lastly my coolent keeps disappearing....

The Truck hasn't over-heated(yet), but If I don't keep the coolent up then I imagine it will. Thoughts?

 

[kunar]

Intake gasket? IIRC, its common for the 4.0 to leak coolant onto the intake past the gasket. I'd check your plugs and do a compression test. Also pretty likely that you'd be getting combustion pressure into the radiator if it were a bad head gasket, not the other way around.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[dsm21]

Intake gasket? IIRC, its common for the 4.0 to leak coolant onto the intake past the gasket. I'd check your plugs and do a compression test. Also pretty likely that you'd be getting combustion pressure into the radiator if it were a bad head gasket, not the other way around.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta

My friend just put a new intake gasket on the engine and he is a Kia Master tech.
I was getting a code cant remember exact code it said air leak Passenger side, bank 1

But why would I be loosing coolent from a bad intake gasket? I assumed the code was thrown because of a head gasket leak.

 

[adsm08]

Most ford engines have coolant passages in the lower intake to help heat the air on cold start for emissions reasons.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

 

[dsm21]

Most ford engines have coolant passages in the lower intake to help heat the air on cold start for emissions reasons.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

Hmm... I did get a "Lean" code on the passenger side. I will try to use the old Glove ad radiotor cap trick to rule out head gasket. If it gets ruled out I will look at the intake. Anything I should look for when Determining intake leak?

 

[dsm21]

just tried the "Glove" over the radiotor trick and coolent kept being pushed into the glove. When I would force the Coolent back down, Air bubbles would come up and through the radiotor Resivoir.

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So from what I read I imagine this would indicate a blown or leaking head gasket?
Thoughts?