hey all

[SRT08]

my name is geoff.. glad i found this site.. just baught an 88 xlt single cab, which in almost immaculatye shap.. paid $1500 for it and got 25 miles from the guys house and it started to lose power.. she taps quite a bit, but with only 83,000 on the odometer.. called the guy and assumed it was about to blow up, and he gave me $500 cas back to purchase another motor.. my first ranger owning experience.. lol.. i cant wait to get started on this truck, and be a part of the forum.. see everybody around.!

 

[jhammel85]

Welcome!

Thats sucks about the motor. Are you sure it's only 83 and not 183 or 283?

 

[SRT08]

I could say with almost 100%, just by the shape and lack of wear on this truck, that its 83.. i could be very wrong, but the thing is veryt clean.. everywhere.. i also pulled the converters, and they were already hollowed out.. i think the motor may have been switched, becuz the floorboard was all marred up from the tranny scraping.. dude screwed me on the motor story, but all in all i got an immaculate truck, so.. i did pull the valve covers yesterday, becuz the gaskets were relatively newly replaced.. gonna mess with rockers, pushrods, ect, along with timing to see if its savable.. if not, 5.0 to come..

 

[jhammel85]

What exactly was it doing when it was losing power? The trucks will run pretty crappy without cats. Make sure the O2 sensor and everything is in place as well.

As far as the motor being swapped..Well, I guess it's a possibility. I'm not sure how you could tell if it was original or not. Maybe someone on here can help with that. As far as the tranny scraping up the doghouse (floorboard) that could be just from someone changing the oil pan gasket! Wishful thinking but it definitely happens...

The tapping is known in these 2.9's. Especially higher mileage ones. Mine has 150k on it but it doesn't tap unless its been a while since I change the oil and it's idling.

Either way, it sounds solid man. Definitely post up pics and let us know some more symptoms.