Brian1973
Well-Known Member
Couple questions for those with more knowledge than me. I have a 1991 Ranger 3.0L... seems I blew headgasket at 145k miles.... was missing a bit during heavy acceleration before it blew but when it did blow, it started blowing white smoke and sputtering... immediately shut 'er down.... noticed liquid dripping from rear of engine.... took to shop, they said hydrolocked possibly and might just be better to get a good used engine.... their price didn't excite me. part of the reasoning for an engine swap was they figured it was an older engine and some of the bolts on the exhaust manifold looked pretty rusty they said too..... figured they could replace gasket and put together but the bottom end might need work too..... kinda got the idea they didn't wanna have to mess with it.... especially with a price of $2500 to install a motor with 80k miles on it.... figured I'd work on it when I had more time.... soooo, I have the time and have worked on it.... I have removed the heads and from what I can tell all looks ok... gasket didn't have any real noticable blowout that I can tell.... the pistons look fine from what I can tell above... the cylinders feel smooth and no noticable imperfections.... and luckily all but one exhaust manifold bolts came out clean.....
Question 1) Is there any EASY way to see if there is any damage to connecting rods or other parts from a possible hydrolock? Without taking apart the whole bottom side?.... also, should mention... before tearing apart engine, did drain antifreeze and ran engine for a couple minutes... other than the apparent compression loss on one or two cylinders, it did run and seemed fine under the condition...
Question 2) since I have things tore down this far, any suggestions for other things I can do that might need doing in the near future for an engine with 145k miles.... timing chain (even though it seems I don't have to tear apart the engine to get to the cover as I have had to do in the past for a Toyota I own also)... I figure I'll get a valve job and have machine shop machine the heads and then start reassembling if no other issues to resolve.... would hate to put all together though and then find I have a shimmy or other problem....
???
Thanks,
Brian
Question 1) Is there any EASY way to see if there is any damage to connecting rods or other parts from a possible hydrolock? Without taking apart the whole bottom side?.... also, should mention... before tearing apart engine, did drain antifreeze and ran engine for a couple minutes... other than the apparent compression loss on one or two cylinders, it did run and seemed fine under the condition...
Question 2) since I have things tore down this far, any suggestions for other things I can do that might need doing in the near future for an engine with 145k miles.... timing chain (even though it seems I don't have to tear apart the engine to get to the cover as I have had to do in the past for a Toyota I own also)... I figure I'll get a valve job and have machine shop machine the heads and then start reassembling if no other issues to resolve.... would hate to put all together though and then find I have a shimmy or other problem....

Thanks,
Brian