Is the family relic worth saving?

[85_Ranger4x4]

I'd do tap water for initial flushing and testing. Then distilled on last flush, and filling with coolant. You're going to be running a lot of water through that before it gets clean.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I only commented about the rust because I cannot do body work to save myself.

Me either lol.

I just leave it go.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, if it’s in good condition body and frame, I’d keep it. These trucks are pretty simple to work on compared to anything newer. Parts are relatively speaking rather cheap for these.

Definitely I would try to get your father to give you or sell you the truck. There’s going to be a bunch of work that needs done and it doesn’t sound like he cares very much about vehicles. Don’t want to see your hard work trashed or sold.

Flushing the mess in the coolant system out would probably be my first step. If you have decent tap water, I’d use that for flushing. Ideally pull the thermostat housing and lower rad hose and I’d take a hose and spray in there in both directions until it runs clear. Same with the rad and with the heater core. Flush all of that crap you can put. Fill it with tap water and run it for a little bit. Flush it again. Fill it up with water and a cleaner for coolant and run it for a day or two then flush it again. See how it’s looking.

Full tune-up. Fluids, filters, plugs (double platinum, ideally Motorcraft from a parts store or Rock Auto because Amazon and EBay are full of fake parts), plug wires…

Do a compression test when you do the spark plugs, that will give you an idea of engine health. You can borrow one from a parts store or buy your own compression tester.

 

[PlumCrazy]

All depends on rust.

No rust? Save.

Severe rust or cancer? Don't save.

^This.

^^This man gets it.

 

[Rhinthon]

I'm naming this machine "Cassandra," because her warnings have been ignored for years to disastrous effect. Wasn't able to do as much as I lines tonight but now I know to bring my own tools instead of assuming dad has sockets. Added some distilled water to the tank only.

Good news: we're not leaking power steering fluid. It's fucking cooked but it's not leaking. OBDII, hilariously, gave me no codes. Trucks starts and stays in park. I'm pretty sure the AC works, at least the clutch does.

Bad news: we're leaking something from somewhere. Hopefully not the magic juice in the torque converter, and this might just be where things drip from. Distilled water seems to have stayed in the tank instead of circulating.

 

[Rhinthon]

Something is smoking from somewhere. Looks like it's coming off the exhaust manifolds right near the O2 sensors. It's also surprisingly hard to take clear pictures underneath a ranger.

 

[superj]

You put Water in the overflow tank only? Not the radiator?

 

[Rhinthon]

Correct. Didn't have a funnel. My previous cars have had the weird GM capless radiator setup.

So, now knowing that I've done something wrong, what should I do?

 

[JoshT]

Correct. Didn't have a funnel. My previous cars have had the weird GM capless radiator setup.

So, now knowing that I've done something wrong, what should I do?

There is a radiator cap on these. Remove it and fill. Acquire a funnel, or just be very careful about pouring it in. You won't use it often, but I can recommend getting a no-spill coolant funnel. Absolutely not necessary, bakes bleeding the cooling system easy.

Also inspect the hose from radiator to overflow tank. Bad radiator cap or a broken/clogged hose could prevent coolant from being pulled into the radiator. Broken/clogged hose could also explain why the coolant level is low, if it's dumping externally instead of into the overflow tank. Could also explain why the overflow is so clean while the radiator is so dirty.

I'm not going to try to direct you on bleeding the cooling system, but someone else may be up for it. If you get the no-spill funnel it'll have directions.

If you do not get the funnel, this will do good enough. Fill the radiator full at the cap. Squeeze the upper rad hose to push air out. Top off and repeat until no air escapes. Fill reservior to full line. Run the engine to full warm up so that the t-stst opens, this warms the coolant and pushes the trapped air out into the reservior, when the engine cools it will pull coolant back into the radiator. Top off reservior and repeat. These cycles can be done while using the truck as long as you keep an eye on it to prevent overheating. Check reservior regularly until it stabalizes.

 

[JoshT]

I'm naming this machine "Cassandra," because her warnings have been ignored for years to disastrous effect. Wasn't able to do as much as I lines tonight but now I know to bring my own tools instead of assuming dad has sockets. Added some distilled water to the tank only.

Good news: we're not leaking power steering fluid. It's fucking cooked but it's not leaking. OBDII, hilariously, gave me no codes. Trucks starts and stays in park. I'm pretty sure the AC works, at least the clutch does.

Bad news: we're leaking something from somewhere. Hopefully not the magic juice in the torque converter, and this might just be where things drip from. Distilled water seems to have stayed in the tank instead of circulating.

Not familiar with the Cassandra reference, but I'm hoping that since you're naming it you've got any potential ownership issues worked out. That's between you and him, I'll try leave it at that.

OBDII, at least on trucks that age, does not report on power steering. It doesn't report on much except for engine, transmission, emissions, and MAYBE brakes. I think that last one is a stretch.

Check valve cover gaskets and rear intake to block gasket (flashlight and mirror). Valve cover gaskets are bad about leaking down onto the Exhaust manifolds. Either those or the rear intake gasket can leak oil and have it run down the back side of the block, often looks like it is coming from the bellhousing and torque converter area.

 

[Rhinthon]

Cassandra was a Trojan priestess who was gifted prophecy by Apollo, and cursed that they would never be believed. She's a side character in Iliad and Odyssey both, as well as a bunch of other Greek stuff. This truck gave plenty of warning signs over the years, all of them dismissed as "the heater core is a pain in the ass" or "probably just an oxygen sensor" and more recently "we should get rid of it."

I plugged in my OBDII scanner mostly for shits and grins. I was mildly surprised that it worked at all.

Thank you so much for the gasket information. If I confirm the issue I'll order a set of gaskets and deal with everything as I go.

Also thank you for the instruction on how to fill a normal cooling system. Again, I'm used to GM Ecotech weirdness.