Mystery's 99 Ranger Build

[Mystery Leak]

awesome work bringing that truck back to life.

Thanks bro!

 

[Mystery Leak]

Reinstalled the P/S Pump Pulley, Radiator, Transmission Cooling Lines, Radiator & Heater Hoses, Water Pump Pulley, Cooling Fan, Clutch & Shroud, and Air Intake. Refilled Oil and Coolant.

Started it up and it ran, YEAH!!!

There were squeaks coming from the front of the engine. I'm not sure if it's the serpentine belt or maybe the new fan clutch or water pump. It might even be a misaligned p/s pump pulley. I didn't know how far to press the pulley on. It had trouble idling and was running rough. I had to gas it ever so often to keep it from stopping. I was worried I made a mistake in trying to resurrect this engine.

I checked under the hood and underneath the loud squeaking I could hear a medium-pitched whistle. Aha ... vacuum leak! I could've sworn I plugged all the vacuum lines in. I looked around and low and behold, under the upper intake was a vacuum port I forgot about. I turned off the engine, searched for the missing hose which was buried under a mess of wires and plugged it in. I started the engine and it gently slowed down to a nice calm idle. The throttle response wasn't as touchy either, which was nice too.

The oil pressure gauge started acting up again. It can't be the switch because I put a brand new one in. (I hope it's not the oil pump!) I added a little more oil to bring the level up and the next time I started it, it seemed to behave. I think I'll change the oil filter next chance I get.

I couldn't get in a test drive because I've got no brakes! I still have to repair that leaky rear brake line. Test drive soon!

 

[Mystery Leak]

It appears my cooling system is leak-free, gaskets and all!!!

When the engine is hot, everything expands leaving less room for coolant. The excess coolant is forced through the Radiator Cap and into the Overflow Tank. When the engine cools, the vacuum return valve on the Radiator Cap should allow that coolant to return. In my case, the return valve was stuck and wouldn't allow any coolant back in. As everything contracted, the resulting vacuum caused the hoses to collapse on themselves.

Another view of the Upper Radiator Hose. This should be ROUND, not flat! The Lower Radiator Hose is a little squashed as well. When I opened the cap, the hoses returned to normal as the vacuum seal was broken.

Old and New Radiator Caps side by side. The brass button on top should pull out with minimal force. The one on the old cap is stuck and prevents the overflowed coolant from returning from the overflow tank. The hoses end up collapsing when the engine cools down.

 

[stiluv]

its alive sweet dude! have you found what is making the squeel?

 

[Rangerman4158]

looks like you did a really good job for your first tear down!!

 

[Mystery Leak]

looks like you did a really good job for your first tear down!!

Thanks man! That means a lot coming from a tech!

its alive sweet dude! have you found what is making the squeel?

Still working on that. I played with pushing the power steering pulley in and out a little bit and it didn't really help. I turned the belt around 180 degrees and that didn't help either. I was going to swap out the tensioner, except the engine was still hot and the 8mm bolt was too soft so I couldn't get a good bite on the bolt. If I can't get it out when the engine's cool, I may drill the damn thing out!

If swapping out the idler and tensioner doesn't help, I'll try remounting the AC/PS bracket. It was quite a struggle trying to get all 5 bolts in, so the bracket might've been cocked in the process. After that, I'm out of ideas.

 

[Mystery Leak]

It's time to tackle the ABS light! I ordered the Actron CP9449 ABS Diagnostic Scan Tool from Advance Auto. I got it discounted at $84.95 only to find out I could've bought it from Amazon for $67. Here's the ->link<- if you're interested.

C1230 - Wheel Speed Sensor Rear Center Input Circuit Fail. Speed Sensor on the Differential needs to be replaced. (Not to be confused with the Speed Sensor on the Transmission.)

Old and New Speed Sensors - I ordered a Motorcraft replacement from Rock Auto for $22.

When I first looked for the Speed Sensor, I found that the cable was disconnected, so I connected it and fired up the scantool only to find that it was indeed bad. The ABS light was still on and the scantool registered the same C1230 code.

I then disconnected the bolt holding the sensor down with a 10mm socket and pried it off with a screwdriver. I dipped my finger in the hole to get some grease to lube the o-ring on the new sensor before I pressed it in and bolted it in place. I reconnected the wiring, started the car and the ABS light went out - WOOHOO! Success!!!

I went on to erase the C1230 code from the Ranger's ABS code memory. I was a little surprised when I saw the ABS light blinking on and off and thought something was wrong, but it finally went out after a few seconds. The scantool then registered no codes. (In order to erase the codes from the history, you need to update the Actron CP9449 using a USB cable that they don't supply and an XP Computer with an internet connection. I was able to use the USB cable from my camera and I'm still running XP so that wasn't a problem.)

Look Ma! No more ABS light!

 

[Mystery Leak]

I couldn't figure out what was causing the squeal, so I just started swapping out parts. First I tried to remove the old tensioner, but the socket slipped and smoothed out all the faces on the bolt. I then tried needle-nose vice-grips, those didn't work either, so I just swapped the new idler pulley onto the old tensioner. Still squeaked!

I swapped out the idler pulley on top with an AC Delco one. That didn't work either!

I finally swapped out the old belt with a new one and BINGO, noise gone!!! I should've just swapped the belt out first, DUH! AC Delco recommends replacing the idlers when you replace the belt, so I'm all set for the next 100,000 miles ... yeah right! I'll be happy just to make it another 24,000 so I can break 200,000. Then it'll be time to drop in a V8!

Look at all those cracks! I wonder if it's the original?

The new belt barely fit. The tensioner was already bottomed out, so I had to push down really hard on the belt. You can see the line on the tensioner arm is just outside the acceptable tension band (the rectangle just below and to the left of the bolt). It should move left as the belt breaks in.

The flange on the Water Pump is thinner than the original so the bolts stick out. Good for using the fan removal tool! On the old one, you had to take the pulley off, put the bolts back on the flange and use the removal tool on that.

If you don't happen to have a new thin-flanged water pump to reinstall your pulley onto, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way and put the pulley loose on the fan clutch, mount the clutch, put the bolts on the flange, tighten the clutch to the flange using the special tool, take the bolts off, put the pulley on and somehow get the bolts back into the holes.

TIP: Use a 1/4" drive metric deep socket by itself as a nut driver to start the bolts. (I didn't have one of these when I was taking them off earlier). Tighten with 1/4" socket wrench and shallow socket. Anything larger won't fit.

 

[Mystery Leak]

Picked up a pair of replacement tail lights from 1A Auto via eBay for $56 with free shipping. I only installed the right side.

This is the best I could get the tail light in with all the bed damage. Only 1 screw holding it in. I may have to use some duct tape on the top.

My directionals worked, but my hazards wouldn't blink. I was worried I was going to have to replace the mutifunction switch (directionals, wiper, high-beams, hazards) which would've cost $80, but the relay would still click once, so that sounded like a stuck relay to me.

I ordered a Motorcraft Flasher Relay from Rock Auto for $16. The new 5-pin flasher relay is blue and the old 6-pin flasher relay is yellow (no idea what that 6th pin does). Both the hazard and directional relays are contained in this one unit. It's just behind and above the OBDC2 connector. I installed the new unit and my hazards came back to life! YES! That much closer to passing inspection!

 

[Mystery Leak]

Wow, it's been more than a year and I totally forgot about this page. I haven't made any progress since my last post, so I decided it was time to throw in the towel and get rid of it. I originally tried to sell the whole thing for $850 (half of what I put into it). I didn't get any bites, so I removed all the new parts. The original truck with rebuilt heads sold for $350.

What's left is for sale <click here>.

 

[Mystery Leak]

I sold off my bedliner today. That brings the grand total to $465 - $40 for the bedliner, $125 for the cap and $300 for the truck. I bought the truck for $500 ... Not bad at all!