Need some advice please.

[Alloutofdonuts]

So, coming home the other day I think I blew the heads/gaskets in my poor little Ranger ('92 2.9 auto 4x4). I need some advice as far as what might make the most sense to do with the little guy for right now. Probably most are going to say scrap it because it does have some other issues, and I might do that but right now I'm just weighing the options.

The radiator fan clutch is junk I found out, I think thats what lead to the truck over heating (very quickly)I noticed the H20 temp was high(85% up on the gauge)and then *puff* white smoke/steam out the back causing the cars following me to back off real fast.

Other issues are the rear end clunks going into gears(bearings or gears junk?) and the trans just started slipping when the truck overheated. Yeah I guess I hit the jackpot...

I bought it cheap in spring of '08 as "it needs a trans" but I think the guy thought the rear end problem was the trans because up until now the transmission has been doing what it's suppose to as far as I can tell.

I bought it with the idea of doing an engine swap and different trans, rear end etc because the body and frame are in pretty good shape which is rare for up here in NH.... and I just plain like it! I've put a fair bit of work into this truck already:balljoints upper/lower, rear spring shackels, new front calipers,rotors,pads etc, tune up:fuel/air filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc.

I guess what I would like advice on is what makes the most sense to do financially to keep it going through the winter until I can do what I really want in the spring/summer. Originally I wanted to do a 2.3 turbo swap in it to have more power and better mpg and less weight.

I could keep the motor that's in it and fix it for now (assuming its the heads and not the lower end....it did get damn hot!). But just the cost of parts and machine work for the heads make me think it would be worth getting a junk yard V6(3L or 4L) newer engine with lower miles. Plus if I fix the engine then find the lower end is junk in a month it's a big waste of $. I guess I need to figure out what the cheapest & quickest method would be for now as it's my DD and plow truck.

Any suggestions (other than not writing so much lol)???

 

[Psychopete]

Originally I wanted to do a 2.3 turbo swap in it to have more power and better mpg and less weight.

Likely ended up with a cracked head, either way, heads will need taken off, looked at, etc. But there's been nothing to proove that - do you have any signs of coolant in your oil or coolant loss?

Now would be a better time than never, no sense in putting money into something you're going to replace later. But if this is your D/D. My first thought on the rear-end noise is a bad u-joint, but could certainly be something else.

Pete

 

[Alloutofdonuts]

Thanks for the reply. I agree 150% about putting money into something that will get swapped out later. It's funny I have 3 other vehicles here but non of them are road worthy[all projects]. Maybe if I can get one of them going and just get the ranger fixed enough to plow with until spring, then do a swap. That would be great lol.

Sorry, that's also something I forgot to mention. When I pulled over the coolant in the res. was higher than normal and making a boiling noise as it continued to rise. When it cooled down I put about a gallon back into the radiator but at least half of that was due to me being stupid trying to open the radiator before it cooled down enough(I had my Carhart jacket on it to keep from getting boiled alive). Today I checked out the fluid levels and tried to start it to see what would happen. It didn't seem much different than normal except there was maybe a little more engine noise but that's hear say and normally it's not very audible(no major knocking or clacking, etc). After running for a minute or so I could smell coolant pretty strong in the exhaust. But the radiator didn't seem to be pressurized. The oil filler cap doesn't look any different than it did before, and when I pull out the dipstick(cold or warmed up) it just looks like oil to me, no brown or tan frothy stuff.

I noticed the radiator was leaking a little bit from the plastic end tanks near the bottom of the rad. when I was putting the plow on this fall. When I was messing with it today I noticed green droplets all over the frame and bottom of the truck all the way to the back. I wonder if the radiator blew out and the steam was just on the exhaust? Probably just wishful thinking, but now that I think about it, the smoke/steam was coming from the back and on both sides, not just the tail pipe. But wait, that doesn't make sense because the radiator is still holding coolant. Ah!

Maybe I should just get a new fan & fan clutch and see if it overheats again. If not that would be awsome, I could save my pennies for a swap but I'm not holding my breath.

I thought the u-joint was bad too at first, but they seem tight to me. I can't get them to feel loose when my helper is in the truck shifting from reverse to drive. I'll have take the cover off the diff and see what it looks like.

 

[Alloutofdonuts]

Well that's strange. I added some ATF to the tranny & the coolant was still good, went out and finished plowing the driveway with no problems. Took about 20 minutes and I let it warm up for 5 before, the temp gauge stayed normal. No noises or leaks...guess I should count my blessings, but what's up with that?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I would start patching together one of your projects for a dd, if you did pop something in the engine your Ranger is on borrowed time and is messing with you (mine likes to do that from time to time)

I had a pinhole in my upper radiator hose. I noticed some smoke under the hood one day and popped the hood, it was streaming out like a squirt gun and would get blown back onto the engine and boil off when it hit a manifold. But it would only do it when the truck was warm (built up pressure)

 

[Alloutofdonuts]

Good advice, I just replaced the fuel lines yesterday in the one I think I'm gonna drive. I like that "your Ranger is on borrowed time and is messing with you (mine likes to do that from time to time)"hehe that's a good way to put it and I do think it's messing with me, although for the price I paid it's been a good soldier. Worth keeping anyway.

Don't tell my brother though...he hates Fords, mostly rangers and explorers lol.

 

[Mark_88]

Yeah, stranger things have happened...hopefully you didn't cook your engine..could've been coolant hitting the exhaust...

I'd have the u-joints checked out though as pete mentioned...they tend to clunk around when they get wonky...as for the droplets...maybe you should look into a replacement rad for it...as long as everything else is still working, that is...

But, should you need to do some engine work...you might consider a 2.3 turbo...but not for ploughing...unless you can hook up a snow blower instead of a plough...like those little Kuboda units...but you need a power take-off for those...

 

[97BlackBetty]

A thought on the rear end clunking, very well maybe a u-joint, I had one that banged around going from forward to reverse and stop to whatever that I could not get to wiggle while it was in the truck and when I pulled it there were no needle bearings left in it. Another banging issue common beneath our trucks is the slip yoke on the rear shaft, if and when the grease dissolves in the joint, it will bang around, Ford sells a grease for this specific application or you can pick up spline grease for anything, I use red bearing grease (the really sticky stuff).