New and already in trouble

[Dancinci]

I bought a 97 Ranger on a whim. The price was good and it had a fresh transmission install.

It seemed to run OK, just needed a few bugs worked out. The problems seem to be getting bigger, and temporarily my garage is full, so I’m outside trying to get things sorted out.

I’ll be doing a lot of searches and posting in the forums. I think an engine swap is in my future.

 

[stegomon]

whats wrong

 

[Dancinci]

Right now the engine is uneven at idle, it surges then seems to bog down. I'm doing some searching in the forums for that, and will be replacing a few vacuum lines, even though I doubt that is the cause(some lines are pretty bad, but plugging the ports didn't help).

The bigger problem is the engine knock which has that double tap type sound. I'm afraid that is a rod knocking. It's faint but I'm kicking myself for not picking up on that before I bought it. It was freezing cold and the truck has a loud power steering pump. I gust didn't look, and listen, close enough before I bought it.