2.3L ('83-'97) Reman. Cylinder Head Saga

[Dirtman]

What does everyone have against purple loctite...

 

[tomw]

At least one of the water pump bolts is 'through' into the jacket, so likely needs some thread sealer. The red is thread locker residue, I think.
Cam sprocket torque seems reasonable to me. It is kinda hard to hold in position as I remember...
It makes sense to me to use a tap to clean the threads in the block fastener holes. There are 'cleaners'(thread chasers) available if you don't have a tap and die set. HF sells them for ~$20-ish, but beware of the sizes as sometimes you get two of something and none of something else.
I likely would put anti-seize on the exhaust bolts, if there was a chance I would be removing it in the future. Don't know how much it would do, but couldn't hurt to try. No other bolts need it as far as I can remember. Cam cover, intake, accessory mounts(alt, A/C, PS, nothing special)
tom

 

[CAJones]

Seems weird to need thread sealant or Loctite on the crank or camshaft bolt. When the engine turns, it is always tightening the bolts (correct?), so why add something to the threads?

 

[scotts90ranger]

The camshaft is hollow, and the bolt holds back oil from inside, that's the reason for that. Crank bolt shouldn't need anything, but anything is possible... I don't use much when working on things, I occasionally find fasteners I should have used something on though...

 

[CAJones]

The crank pulley and the oil pump pulley seem to be aligned, but the head seems to be half a tooth off as you can see by the Sharpie marks I made for where each tooth is. This was after rotating the crankshaft at least two times. The tensioner isn't tightened down yet but it is applying tension to the belt. No idea if this is within tolerance for these marks or not?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I think I would call that macaroni...

 

[CAJones]

I have no idea what that means. Joke or bad or good?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I was trying to be funny (I think that's a saying, but could be mixing some things up or was just my family...), but it's close enough, I think my '97 was about that far off and it runs fine.

 

[CAJones]

Tested the compression today:
Cylinder 1: 75 psi
Cylinder 2,3,4: 190 psi

Great...anyone have any experience with compression booster additives? I have to get a set of spark plugs wires as one of the terminals pulled out of the boot.

 

[scotts90ranger]

It really depends on where it's leaking out. If possible do a leak down test, it will tell you if it's leaking by the rings or valves. An additive probably won't make a noticeable improvement from 75psi...

 

[scotts90ranger]

If you don't have a leak down tester, no need to be as fancy as that (there's obviously a lot slipping by somewhere, no need to measure it) take your compression gauge, pull the valve core out of the end and connect an air compressor with the engine at TDC or close, listen for air coming out the oil cap, air intake or tail pipe, that'll tell you where it's coming from.

 

[CAJones]

I am guessing it is either the cylinder ring or the cylinder wall itself as the attached picture shows what the cylinder wall looked like when I pulled the head off. It's a reman. head so I highly doubt it is the valves as the other three cylinders performed well in the compression test. The marks aren't deep, they didn't catch a fingernail, just a little rough close to the top of the cylinder wall.

I guess the next step is to see how it runs. No idea if it should/can be driven with such low pressure in cylinder 1.

 

[scotts90ranger]

that might do it, could be a stuck top ring... that sucks but I agree, time to see how it runs, some ATF sitting in that hole over night might not hurt in breaking up the carbon that might be sticking the ring. Getting some running with some cylinder pressure might get the ring loose, weirder things have happened... If there were head issues on that cylinder it could have just been there for the ride for a while which could add carbon or something.

 

[Fredness]

The crank pulley and the oil pump pulley seem to be aligned, but the head seems to be half a tooth off as you can see by the Sharpie marks I made for where each tooth is.

Machine work to the head, machine work to the block, head gasket thickness variations...

It's expected, this is where an adjustable timing gear comes in handy.

 

[CAJones]

Machine work to the head, machine work to the block, head gasket thickness variations...

It's expected, this is where an adjustable timing gear comes in handy.

An electric truck would be even more handy!