Temp gauge way over... need help

[tinzuki]

1989 ranger 4wd 2.9l

just picked this up... the guy rolled it. Good thing he had a roll bar. Anyways, he towed it to my house. the radiator was shot and the fan was too. Told me he didn't run it after his boss drove into it. Looked at the oil and still looked like used oil... no peanut butter look.( although i've never seen what its supposed to look like)

So today I took a total of 15 min to replace the fan blade and radiator with used ones.

With a jump start, she roared. Instantly the temp gauge shot all the way right. Same with oil level. Engine hasn't been on in 4 days. I last ran it to move it from side walk to drive way when i first got it. not far and not running more then 30 sec. Obviously, the engine could not have been hot at start.

So where should i start... coolant temp sending unit, engine block temp switch, instrument cluster, other stuff... Anyone think this thing is actually overheating?

Thanks guys. I hope this guy didn't get over on me by selling me a blown engine. What checks can I do to see what condition the 2.9l is in. He said he rebuilt it...

 

[BillupsOMally]

To check the temp gauge, unplug it from the sensor. (It's the one wire one on the front of the lower intake) The gauge should drop to zero. If it does, check the resistance of the sensor to ground against spec. Or just replace the sensor if the gauge drops when you unplug it, even here in Canada you can get one under $10. (Not that I endorse throwing parts at things, but when it's pocket change it saves effort.)

I wouldn't worry about making the oil pressure gauge work, on both my trucks it's useless. Ford may as well have written "LOLLIPOP" under the gauge and wired it to the radio antenna and it would still give you more accurate information about your oil pressure than the stock one does.

Check the plugs, compression, oil pressure and fuel pressure. That will give you a pretty good look inside the motor.

As far as it being upside down, I'm sure someone else can give you first hand info on that, atleast one of them must have a BII they've turned turtle. lol

 

[tinzuki]

To check the temp gauge, unplug it from the sensor. (It's the one wire one on the front of the lower intake) The gauge should drop to zero. If it does, check the resistance of the sensor to ground against spec. Or just replace the sensor if the gauge drops when you unplug it, even here in Canada you can get one under $10. (Not that I endorse throwing parts at things, but when it's pocket change it saves effort.)

I wouldn't worry about making the oil pressure gauge work, on both my trucks it's useless. Ford may as well have written "LOLLIPOP" under the gauge and wired it to the radio antenna and it would still give you more accurate information about your oil pressure than the stock one does.

Check the plugs, compression, oil pressure and fuel pressure. That will give you a pretty good look inside the motor.

As far as it being upside down, I'm sure someone else can give you first hand info on that, atleast one of them must have a BII they've turned turtle. lol

Thanks for the info! I'll check after work today. Much appreciated

 

[Earl43P]

When checking the wiring to the gage coolant temp sender, simply grounding that wire will make the gage peg hot. If that wire is pinched, or shorted to ground in any way, it'll show up as Full Hot when the key is turned to run before ever engaging the starter. Check that.

 

[BillupsOMally]

I noticed from your other posts you're swapping the motor into a Suzuki? Congrats on the initiative. Tidbit of info: my 4.0 wouldn't fire up without the gauge cluster plugged in.It's not supposed to do that but it does. You may want to check if that's the case with yours, could save you some headache down the road.

 

[jhammel85]

I would most likely start with the Temp gauge sender (the single wire sensor).

Then again..You said the Oil Pressure does the same? Sounds like both could be shorting on some that was squished during the roll over

 

[tinzuki]

When checking the wiring to the gage coolant temp sender, simply grounding that wire will make the gage peg hot. If that wire is pinched, or shorted to ground in any way, it'll show up as Full Hot when the key is turned to run before ever engaging the starter. Check that.

I would most likely start with the Temp gauge sender (the single wire sensor).

Then again..You said the Oil Pressure does the same? Sounds like both could be shorting on some that was squished during the roll over

Thanks Earl/jhammel

 

[tinzuki]

I noticed from your other posts you're swapping the motor into a Suzuki? Congrats on the initiative. Tidbit of info: my 4.0 wouldn't fire up without the gauge cluster plugged in.It's not supposed to do that but it does. You may want to check if that's the case with yours, could save you some headache down the road.

Thanks for the heads up Omally.

I do plan on trying to run as much ford parts as possible to make the conversion swift and easy.... but when is that the case right. What do you think about 2wd auto(89 ranger 2.9L0) or 2wd 5spd(91 ranger 4.0)? This is going to mate to a sami tcase...

 

[Big Jim M]

Howdy

You didn't say if you are mated up to the zuki gauges or not.. If YES then you will need the zuki sendors stuck in the engine as they may be completely different in what they send to the gauge...
Big JIm