WANTED: general advice and opinion from all

[ab72756]

I have a 98 Ranger with 2.5 5 spd. with about 150K. The head is bad
I am wondering what is the best solution at this point. The truck is a daily driver and not used off-road.

So, do I:
1. have the head fixed.
2. replace it with a remanufactured head.
3. do an engine swap to ??
4. other suggestions?

 

[feellnfroggy]

If the head is bad, then it is most liekly warped. Since its not iron, its aluminum the only option is to deck the head straight again. If its too bad its worthless. Decking will increase compression, which will be anice power inprovement. But you can go the the junkyard and find decent heads as well for real cheap. One way or another your looking at dismantling and remounting the head. I would prolly find a used one in Craigslist and send it to a machine shop to get worked over real good. Valve job, decking porting etc. If your gonna replace theres never a better time to improve than now.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

+1

 

[country0001]

The 2.5 is a good engine. Good power for a 4 banger. I'd look for a new/used head. Post in the parts needed section of the forum. U might get lucky.

 

[feellnfroggy]

I think I actually saw one, and if our willing to cover the costs of shipping I know theres 2 or 3 in the knoxville area craigslist, chattanooga, nashville, and tri-cities areas.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

feelln froggy is correct.
thats the best way to go imo

 

[caveman_joey]

I'd go with the head if it was me... my 2.5L has about 202,000 on it and the only problem with the engine i've had was the timing belt and it's still a strong running motor.

 

[Jason]

Reman head. Why ditch an otherwise good engine?

 

[The purple one]

How long do you want to keep it and how much cash do you want to dump in it? I f you want to keep it for a long time and have the cash pull the motor do the head and spuce up the motor new seals, gaskets, oil pump and so on. Then you know it will last a long time to come.