head gasket replacement 94 ford ranger

Anyone into car mechanics? I have a 94 Ford Ranger, V6, 3.0, 2 wheel drive, 5 speed manual trans, standard cab.

Both head gaskets are blown. So I am replacing them. I have the entire engine broken down. I have already removed the wiring harness, alternator, air cleaner, throttle body, intake manifold, exhuast manifolds, passenger side header, rocker arms and pins, air fan fan clutch, and all the rest of the goodies.

I am having the heads trued Monday. Hopefully there is minimal damage since I was riding around with the gaskets blown.

I am having fun doing this project. I'm just dreding the re-assembly! Gonna be so much work!!!

I bought an '84 Ford LTD in Vancouver 2003, and shortly after that one of the frost plugs rusted out, drained all the coolant while I was driving thru Montana on my way to Cali. I ignored the check engine light, but when blue smoke suddenly started billowing out from under the hood, I ended up spending some days (and some cash) in Helena getting the aluminium heads machined (which warped on the hot steel block) and reinstalled.

The mech in Helena was so nice he let me stay in his place, btw. I hope the universe has treated him well. Anyway, after everything was back together and the engine could be run, he stands there cocking his head listening to it and goes, "Your main bearings are loose, you should get the whole thing overhauled, good luck with your trip..."

24 hours later in Utah, I ignore the check engine light again, and bust a rod just outside Salt Lake City. Busted -- right thru the oil pan. Taking chunks of the block with it, before the remaining pistons seized inside.

So now I have an ugly old sedan I paid $1500 for, then $800 to fix the warped heads, which now has a defunct engine, and I am stranded in 80% Mormon land. Fortunately the Mormons are IMO exceptionally nice people for the most part -- if you have to destroy your engine on a long road trip, I recommend Utah -- but I am still not going to dish out the $2-3000 required to fix this professionally.

I'd changed oil and some other stuff like shocks and radiators and just spent an intensive three days with the mech in Montana so I decided to go for it. I bought a Haynes manual, $300 of tools, and rented a uhaul one day to grab an engine from a junk yard for another $300. Initially I got put up in the basement of Brigham Young off campus housing, but this did not last more than a week as a) it was the female building, and Mormons (nice as they are) are not really co-ed; b) I had dragged the block into the laundry room on a 6 wheel "black max" creeper.

My initial estimate that I should have had it all figured out and re-assembled by that point was incorrect, so I had to rent a uhaul again and get the hulk towed to a trailer park on a river near Sundance, where I spend 5 weeks taking the best pieces of both motors and putting them together till it all worked. I also got brand new main bearings and I all the gaskets including those for the heads. I presume main bearing failure really was the cause of the busted rod. MAIN BEARINGS. Repeat that a few times to yerself.

Anyway, boy was I chuffed when I got to San Francisco, having put the first 2000 km on an engine I built. Unfortunately due to subsequent events someone maybe got this vehicle in a California state police auction, lol, but the point is: if you take your time, pay attention to the shop manual, etc, you can take it all apart and put it all back together again. Despite the short term loss, I think the whole affair was a very positive experience; right now I am living more a bike, bus pass and skateboard lifestyle, but from the future I sense the deep woods, a porch, shotgun, and old pickup calling me. If that pickup is an 80's Ford Ranger (two tone!), I am prepared...

Never heard of a frost plugs lol But thats essentially what has happened to me. I was driving and smoke started to come through my floor board where my transmission is and eventually out of the vents. I pulled over and checked the radiator fluid from the pedcok and check the dip stick and what do ya know, i found anti-freeze in there. This is a thousand + dollar job if you take it to the shop and no one realizes how much work this is! I have the passenger side head removed so far and am going to remove the driver side head tomorrow. Then i have to find a good machine shop to true them like you did in Helena. No point in doing all that work and not getting the heads trued right? It looks like the pistons are a tad damaged.

I have repeated main bearings to myself a few times and still nothing<confused face>. But a main concern of mine is that when you blow a head gasket or two, the heads aren't being cooled properly anymore so the bearings on the crank would warp the slot it resides in. Amongst other things warping. Which can cause extensive damage further down the line like you said happened to you. You got lucky and pawned it off on some unfortunate buyer tho lol So it was no longer your problem. I mean this is a 94. Its old so of course it will have problems but this is not the first thing i have had to fix on it. I just replaced the water pump a few months back so like you, i will most likely sell this POS after i am finished replacing the gaskets and reassembling the engine!

I am enjoying working on it though. Reminds me of programming in a way. I have never disassembled an engine entirely before. Dirt bikes yes, but those are 2 strokes and on a smaller scale. This is definitely a knowledgeable experience! It is not as difficult as everyone is making it out to be! The hardest part was "SUPPOSED" to be the rocker arm assembly but it was a breeze like the rest of the job! Its just mostly time consuming is all! The Chilton manual is definitely a big help! So far i only used it for the removal order of the folcrum bolts on the rocker arms so i didnt warp the head.

I don't know what i enjoy more programming or mechanics. Programming is more of a challenge but theres just something about figuring out whats wrong with something then taking it apart and reassembling it!!!!!!! I guess they are the same in a lot of ways!

but from the future I sense the deep woods, a porch, shotgun, and old pickup calling me. If that pickup is an 80's Ford Ranger (two tone!), I am prepared...

Your a riot MK!!! lol Don't forget the missing tooth and banjo!

I think my first question would be why are both gaskets blown? Replacing them with new ones without fixing the cause is just going to blow the new ones eventually. Of course no gasket lasts forever so if it simply due to age or mileage...then that is understandable. But I have seen a simple thing like a thermostat ruin an entire motor b/c the engine overheated which blew the heads which eventually can blow the motor (at least in race conditions. )

Those older engines often had aluminum heads which expanded at a different rate than the block. This caused the head to float around on top of the block and destroyed the head gasket in the process. Usually these type of engines (read: Pontiac 2.4L Quad 4, Oldsmobile 2.4L Quad 4, etc) required a head gasket replacement every 60K. Later in the production run they release a new gasket with strengthened portions where most of the 'float' or 'rubbing' occurred. Since your engine is not an overhead cam engine I seriously doubt it has this issue.

You could have done damage to the geometry of the crank and the pistons if you rode around with the heads blown...but likely you did nothing unless it was overheating the entire way. My Grand Am quad 4 had a blown head gasket and all it did was get water and antifreeze into the oil so you would get this nice goopy mess at the bottom of your dipstick. Eventually when the head completely blows the engine will overheat quickly and you likely would not be able to drive it at all. Usually this condtion causes the anti-freeze in the overflow to start boiling and bubbling - then it is time to park it and fix the thing.

As I said before usually partially blown head gaskets usually just get water/antifreeze in the oil and often blow white smoke out the back when first started. This is b/c a small pool of water/antifreeze mix is combusted and thrown out the back resulting in the white smoke.

I think my first question would be why are both gaskets blown?

Actually its just the driver side. I finally got the driver side head off after removing the fan, fan clutch, and manifold. The gasket was warped and blown out in some spots. Which most likely means the head is warped. I am going to drop it off to a machine shop tomorrow to have it trued.

Replacing them with new ones without fixing the cause is just going to blow the new ones eventually.

What i think the issue was is that when i replaced my thermostat i didnt put the gasket on correct. I put it over the thermostat under the housing, instead of under the thermostat on the block. It over heated when i went to go take a test ride and steam poured out of the valve covers. Plus it being from 94 with a ton of miles. Its not everyday you get an average guy that replaces his head gaskets just because.

Those older engines often had aluminum heads which expanded at a different rate than the block.

same as 2 stroke dirtbikes! Which is why you must warm them up before romping on them or youll damage the engine!

This caused the head to float around on top of the block and destroyed the head gasket in the process. Usually these type of engines (read: Pontiac 2.4L Quad 4, Oldsmobile 2.4L Quad 4, etc) required a head gasket replacement every 60K.

There would be no way i would replace a head gasket every 60k. Thats crazy! I would sell the car! I like working on cars and all but thats over doing it!

Later in the production run they release a new gasket with strengthened portions where most of the 'float' or 'rubbing' occurred. Since your engine is not an overhead cam engine I seriously doubt it has this issue.

yeah i dont have ohc.

You could have done damage to the geometry of the crank and the pistons if you rode around with the heads blown...but likely you did nothing unless it was overheating the entire way.

No the pistons are a little banged up. Not to where they need to be replaced though. If that was the case i would just do an engine swap! i have the tools for it tools, time and skills/knowledge! I am trying to avoid that though! A lot more money and a lot more time will need to be invested. it only took me 2 days to get the heads off. I had a friend over to keep me company though. He brought a compound bow over and we kept getting side tracked. Otherwise im sure it would have taken a full day instead of 2.

My Grand Am quad 4 had a blown head gasket and all it did was get water and antifreeze into the oil so you would get this nice goopy mess at the bottom of your dipstick. Eventually when the head completely blows the engine will overheat quickly and you likely would not be able to drive it at all. Usually this condtion causes the anti-freeze in the overflow to start boiling and bubbling - then it is time to park it and fix the thing.[/quote]
Well see. I was driving and it started smoking out of the vents and through the floor where the shifter is. I parked it and had it towed back to my place. I checked the antifreeze through the pedcok on the bottom corner of the radiator and there was oil in it. And the dipstick had antifreeze in it too. The reason it was smoking through the floor was because i was loosing oil and it was leaking out of the engine. Looked like from the heads and valve covers. It was gunging ou under the trans and smoking. But it was probably overheating as well. I would assume thats why there was smoke coming thru the vents while i was driving. I could be wrong!

As I said before usually partially blown head gaskets usually just get water/antifreeze in the oil and often blow white smoke out the back when first started. This is b/c a small pool of water/antifreeze mix is combusted and thrown out the back resulting in the white smoke.

Good to know! Thanks

As soon as i loosened the driver side head antifreezed poured out. It was flooding the cylinders!

Originally Posted by Annonymous

But it was probably overheating as well. I would assume thats why there was smoke coming thru the vents while i was driving. I could be wrong!

I had a problem like this once because the heater core sprung a leak. I had to roll all four windows down for the afternoon when I went to get a replacement, etc, otherwise the cabin filled up immediately with a thick white smoke; this was the hot antifreeze escaping from the core leak. Hopefully you don't have that problem on top of everything else -- otherwise you might have to take the whole dashboard apart...

Never heard of a frost plugs lol

Apparently the proper term is "core plug":

Core plug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The block has big holes (about 1-2" diameter) thru into the antifreeze passages on the bottom, capped with a thin metal plug. If you leave water in the cooling system and it freezes, the idea is that these will pop out and spare the engine. Unfortunately, I guess after 19 years one of them rusted enough that it just blew out on the road (there goes all your coolant in a matter of seconds). The guy who took care of the heads found this and replaced all of the plugs. Something you might want to look at while you have the system drained; they were pretty easy to see at the bottom of the sides of the V.

I'm not gonna mess with the core plugs MK. The air conditioner is fine. I checked that too. The problem I am worried about is with the top end being new, it might cause the bottom end to work harder and cause the bottomend to crap out. Then ill end up having to do an engine swap.

The top end could never make the bottom end work harder since the bottom end drives the top end. Only thing on the bottom end I would concern myself with would be the oil pump and the piston rings. Everything else should be pretty solid. WhileI had the engine all taken apart I would replace the water pump as well.

The top end could never make the bottom end work harder since the bottom end drives the top end.

That's old to know cuz I was in a panic over this! Stressing out! A few people told me this was a possibility.

Only thing on the bottom end I would concern myself with would be the oil pump and the piston rings. Everything else should be pretty solid.

Well I am unfortunately on a budget with the job. So replacing anything other than what I am now isn't really an option. So I will just hope the oil pump and rings are in good condition.

WhileI had the engine all taken apart I would replace the water pump as well.

I have already replaced the water pump 2 months ago. I remember waking up one morning and I went to go to work and the heat didn't work unless I was driving. So I checked the antifreeze and some was missing. So I filled it up and the heat started woring properly. I didn't think much of it until I came out of the store one day and there was puddle of coolant under my truck. I was only in the store for no more than 10 minutes. I threw some dye in the antifreeze and seen it coming out of the water pump. I replaced that and the thermostat.

So I'm going to pick up my heads tomorrow and then reassemble. This should be fun lol

That's old to know cuz I was in a panic over this! Stressing out! A few people told me this was a possibility.

I could be wrong but I cannot see how the fragile top end could remotely affect the very strong bottom end. Since the motor works from bottom to top I really cannot see how a new top end would affect the bottom or somehow expose more flaws in it.

All it really means is the bottom end might give out prior to the top now since the bottom has more age on it. Will a new top end cause a premature failure of the bottom end? I just don't see that happening.

@VirtualAce, you really seem to know your stuff! So here is a question. I thought the re-installation of the rocker arms and push rods were going to be an easy thing. From what I'm ready in the manual, not so much! It is saying that I need to turn the crankshaft until the lifters are all the way down then tighten the fulcrum bolts. I have read on the net that i must instead move the #1 piston to TDC of the compression stroke, then just tighten the fulcrum bolts while laid on the push rods.

1994 Ford Ranger V6 3.0 2WD

What do you suggest?

I think my first question would be why are both gaskets blown?

O_o

You grew up in the south (USA) didn't you?

Soma

Manually turned the crankshaft till the #1 piston was at tdc on the compression stroke then adjusted the valve lash.

Should have everything back together tomorrow.

Just finished the head gasket job 2 days before. I was on my way back from picking up an oil filter, new distributor cap, rotor, and wires, from the best automotive store ever AKA Advanced Auto; When i got into an accident. $500 and a weeks worth of serious work down the tube lol