Hi, everyone!

I’ve been a lurker on this forum for the past 8 years or so! Bought my first ranger around then (‘88 2.9 5 speed) and did a rebuild top to bottom and a bunch of other custom stuff to it using a lot of advice and articles on here. Also had an ‘02 2.3 up until a couple years back and used this place as a resource for that one as well. Both those pickups are gone since I moved halfway across the country not long ago!
Anyway, as of last month I now own a ‘95 2.3 with a standard transmission. Picked it up with 172k on it. Had a blown head gasket. Took the head off, had it machined and had a valve job done on it. Last weekend i put it all back together. New water pump, thermostat and housing, plugs/wires, fan clutch, radiator, hoses, timing and serpentine belt.. the standard stuff. While it was apart I cleaned up the intake and throttle body, tested and replaced the injectors as well.

Here is my issue now. I have never posted here because I’ve never had any problems I couldn’t solve through research or trial and error, and I’ve been digging and digging trying to find some answers or anyone with similar issues.

With the truck all back together I pressure tested the cooling system before starting it up, held 16 pounds indefinitely. No problems there!
Started it up and took it for a drive. Noticed the temp gauge (aftermarket with actual temp readings) kept climbing. When I bough the truck it hit 240 degrees on the way home before I pulled the head and did all the good stuff.
Well it’s climbing to right around 215-220 now. I can drop it to 195-200 with the heater on (which works now, btw after a new head gasket and surface).
Pulled the plugs after my test drive when everything cooled down, and it seems to be running lean. White film on all the exhaust side plugs (don’t want to take the 4 intake side ones out unless I absolutely have to).
hooked my timing light up and pulled the spout connector after resetting by taking off the negative batter terminal, and it’s running at ~15-18 BTDC. Random misfires. Nothing major … when I took it out for a spin it had plenty of power, no stumbling or hesitation. Felt wayyy better than the day I bought it!
I’m stumped at how the timing is off. So today I figured I’d take the whole front timing cover apart again and double check and re-time it.
put it all back together after triple-checking the timing and turning it over by hand manually to make sure everything lines up… did this a good 10 times.
all back together now! Looked even better than before, not even a hair off on the oil pump this time! Crank at 12:00, diamond on the camshaft at 12:00 with the angle of the engine. (I tested the crank once I had the pulley off with a screwdriver in the first cylinder just to be sure. It was dead on the first time I did it as well as this time)
Yellow triangles on the oil pump were dead-nuts this time.
put it all back together, tested the cooling system again and it held, no problem.
hooked up my timing light, pulled the spout connector and fired it up.
still 15-18 degrees before top dead center. I said screw it, hopped in and took it on a ride after I burped the air out of the cooling system.
thing is still getting up to 215 or a little higher, and I’m still feeling and hearing random misses. It FEELS like it has a lot of power, no hesitation or stumbling, but the random misfire and the running hot are really concerning to me.

How should I tackle fixing the timing when all the marks are what I consider dead on? Could this advance on the timing be causing the higher heat of the engine? Is it also the cause of the random missing? Why does it feel like it has so much power if the timing is off enough to run it that hot?

Thanks to whoever reads this and can offer some input! Thanks to everyone for all the great threads I’ve frequented throughout the years here!


Edit: This thing has an OBDII port under the dash, doesn’t seem to work. No CEL on the cluster yet, assuming I can check codes like I did on my 88 by jumping the diag box in the engine bay?

 

Is it manuel temp gauge and are u running coolant or water or is it a 50 50 I need help on my new fourm name hard starting in cold new
thanks deadranger123

 

I'm no expert or mechanic, just stumbled upon this because I was looking for advice for troubleshooting a small intermittent misfire. These are what came to my mind, not sure if it helps but sometimes we all forget to check the simple stuff first. I'm not familiar with that engine or year but as far as it running lean did you check your O2 sensors? I'm not sure about the timing but it sounds familiar because the PCM on my 3L usually has the spark timing advance around 15 to 18ish at idle. I thought there was a way to get base timing without spark advance from the PCM but apparently not. I thought the coil pack had a computer and did the calculations itself, according to the wiring diagram (for 2002) the PCM controls each coil individually. And for the over heating, I always heard people complain about the aftermarket thermostats not working correctly out of the box (in particularly with Motorad). Also make sure your hoses and radiator are getting hot, indicating that the thermostat is actually doing something. And maybe check that your radiator isn't clogged (that would be my luck). And for the obd port, make sure the fuse isn't blown. If it's the same as the 2002s then your cigar lighter shouldn't work. The fuse box for it is the one by the driver's door, #17 (left side, 5th down) which is a 20amp. hopefully this helps to some extent