Well there are two thoughts
When were your torque wrenches last calibrated?

And what are the torque specs for the year of the engine?
I know the head bolts changed on the 3.0l but don't think the rod or main bolts changed

You can use weights to test torque wrench calibration
Ft/lb means just that, i.e. 50lbs at 12" out from socket center = 50ft/lb

 

Borrowing one of my buddy's snap on digital torque wrenches. I'm not about to mess with his calibration.

Swap over of ranger to taurus donor is coming nicely. heads back on. New oil pump. Intake going on next. Exhaust manifolds on.

Then push rods and rocket arm adjustment.




Ranger parts laid out to go on donor engine

 

 

Everything back together and back in the truck. It started fine but wont build oil pressure. It's a new oil pump. Has a slight ticking noise from the rear of the engine when running. I changed it the oil pressure sending unit but still no oil pressure. Not too sure where to go from here.

 

I'd find/buy/borrow a mechanical oil pressure gauge and hook it up just to verify.

 

I removed the oil pressure sending unit, unhooked the coil, and had my son crank it while I watched the hole. Oil came out strongly on every revolution.

We reinstalled the sending unit. Started right up and smoothed out. Its quieter then the original engine wasm The ticking has quieted. The check guage light is on but it was on when the first engine blew.

Watching the guage when starting the engine it is responsive but wont read pressure. The temp guage works. Everything else in the instrument cluster works. I'm wondering if maybe there is some setting in the ECM stuck when the original engine went.

What should the oil pressure be on this engine?

Any other ideas?

 

In 2002, well 2003 and earlier Rangers the oil, temp, fuel and Voltage gauges are all analog and have no connection to the computer, direct to engine, or gas tank

The oil pressure switch is a ground switch, unplug the wire on this sender and ground that wire with a jumper wire
Turn on the key
Oil gauge should now read about 1/3 to 1/2
If not then gauge or wire is bad

Never use "tape" on the treads of a sender, it needs bare metal threads to make good contact to the Block for its Ground

Real oil pressure on any engine is between 10psi and 50psi depending on oils temp and engine RPMs
Oil is thicker when cold so pressure will be higher
Oil pump speed goes up with RPM, of course, so oil pressure goes up with RPM


Oil pressure is the oil the engine CAN NOT USE at that moment, its the back pressure that builds up between oil filter and main oil passage to the bearings and valve train
So any thing above 10psi is fine
General rule of thumb is 10psi per 1,000rpm, so at idle you might see 7-8psi at 700-800rpm, at 3,000rpm 30psi, 5,000rpm 50psi, it generally should top out around 50-60psi because you can actually have too much oil pressure, so there is a pressure relief valve on the oil pump
Too much oil pressure will "wash" the bearings, actually dry them out because oil is spraying too fast

 

When you turn the key on, all the gauges move a bit then settle at low. I tried the jumper on the electrical connector. No difference. I cut the connector off and jumped the bare end of the wire to several ground locations including negative battery terminal. No response in guage. Still waiting to get a manual pressure check guage to check the oil pressure. It was working, though erratically, before the original engine died.

Old and new sending units and elec connector

 

Wire or gauge has failed

 

Stupod question. Is there a way to trace it without taking the entire harness apart or is it a better option to replace with mechanical guage?

if mechanical is the best option, how do I get the check guage light off on the instrument cluster?

 

I think pulling the cluster out would be next step, cluster wiring diagram below

Then you can test if the green/white wire is the problem or its the gauge
Get 6 new cluster bulbs, they are not expensive, and replace all 6 just because.............they do burn out and a pain to replace

You can ground the green/white wire in the engine bay then test it at the cluster with ohm meter to see if its 0 ohms to cab ground, if not then run a new wire
Wire may have even pulled out of the cluster connector

But either way you could pull out the "Check Gauge" bulb, not recommended because it does check other gauges, like fuel level, lol

You can run a PS60 oil pressure sender to a new electrical gauge, its just 1 wire, and if the green/white wire is OK then the wire you need is already run into the cab
Mechanical gauges require an oil tube to be run into the cab to the new gauge

 

Engine back in and running good. Has good oil pressure. Problem now is that it has a gremlin noise under load. Worse in reverse. Wont do it on the stands with the rear wheels raised. Dont know If the video will post. Any ideas?

 

Well if it won't do it on stands then I would says noise is in the Front Wheels
Raise each and spin backwards

 

UV Joint(s) ???

 

Not u joints. Not coming from front. Coming from area where trans and engine connect. I'm guessing the new crank seal I installed is bad as well. There is engine oil coming out of the trans below the torque converter.

An idea how to post a video?

 

Just copy and paste the web address in your post from the page the YouTube video is on.

I don't think you can post a video directly, it has to be uploaded on the web and then you post the link to that upload.
I think if you tried directly like a photo, the site would reject it because the file size would be too big.

 

Is the flex plate the truck original or from the donor engine? Not sure if there's a difference between FWD and RWD. They can get hairline cracks in them too. Seating the torque converter properly is a must or there could be damage to trans. You sure it's engine oil and not trans fluid?

 

The only thing used from the donor engine was the block and heads. Everything else is from the Ranger.

Its back together. Some gremlin noises but hopefully they will work themselves out over time.

Post install thoughts...

1) If you are looking for a cheap replacement route, buy an engine from a ranger. It will be quicker and cheaper.
2) Using a donor engine was more expensive in the long run with all the new gaskets, seals, oil pump, head bolts, etc...
3) Leave the torque converter in the trans when installing. We tried to do it by bolting the torque converter to the flywheel first but couldn't get it to line up right.
4) This method did allow me to teach my son about the basics of a removal, rebuild and re-install which was in itself priceless.

I cant thank you guys enough for all the help in walking through this. You were a very valuable resource.

 

Drove the truck a couple of minutes at a time. Let it get warm then killed it. Then drove it about 5 miles to the post office. Did ok. Speed no higher than 60mph. Decided to bite the bullet and drive it to town... about a 50 mile round trip. About halfway thru the truck overheated. Noticed it cracked the radiator under the upper hose connection. Pulled it home. Now I have pressure in the cooling system when starting it . Guessing a blown head gasket.

Is there any way to tell which side without taking both apart? Why would it blow? New gaskets were installed correctly. Frustrating.

 

Did you pressure test the heads?
Maybe head is cracked

Yes, you can do the glove test to ID which cylinder is leaking, or use a pressure gauge on rad cap
Cold engine
Unplug coil pack's 4 wire connector for a no start
Remove rad cap
Remove overflow hose and plug that port on rad cap opening

Put a latex glove, a balloon, or even a condom over the rad cap opening, make sure its tight
Cooling system is now sealed

Crank engine over and watch glove
It will bounce on leaking cylinder's compression stroke, as pressure is pushed into the cooling system

Remove 1 spark plug at a time and crank engine over, when glove stops bouncing the last spark plug removed is from the leaking cylinder
Put spark plug back in to confirm

 

interesting glove test. I will try it.

Engine was supposed to be running when I got it. It ran ok for the first couple of days.

How would I pressure test the heads? They are going to have to come off again regardless.

 

Oh no... and all that work i know that feeling well... overheating .. could have warped heads as well ... machine shop can pressure test the heads etc

 

Yes , +1 ^^^^

Usually when you remove heads you take it/them to a machine shop, they will clean and pressure test them, and then surface them to make them flat

 

Glove test led me to the passenger side. Water coming out of all three cylinders. Some type of serious failures. From looking at the block and head, it seems water was simply pouring by the gasket in several places. Heads are flat with non cracks. There were no signs of moisture in the cylinders when I took it apart to change the head gaskets as suggested. I'm wondering what the difference is in the Taurus head gasket and ranger gasket. Side by side the heads are identical.

Any thoughts?

 

The difference in head gaskets won't cause leakage like that, the difference are the big water holes at the end of the gaskets.
The Taurus has holes at both ends to allow coolant to flow through the head and block because it's a front wheel drive.
The Rangers holes are totally blocked off in the front so the pump forces water to the back of the heads so it circulates through the block.
I think the gaskets can be put in wrong on the Ranger, but that would not cause catastrophic failure in the middle like that.
The heads are the same, Ford made them that way so they are interchangeable _ on the Ranger anyway, probably the same for the Taurus.

Check the heads with a straight edge and the block again.
Use criss-cross pattern and along the left and right edges.
If you can get a 5 thou feeler gauge underneath, then the block and/or head is out of spec.
For a point of reference, a human hair is about 4 thou.

2002 will have TTY head bolts, were they torqued down properly ?

EDIT:
Looks like you got the wrong gasket for the different head style.
I can see where the head is not quite lining up with the gasket.
There were two different types of heads, one for flex fuel and non flex fuel.
One combustion chamber is heart shaped and the other is oval.

I would have to look to see if the gaskets are actually different, but from what I see, they are.