I just bought a 03 Edge, 3.0 auto 2wd.. it has a random engine knock and tick.. some times it will just knock a time or two.. then pause and do somethin different. I started it today, and the random tic was gone.. but a steady one was there..but not the same noise. I made a vid if I can get it to load I will post it. I took the belt off so that the fan ect wasn't adding to the noise. I've pulled the drivers v/cover off and all looks good, real clean, no bent pushrods... tried checking with pullin a wire and it seems to cut it down a little but it's still there.
Old owner said he went to Ford, had oil changed.. got about 15 miles down the road and the motor was tickin.. checked the oil.. barely if any on the stick.. drove to a 7-11 bought oil.. drove it home and parked it. He's 66 and swears the truck was never over 65mph.. he's owned since new. Very clean and stright, and I got it for 500.00 I've rebuilt my 5.4 in my expedition so I know I can go through this just fine.. but if I can pass for now I will and run her till I build another for it... 213K on the clock..and from the inside of the motor you'd think 80k.

 

If knock sound changes by pulling a spark plug wire then it is either an exhaust leak at that cylinders exhaust manifold or a failing connecting rod bearing on that cylinder, I would favor the connecting rod bearing failing because of the low oil story, and random ticking.

I think his story about low oil was his way of telling you it had run dry at some point, so "grain of salt"
The $500 price would be enough info for me to assume engine or transmission work would be required, running pickup trucks rarely go for that low of a price

 

I knew the motor needed work before I bought it.. it drives.. loud as hell but it drives fine, body and int are perfect as are the underside of the truck. Dirty from sitting for a month but besides the motor noise (which I am still tryin to load off my phone) it's a nice *** truck for 500!

 

Lots of used 3.0l engines out there, flex fuel models are the same as gas only, just different injectors.

You can even use Taurus/Sable 3.0l Vulcan short block, or long block if you change the head gaskets to Ranger style longitudinal mount
These are often much cheaper than Ranger/Mazda 3.0l engines.

Just as a heads up the 3.0l 2004 to 2006 had an issue with valve seats in the head coming loose

TSB here: http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/s4...b05-26-03.pdf/

 

what is the best year motor to get? I found an 02 for 400 with 110K on the clock...I know that will be cheaper than throwin a crank kit in mine..(just sayin for cost of parts)..not sure what issue is.. I started pullin it apart today. I will post the noise and pics of the issue when I get it apart.

 

Sounds like a fair deal

 

I pulled the motor..haven't opened it up yet to find the sorce of the knock. I keep wondering what the better option is..rebuild the 03 3.0...or swap in a 5.0 or 4.6. I have read a few swaps from explorers..but my 03 Edge is a short bed 2wd... so what issues are there with finding a 2wd trans.. or can I just take the tail off of a 4wd/AWD trans and put a 2wd on it.

What wiring would need to be swapped for a 4.6 or 5.4 swap...didn't see a post for a 5.4 swap being done. as always all input is great.

 

opened the motor to find the #2 rod bearing spun... crank not gouged..but I priced a rebuild and it's over 1100 just for the short block..found and bought a OEM Ford shortblock for 925 shipped from Florida... it got here today.. took the heads in and found several dropped seats..one possible bent valve.. so 635 later, all new seats and valves, full gasket set and new oil pump and screen. Now just to get it together and on the road. Any advice on what I need to do when I get it started.. engine shop said fatory motor will have molly rings and will seat fast on there own,, do a few light speed ups and downs..which will work great on my run from Va beach ro Richmond via 460. Said with roller cam no need to hold the 2500rpm for 15 min.. just let it slowly break in. How many miles till I take the break in oil out though? 500-1000? also what is the fastest way to set the timing on this thing?

 

I am going to go through the old shortblock and build it to sell to try and recoup some of my funds.. or find another truck to put it in... who knows... what is a good price for a rebuilt shortblock.

 

Non-warranty and non-shop rebuild is just a used engine, buyer will have to trust that you knew what you were doing, and if you do why aren't you using it.........

So best price would be what you can get for it.
For asking price I would call local wreckers and see what low mile 3.0l's go for, those are complete engine, yours isn't, so you will get less, but that would give you the general idea of pricing in your area.

It might be better to at least offer it "as is" now, see if you get any bites, some one might be looking for a 3.0l that costs less because it does need to be rebuilt.
If you don't get any calls or good offers then go ahead a try the rebuild.

 

Will you please elaborate on this? My '01 3.0L 4x2 has recently developed either a tap or knock (haven't diagnosed it yet) when under moderate or high load and am looing for a low mileage engine to swap in but am having a hard time finding one from a Ranger. What was different about the headgaskets? Do I need to swap heads as well? Will I need to swap anything else?

Good information. I hadn't heard this one yet.

Please don't do this...
...do this instead. You have PM.

 

The Vulcan 3.0l was used in a few Ford cars in the transverse configuration.
Because of the sideways mounting the coolant flow in the engine was front to back and out.
On Ranger mounting the coolant flow is front to back to front and out.

People have swapped in car 3.0ls and not changed the head gaskets and reported no issues, so...........it could be you don't need to change the head gaskets, they are different, but if it works 'as is" then why change it.

Yes, you need to swap out every thing else but the heads and block.
i.e. intake, exhaust, water pump, brackets and oil pan and oil pump

 

I've built several motors, 400M to a 406, 460 to a 466, 350 in my boat.. chose to buy a short block cause the price for it was less than the cost of machine work and parts from the engine shop..925 shipped for a OEM shortblock. 635 in heads, oil pump, head bolts and full gasket set. Labor would have been over 600 alone not including parts, pistons, rings, bearings, timing, ect... and I can let go of the old motor and recoup some funds... here are my builds to dat





e...

 

here are the others...and the last one... playin with my ol 94 Ranger 4.0

 

Is this the "FOMOCO466" that used to make lower grills from the Roush uppers and sell them?

That was a quality build. Got a lot of compliments on it when I had the truck.

 

Yes it's me, one in the same.. kept the same handle, wondered if anyone else from the circle wandered over here now and again. I still get requests for those...last one on Sept 9th actually. Wish I coould have found a way to get more material.. I made about 350 of those things.. sold to US, Germany, and Canada. all from my lil garage... thanks to all that made that possible. Here is a pic for those who have no clue what were talkin about...

 

I wandered from the F150 site over here, as I sold the F-150, bought a Mustang, missed the truck, and bought a used 2000 Ranger. I like it so much that I'm selling the Mustang (sits in the garage) and keeping the Ranger!

At 216K, it runs great, and has been completely reliable.

Glad to see you back. And if you ever make a grill for the ranger, I'm in line for one!

 

anyone have pics of their head gaskets when they installed them? trying to figure out the correct direction.. getting different info from multi sources.

 

engine build is mostly done. Needing new fuel rail..can one from Taurus be used? mine has the crossover tube front and rear.. harder to find.. where as the Taurus has just the one.. maybe larger injectors.. and they are everywhere in the salvage yards here. Anyway, here is the pics from where I stopped last night.

 

 

so I hit the key today and the truck started on the first crank.. wanted to idle around 18-2200 rpm.. tinkered for a few and found I had the IAC on backwards after cleaning it while it was off the truck during the build up... fixed that and it has a miss.. fixed 5 and 6 plug wire swapped... still a miss.... scanned codes pulled # 2 cyl injector cir fail.... went to swap injectors due to thinking maybe something got in the injector since I cleaned out the rusted fuel rail... took the rail loose on pass side and found the #2 injector plug not seated.. put it all back together again, injectors all plugged in and I still have a miss... pull the lead off #2 injector and it idles down.. hooked it back up.. idles up, but pull #1 off and nothing... but I am not getting a missfire code of any sort now.. just the miss. checked with a expensive MAC scanner that shows EVERYTHING under the sun.. but no issues shown...

SO.. truck ran fine (had a rod knock) I drove it into the shop...so coil worked, wires worked.. new plugs.. factory OEM shortblock, rebuilt heads, new seats, valves, springs.. the works.. new gaskets and seals... what would cause a miss fire.. but NOT throw a code? motor only revs to 3K... is that where the rev limiter is set to? cause thats where it kicks in. It will power brake and spin..even with the miss. (only tried to see if it would set the code)

Also.. I primed the oil pump, primed the oil filter, primed the motor before install, used old oil pressure switch... but at idle the oil pressure drops out..and check gauges light comes on.. raise the rpm, and the oil gauge reads and light goes out.. thinking bad sender... cause I have no noise in the motor.

 

Just another test...can you remove the injector, point it at a coffee can and see if it squirts a good stream of fuel? Disconnect the coil plug to prevent the engine from firing.

It sounds like a weak or dirty injector, especially since you mentioned the fuel rail was rusty...may be another that's providing a weak stream of fuel to a cylinder.

 

so it might be getting enough not to show a missfire.. but not enough to cause a miss? I cleaned the rail for 2 days with apple cider vin.. that ate most of the rust away.. then I scrubbed and cleaned..but it wouldn't take much to clog those little holes.

 

Yes there is a rev limiter that kicks in around 3,000rpms, it is tied to speed, below 5MPH = Rev Limited

Is the miss consistent as RPMs increase?
Or does it go away at higher RPMs, if so then could be a vacuum leak, as RPMs go up vacuum decreases and fuel level increases so air/fuel mix is balanced again.
If it stays at all RPMs then recheck firing order, yes I know it's fine, humor me, lol.

Is it a steady miss, meaning specific to just one cylinder?
Vacuum leak on the intake or injector near that cylinder will lean out idle mix, but cylinder will usually start firing as RPMs increase.

If you think it is a fuel injector just unhook the coil wire for a no start and crank engine.
Pull out the spark plugs and look for a dry one.

Leaking injector can cause miss as well, Cat converter would get extra hot with this, miss should go away at very high RPMs, 2,500+

If you have a timing light then hook it up to each spark plug and watch the pulses at idle, you will see an erratic rhythm if spark plug, wire, coil or computer is at fault.

 

ok..so I pulled the plug wire on # 1 checked for spark, it's solid.. pulled the #1 injector.. looked like it had black coming out of 1 of the 3 spray holes.. cleaned again retried.. seemed a lil better.. bought a new injector.. now it runs better.. but still have a light miss.. think I have more than one dirty injector...all the injectors were in the fuel rail when the water got in there and rusted the rail.. I cleaned them good.. but guess not enough... but it runs and drives and now is out of the pay per hr garage.. I can do the rest outside. on another note.... OIL pressure... when the truck is idling.. the oil pressure drops out and the check guages light comes on.. barely raise the idle @ 200 rpm and the oil pressure reads smack dab in the middle... changed out the sender and it still does it.... with the miss is it possible the idle is too low to spin the pump at proper speed? remember it's a NEW OEM short block, new oil pump, and everything was filled or primed with oil before starting....if I take the sender out and hook up a gauge whit sort of pressure should I see?