Folks,

New to the Forum.

Have a '93 Ranger that recently had the timing cover gasket replaced due to coolant leak upper driver side corner. Experienced air in the cooling system ever since. Did all the usual air bleed tricks to no avail. Started blowing steam out the exhaust and quit driving. Brought it to a local shop that has experience with Rangers and they are having difficulty confirming the issue. Below is what I wrote for them verbatim, they aren't ready to commit to the head gaskets. They did mention some sort of Service Bulletin/kit back in the early 2000's about possibly re-routing the cooling lines, and they did confirm that bleeding air can be difficult. Put maybe 70 miles since the timing cover gasket and trying to bleed the cooling system, about 20 miles since the initial steam from the exhaust display. Coolant barely shows any exhaust by-products, and I told them there is a lot of fresh coolant in the system as I kept adding coolant presumably replacing the air pockets, probably less than a gallon for top off from the timing cover gasket and subsequent adding for bleeding.

Freshly rebuilt transmission, clutch, new tires, hoping to get a little more out of her until I can find someone local to rebuild the engine (which is not going well).

Anyway, for your consideration below and any comments...Thanks in advance-Dave

93 Ford Ranger 3.0L V6 4WD 5-speed 211,515+ miles original owner WA plates B71141N VIN 1FTCR11U2PPA41290
Possible head gasket(s) or manifold gasket(s) blown

New timing chain cover gasket 2023 and gears/chain 211,422 miles

Blowing steam out the exhaust

Can’t seem to bleed the air out of the coolant system enough (on front ramps, funnel fill)

Temp gauge fluctuates but never past half (air in line)

No heat from heater core (back flush heater core?)

Pressure testing cooling system cannot hold 14psi for even 2 minutes

Not finding water in oil (yet)

New water pump 3 years ago, along with hoses. Thermostat 14+ yrs old, seems to still work

New serpentine belt 2023

Recent oil change at 211,102 miles 10-40 Castrol Full Synthetic High Mileage, WIX filter

Stopped driving when noticed steam from exhaust

6+ years new harness/distributor cap/plugs

Original alternator/power steering pump/AC pump

Radiator 14 years+



Please make sure air is out of coolant system, vacuum fill?

 

Welcome to the forum

Just posted this in another thread so reposting here

There is a simple free test called the Glove Test to test for blown head gasket or cracked head, 100% acurate

Remove rad cap
Have water or coolant at least 2" below cap opening
Unplug coil pack's 4 wire connector, you want a no start
Use a vacuum cap(off the engine) or hose with bolt in it to block the overflow port on rad cap opening
Put a latex glove over rad cap opening and seal it with rubber band or ziptie
(or use a balloon, or even a condom in place of glove)

Cooling system is now sealed
The reason a blown head gasket or cracked head is bad is because it pushes AIR from the cylinder into the cooling system, this pushes out coolant and AIR is not good at cooling a head like these, so engine over heats

Crank the engine over and watch the "Glove"
If it starts to inflate and pulse then you have a leak from a cylinder to the cooling system
If so then do this
Remove 1 spark plug at a time and crank engine over, when pulsing stops, the last spark plug pulled was from the leaking cylinder, its no long pushing air into cooling system, you can put spark plug back in, hand tight, to confirm it starts pulsing again

If pulsing gets less but still there then you may have TWO leaking cylinders so keep pulling spark plugs