Well I have some issues with my ranger, and since I've put my blood, sweat and tears into it I'm not ready to see her get junked without a fight. I was driving home from my parents house when the truck died with thick white smoke was coming out of the EGR Tube from a new hole. I had the truck towed to my dad's shop, to me it was pretty obvious to have replace the EGR tube, but my old man insisted we get it checked out at the shop. Anyways the next day the shop calls telling us the EGR tube was no good, and it needed replacing(Big surprise...) they also told use the head gasket is no good.

Replacing the EGR Tube is not going to be an issue for me, since it is very easy to get to. I am concerned about replacing the head gasket since this is well a very in depth job. I shouldn't have a problem doing this but I wanted some advice on what to look for. I've read that in some cases the cylinder heads will also need to be replaced, again what should I look for on the cylinder heads and so on.

I'm planning to do this the weekend after thanksgiving, and will be posting lots of pictures.

Thanks.

 

Whats the mechanics reasoning for a head job? Did he do a block test, leak down/compression test, or just visually look and diagnose a H/G failure? Are you loosing any coolant (white smoke)? The big hole could have made the truck super lean killing the engine. What I'd do, install new tube and drive it to see if any other odd issues persist (coolant loss, white smoke from tailpipe, external leakage, etc.).

I have done heads on a '99 3.0 FF, its fairly straightforward, make sure that there are no cracks in the head (especially between the valves), engine block is flat, heads are flat, etc. If you are uncomfortable with inspecting them and seeing if they are good, you can have a machine shop vacuum check them and surface them. Honestly, from my research, people are just buying new heads from alabama cylinder head since they are so cheap and stress-free. I used Fel-Pro gaskets and head bolts when I did the job, still working just fine.

If you're just gonna junk the truck, I'll give you $100 and take it off your hands!!! LOL. Good luck with this.

 

Anyone have an recommendations on where I can order cylinder heads, and a head gasket set for a good deal with reliable parts?

 

Alabama cylinder heads keeps poppin up when searching around. I've personally used cylinder heads international. Gaskets and head bolts Ive just used fel-pro.

 

So over thanksgiving I tore down the engine and built it back up. I think I did a pretty good job for my first time ever doing a job like this. Anyways long story short, and a few broken bolts later I had the engine put back together. When I fired her up well at first the starter just kept going and I couldn't get the truck to start up. After a few more attempts I got the truck to fire up, she ran REALLY bad, almost like a misfire, so I figured I screwed up the spark plug wires, and swapped the 5/6 cylinder wire, and started her up again. Now she really ran like a misfire so I swapped them back and followed the wires, I had them right the first time.

I want to say it has to do with the rocker arms, and push rods(I heard some weird sounds from inside the block) but I'm not 100% sure. When I actually get the truck to run, it doesn't idle well at all, and light white smoke comes out of the tail pipe. What would be some things to look for?

What was replaced:
-Both cylinder heads(the old ones were in really bad shape, and I had new ones so what the hell)
-EGR Valve
-EGR Tube
-All gaskets from the block up

All parts from the block up were thoroughly cleaned from all the grime they had.

All help is greatly appreciated, thanks, and I'll hopefully be posting some photos of the project.

 

Anyone have any ideas? There is no adjustments I have to make to the cylinder heads after I install them is there?

My only 2 ideas of what could be wrong is something with the pushrods/rocker arms, or something isn't set up right with the cylinder heads.

All help is appreciated, thanks.

 

I was finally able to finish the job, and it was an issue with the pushrods/rocker arms not being adjusted properly. I was able to pull the top end off, and fix everything to the best of my knowledge. Right now my issues are a rough low RPM idle, and the vehicle feels like it is under power while driving. Any ideas where to start looking?

 

did you torque and align all the rockers properly? any CEL codes popping up or misfires?

 

It ended up being a vacuum leak, since I put it all back together I drove it over 1000 miles with only burning up a DPFE/EGR hose.