Hey everyone,

looking at starting some engine repairs to my 2001 Ranger. About two weeks ago, driving on the highway, out of nowhere I get a clicking/ticking noise coming from the drivers side of the engine, power loss, and extremely poor idle once stopped at a red light. By the time I got it home, pulled into the driveway, idled erratically and shut off.

The next day, checked spark plugs (good), cables (good), coil pack (old but good), air filter (good), IAC valve (good), throttle body (dirty, but wasn't issue), checked for vacuum leak (none found), and fuel pressure was good. Being dumb I disconnected battery and got rid of the hard codes it was showing with a flashing check engine light the night before.

Took it to Ford dealership, they checked it out, did a relative compression test and found cylinder #6 was showing a 38% difference compared to the other 5 cylinders. They believe most likely a burnt exhaust valve and are suggesting an engine replacement due to mileage on engine (220,000).

I've always taken good care of the truck, kept oil/filter changed, never has run hot, and just want to check all avenues before giving up and getting rid of it or getting a new engine.

Am looking at checking/changing the lifters, maybe checking for a broken valve spring, also looking at maybe replacing the top heads/gaskets, and hoping the bottom is strong enough to take it. Really just trying to get this truck to last another 2 years while I finish up school and I would be a happy man.

Thought I would check with the fine experts here to see other opinions, and thoughts on what I am considering.

Posted videos of the truck driving, and in park to get some idea of what it's doing.



Appreciate all advise.

 

its entirely up to you what route you chose to go. The 3.0's are notorious for getting 300k miles easily so it probably could handle the top end rebuild but at 220k miles for what you'd pay on reman heads you can get a lower mileage used engine form a junkyard to get you through the two years it will be a bit more money in labor up front but you never know how long the old bottom end will keep going. Reman heads are in the 3-500 dollar range depending where you source them and a decent mileage used motor is roughly $500 so for nearly the same price you can get the whole motor. You will pay a few more hours in labor but to do heads almost all of the stuff they would take off to swap the heads is coming off for a motor swap anyway so you'd probably be in for only a few more hours labor to do the whole engine.

 

Had same problem on my 3.0 @ 180k. #6 burned up. I traded for a 2010 4.0

 

So...its been a while since I last posted. Been working on it when I can, and actually have been reassembling the engine this week.

Question: Misread the torque wrench and definitely went over at least 5 maybe 10 ft. lbs. on the cylinder head bolts, went over on all sequences, but figure the final one is pretty important. So manual says 63-73, I did at least 78 ft. lbs. Do I need to stop right now before I get too far ahead and redo all of this? Or can I just roll with it?

Didn't notice until I was torqueing the exhaust manifold bolts...

 

Were they new head bolts or the originals? old bolts stretch, and are recommended to not be reused. If you did re-use them, then the higher torque most likely did not cause anything.