Hi there,
I have a 2002 B2300 with an engine that has developed a rod knock. It has about 75K miles and the previous owner probably thought oil changes were optional. Oh well. Now I know that ford changed the 2.3L in 2004, scrapped the swirl flaps, upped the horse power and added a mechanical thermostat. However, while I'm hunting for a replacement engine via car-parts.com I got confused. They usually list parts from compatible years and I expected to see engines from mid 2001 to 2003 listed as donors. Yet it seems that 2001-2002 are grouped and 2003 is in it's own group. There are way more engines for 2003 available. Does anyone know what kinda trouble I'll be in for hoping to put a 2003 into a 2002? What has changed for that year?
Thank you!

 

You can use 2001.5 to 2012 Ranger 2.3l Duratec block and head.
2001 Ranger had 2.5l Lima engines, mid-year Ford switched to 2.3l Duratec, so 2001.5 and up had the 2.3l Duratec

It is a Mazda L engine, 23NS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_L_engine

You will use your current intake/exhaust manifolds on the replacement engine.
Oil pans should be the same.

You will need to use your intake with swirl and electric t-stat because computer expects to "see" them.

But the block and head will be the same on all 23NS engines

In a pinch you could use 23EW block and head but you would have to change the head gasket because 23NS and 23EW had different coolant flow thru the head

 

Thank you for the info. I heard (aka. I haven't opened her up yet), that the valve covers are different as well, the pre2004 has aluminum and the later one has plastic. The other thing I'm concerned about are the intake cams. I haven't found any part numbers for them. Because of the HP hike from 135 to 143 I think they may be slightly different and the ECU(fuel injection) might get a little messed with it. I might be overthinking it though ...

 

Cam is different in a Ranger engine than in a car engine, this was the same for any engine used in both trucks and cars
Truck cams are made for lower HP but higher torque, cars get higher HP but lower torque

Torque is the ability to "get going", acceleration
HP is the ability to "stay going", maintaining speed

I doubt there would be enough change in a "stock" cam to make a difference to the ECU(PCM), it does "learn" engine operation fairly fast

 

Thank you for the info, I will hunt for any 2.3 (duratec) engine. I agree with the cams between the years being not different enough to throw the whole thing off.

I have one more question about the 23EW engine. I found a post on this forum where a 2.5L Duratec was replacing a 2.3L. The 2.5 was only available in EW in North America (For Fusion, Escape, Mazda 3/6). The guy who did the conversion wasn't mentioning the head gasket. He only replaced the intake cam ( ... and oil pan, valve cover etc. But I don't think he had the head off)
I know the Vulcan (3.0L) that was available for FWD cars (Taurus). They do have a different coolant flow and require a head gasket change when used in a 3.0 ranger. The Mazda L block is the same in this regard?

 

Not sure if the 23EW and 23NS used different head gaskets, my guess, after thinking about it a bit more, is no since both have a coolant hose fitting on the BACK of the head.
In the 23EW mounting it is easy to access
But in a Ranger, 23NS, you pretty much have to drop the transmission to get at it.

So coolant circulation was probably the same in both, but just a guess