I recently replaced the cylinder head in my 2004, 2.3L Ranger, so would like to share a few things that I came across. Hoping these few thoughts can help others avoid reword and/or possible damage to the engine and engine parts. The original post can be found at link (https://www.ranger-forums.com/2019-ford-ranger-discussion-137/engine-jams-near-tdc-154488/). I'm creating a new thread to not mix up subjects.

A.Removal of crankshaft pulley:
I used the breaker bar and starter method to undo the seized crankshaft pulley bolt (jamming a breaker bar on the chassis and starting the engine). Bad idea. The harmonic damper is not keyed so I could very well have damaged the pistons since the engine the interference type. Luckily that didn't happen. The best unbolting method is to use one of the following two methods:

1. An appropriate pulley holding tool and either a powerful impact wrench or a solid breaker bar with a long steel pipe for leverage (lots of online resources swear by the starter method
2. Rope method (RonD has a good description of this method in the link I pasted above)

Picture of harmonic damper and a holding tool I found effective.

B. Intake Manifold Gasket:
I went cheap with the intake manifold gasket thinking that the only "thing" I'd suffer is a prematurely aging part but it would outlive the truck that clocks in at 196K miles. Bad idea again. The gasket did not fit snuggly in the intake manifold channels resulting in a Lean Condition due to a leak (this was one of two reasons for the lean condition. More on this below). Essentially, the gasket/seal at intake 4 popped out of the channel causing it to crimp between the manifold and the cylinder head. A section of the seal, which I couldn't see since it's way at the back of the head by the firewall, sheared off (pic below).

It's a chore to remove the intake and, combined with limited visibility, I think going cheap is just not worth it. I ended up buying a Felpro-branded seal kit. No more problems; nice, snug fit with no more air leaks. Additional rework avoided.

C. Lean Condition + Rough Idling:
The engine idled rough after the cylinder head job and, within 30 miles of a test drive, the CEL came on with code P0171 = Lean Condition. (The interesting part of this code is that Apexkeeper called out a lean condition in the thread posted above, months before I saw it. He concluded this simply by analyzing the pattern of the carbon deposit at the top of the piston. He was right. Pretty impressive!!).

The problem ended up being twofold:

1. Lean Condition: MAP sensor was very dirty (forgot to take a picture). I cleaned it with carburetor cleaner (I didn't have MAF cleaning fluid and it doesn't appear the sensor was damaged). Lean condition gone but engine idle smoother but still pretty rough, so
2. I removed the intake manifold again and swapped out the fuel injectors. Engine ran real smoothly after this change

A couple of thoughts in this (pics attached):

1. MAP sensor should always be cleaned when the intake manifold is off the engine. True, it can easily be done with the intake on the engine but it's not as comfortable as it is with it on a bench. In fact, I ended up breaking the MAP sensor retaining bolt. I hacked a hold-down screw but I could have avoided it had I done the work on a bench
2. If you can justify the extra expense, replace the fuel injectors as a general rule if the mileage of the car is at a point that you, personally, feel is high. My truck has 196K miles on it, which I consider that "high Mileage." It would have avoided frustrating rework of removing the intake for a 4th time had I followed this line of thought

NOTE: More frustration. Today, after about 200 miles of code-free driving, the CEL came on again, this time P0172 - Too Rich Condition. I cleaned the MAF sensor and cleared the code. Hopefully, that fixes the problem. I can't win :-).

D. Radiator
This one is me being careless but thought I'd include it since I had to redo the work. I punctured the radiator but noticed it only after I refilled the engine with coolant at started the car. It leaked like a sieve (picture attached). I must have knocked it on something while positioning or moving it from one side of my garage to the car. The lesson hear is to check and double check the radiator before bolting it down in place since it's more fragile than I would have thought.

E. Serpentine Belt Pulley Bolt:
This one drove me crazy. It took me hours to figure out that one of the bolts holding down the timing chain cover is behind the belt pulley (see pic). It's not obvious. Yes, it makes sense that a bolt be in that general area, but I think it could have been designed so it's more clearly visible. In any event, there's a fastener behind the pulley having an 8mm bolt head.

F. Rear of Cylinder Head Connections:
I made the mistake of over torquing the coolant distributor bolts at the back of the cylinder head stripping them. I retapped them for the same type of thread pattern and screw diameter (not ideal but the amount of metal to tap into is so limited that I feared I'd ruined the head). Then I smothered the threads in Loctite and high temperature gasket sealer and torqued them down to 89 in-lbs (very carefully). So far, after 2 months, no leaks.

There's no way to get to them without removing the head if the flanges leak. Always torque all fasteners to specifications.

G. Cylinder Head Mounting Bolts:
Lastly, he manual states to coat the head bolts in engine oil to lubricate them before torqueing them down (dry bolts will torque to specifications but they might not be as tight to spec). This is not sufficient. The threaded wells should also be lubricated (by "wells" I mean the part of the head that's threaded to receive the head bolt) . In my case, I only lubricated the bolt threads, the bolt head and the flange below the head. Unfortunately, because the wells were dry, I was unable to tighten one head bolt a 2nd 80 degree. It just would go. So I had to buy a full set for 1 bolt since they cannot be reused once torqued (they're torque to yield bolts),

To make it easier to meet both the torque and tightness, the wells should also be lubricated with engine oil (but not too much oil that might risk filling the well that can hydro lock the head bolts). Basically, every bolt head thread, both female and male, should be lubricated to avoid any possibility that the bolt head is being torqued too dry)

 

WOW, very nice write up Thank You

 

I am replacing a head and also due to #3 piston getting a hole in it. I am getting a bore job. I am interested who or where you got parts from.