So I got to find out today that she runs really hot at consistent higher speeds. I had cruise control on around 60 mph on the highway and the temp gage gets right up there just below the recommended heat range area, made me very nervous. I blasted the heat inside and it seemed to help a decent amount. Maybe it needs a coolant flush? IDK if the thermo is stuck close, I doubt it since I have an hour drive. The coolant looks pretty old and I think it's dex cooled which I never liked..

Checked the radiator and It had pressure but was low but the over flow tank had a good amount of coolant. I relieved the pressure and then fired it up again and the hose didn't build much pressure right away which could mean it's no a blown head gasket.

98 4x4 3.0L with 141,000. just bought it and when I popped out the hood first time I saw it the overflow tank cap was off but not completely full. Could it be the heat valve? It does move if I push it around myself and the vacuum line is connected.

 

I'd start with a good flush.

Mine used to build up pressure from so much crap plugging it up and pop the overflow cap all the time.

I flushed it, helped a great bit until the radiator blew a week later.

 

should I do the home kit flush or just take it somewhere?

 

filled it up on my break and it took a whole bottle... the cap looks like crap, everything looks like crap.. topped if off and it's running cooler now but there's a lot of pressure in the system. The top hose is really stiff. I'll replace this when I get home. I hope a head gasket isn't blown, it wasn't bubbling constantly with the cap off.

 

Water pump is gone.

 

Think so? I do feel movement and see the coolant move around with the cap off while raising the RPMz..

 

This is what can happen
https://www.ranger-forums.com/showth...ght=water+pump

 

I get plenty of heat though and I'm feeling the pressure and flow so I doubt it's the waterpumpvas of now.

 

Replaced the cap when I got home and everything was running just fine. Driving around later on though (also my auto tensioner went bad and squeaks) my squeaking noise stops and the temp gauge shoots up and the truck starts smoking. I pull over to the side and see the overflow tank popped opened like how I saw it at the dealership. I drove it home later and again there was no coolant in radiator. I thought maybe the thermostat was stuck so I popped that off and threw in on the stove and it eventually opened up with boiling water (idk how hot the water was) so I got a new gasket and put the thermostat back in the block with the spring side sitting in the block as the arrow on the the thermostat stat points up towards the flow heading to the radiator and filled it back up fired it up and drove it around. Temp gauge read that it was heated up but there was no heat coming from the vents. The temp gauge then shot up again showing Check Gauge lights so I turned it off and let it cool. Turned it back on and then temp gauge went back to normal and then heat came back. Parked it in the garage and again coolant popped out of the resovaur (I cant spel gewsd) and the top hose had A LOT of pressure like before. The bottom hose wasn't so bad and wasn't that hot either.

So idk! Re-tarted (no offense) thermostat!?! Waterpump from hell? Or dude head gasket is blown man... who you trying to convince? I haven't had the damn thing for more than 24 hours and its working less than the Dakato I bought for $100 and lasted me 5 years... FML!

 

Have you tried bypassing the heatercore? Would be something free to try after you flush the system.

 

No I haven't tried that at all, at this point I'm not going to touch anything and bring it back to the dealer to see what they can do and not point the finger at me since I bought it Monday and it breaks Tuesday... hope lemon law still exists..

 

so their shop says it needs a new radiator and belt tensioner which I knew the tensioner was bad but do you guys think that sounds right!?

 

yup... A clog in the radiator would cause that problem, hence why everyone said to flush it... and If you knew the tensioner was bad, I'd say that sounds correct too. Hope you can get them to pay for at least half of it.

 

Yeah reading from all your post it sounds like this could be the problem but I just want to make sure this shop isnt giving me any bs. I told them to pressure test the system to just in case there might be a blown head gasket or something else. More so they might have to do a compression test but I doubt they will do that unless they find something else. I also asked them to test drive it around for awhile just to be sure.

Also the turn signal switch went bad on the way there but I know that's a common problem with the Rangers and an easy fix. Lastly the steering wheel doesn't drive strait with the wheel at center so I'm going to ask them to do an alignment. With my old truck I did it myself and got lucky to have it drive straight but this one has new tires and just want to make sure to do the right thing with a proper investment.

 

Got it back today. For the most part everything is fixed. When I first drove it home the temp gauge eventually goes to normal but theres no heat. The gauge then raises like before but not as close to the warning area and then goes back down and the heat kicks on and it works fine from then on. The hoses are running a good amount of pressure unlike before when it was to much and then I drove it later that day and had no issues so I'll keep an eye out...

 

glad to hear it.

 

Is it normal for these motors while heating up for a fresh start to get hotter than normal for a sec then drop back to normal and heat to come back?

 

not really. most motors heat up to a normal operating temp which is different for every truck but unless you have a fan cooling problem it shouldnt heat up past normal

 

If it heats up to hotter than operating temp, then drops eventually, it is probably your T-stat sticking... If your radiator was clogged, its possible there is a small clog at the thermostat...Its easy to test/cheap to replace.

 

First off thank you so much for all your replies, I can not express how much I appreciate all the help!

So yeah getting back to still having the issues after I got it back. It was better than it was but the coolant gauge during cold start would all of a sudden just jump up to around normal temp and then start increase pretty high triggering the check gauges light but it wouldn't pop the overflow tank. So I put the new radiator cap that I bought from autozone which isn't OEM and slapped it on and the hoses had still a lot of pressure. Then still driving it around to figure out what was going on the heat went away and I checked under the hood and the top radiator hose was completely collapse. So I went online and searched around forums and I went the thermostat route and tested the new one and the old one on the stove and the new one would open up just fine and the old one took forever to open up (heat wise until a lot of boiling water) and pretty much fixed the rest of my issues.

I think now the hoses are shot because of going through so much pressure up and down that my next move is to replace them. I don't think that the system is grabbing fluid from the over flow tank (unless this system is only meant for just over pressure) or that to much pressure is building up and it's not being released properly. When I get it to normal temp the top hose is still pretty stiff but not as bad and I need to let more air out of the system because I can hear it when I slowly release pressure from the cap. Or the cap I bought could be a bad one but the spring on it seems fine.

 

I still say the water pump is not pushing the coolant through the system as it should.
It may look as though there is flow in the radiator , but not enough.

 

I wouldn't rule this out at all. For now the truck heats up fast on cold starts and runs at a good temp. After all that has happened to it the fins could be bent or rusted. How that the head gasket on this motor are not blown is beyond me. This just shows me how good these motors are? I'll keep an eye on this and might replace it down the road.

 

So now its letting out pressure from the radiator to the overflow tank just fine and the system is full so I believe it's working properly. The heat is always good and it doesn't get cold on me at all no matter what. I would think that if the waterpump wasnt working that it would end up getting cold at one point because the water is just sitting in the same area and the heater core would cool down. Though these are just thoughts and I still wouldn't rule out a bad pump considering that pretty much the whole cooling system was shot, what do you think?

 

I think if the water pump isnt whining, and its not leaking at all, its fine for now... Just know thats one of the only things you havent replaced, so next time you have coolant troubles, Thats probably going to be the biggest weak point. Ford makes some pretty bulletproof motors... Hey, they may not put out as much HP as some other manufacturers, but if you want reliablity, that they are....and pretty cheap when they do break.

 

I could care less about the horsepower. I wanted reliability and better gas mileage which is why I love rangers!

So I drove it to work this morning and parked it and checked under the hood.

The overflow tank does have some bubbling after I filled up the system properly. It's not as bad as it was the other time and the bubbling slows down the longer it sits. It's not a lot of bubbling, but if I pop the overflow's tank cap and look or put my ear to it I can notice it.

FML if the head gasket is bad....

I also put the stock cap back on it because I think the one I bought from autozone was holding less pressure than stocks.