I have a 93 2.3L Ranger and I can not bleed the rear brakes. Zero fluid comes out of either side using a MityVac. I went to the proportioning valve and disconnected the rear line and pumped the brakes and nothing came out of the valve. I am assuming that it has locked up. I gently hit the side of the valve with a hammer and then attempted to pump the brakes. This time a small amount of fluid would come out of the valve. Is there a way to reset this? Is it bad? Is there something else I should be doing? Cant find a new one for under 400.00. That's pricey considering the car is worth probably 1,000. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum

Thats not the proportioning valve you are banging on, its the ABS valve, and yes they do go bad

You can by-pass it, many do

The Master cylinder is the proportioning valve on the Rangers, and most vehicle since 1985

The front connection on master is for the rear brakes, in Rangers it will have about 30% of the pressure, front brakes get 70%, 70/30 proportioning, cars and SUVs use 60/40

Anyway, you can get bendable brake line of correct size and fittings and run it from Master down to rear brake line at ABS valve to by-pass it

And just a heads up, rear brake line in the frame rail likes to rust out and leak, usually behind gas tank where you can't get at it, lol

 

OEM Ford Ranger Brake Proportioning Valve E9TZ-2B373-B



OEM Ford Ranger Brake Proportioning Valve E9TZ-2B373-B

This is the valve I am speaking of. Maybe it is semantics about what people call it but I was under the impression this is what would shut close the rear brakes if there was a failure so I would at minimum have front brakes. The brake line going to the rear starts from here. I disconnected the rear brake line at this valve and attempted to see if fluid would come out of the valve during pumping the brakes. My understanding is that I need this item and it would not be prudent to bypass it.

 

Oh and I just dropped the tank but that was before I knew I had this problem. That would have been a good time to check that stuff. Grrrr.

 

The reason you have 2 brake lines coming out of the master cylinder is front line is for the rear brakes, and the rear line, closest to the firewall is for the front brakes.

They are 2 separate systems, in case one fails you'll have the other one to stop you.

Your 93 Ranger has rear wheel ABS. That picture is of the ABS valve or sometimes called ABS hydraulic unit. Like RonD said, most people just by-pass it.

 

Yes, that is the rear brake ABS valve, and yes Ford did call it a proportioning valve, poor choice of terms on their part, lol, proportioning valves don't have, or need, electrical connections
The Rear axle has a speed sensor on the differential, if the pulses from that sensor should drop suddenly(rear wheels locking up) the ABS valve would be activated, reducing any brake pressure to the rear brakes, ABS module pulses voltage to the valve so you would feel a pulsing in the brake pedal when ABS is activated

Have you ever felt the pulsing in the pedal on hard braking?
If not, then the 70/30 proportioning in the Master is working OK, so you have never used the ABS valve

Pickup trucks started getting RABS(Rear ABS) in the late 1970s, single channel ABS, one sensor/one valve, these do allow one rear wheel to lock up before ABS will reduce brake pressure because the sensor is in the differential, which allows the two axles to spin at different speeds, so both rear wheels have to lock up before sensor would be effective.

Up to you to replace or by-pass, but those are the only two options.