Greetings Ranger-Forums 4.0 gurus, I come trying to return some semblance of virginity to at least one of the pooches that that my son has managed to screw through a series of unwise vehicle decisions:

A friend gave him a "great deal" on a 2010 ranger that had "only" run into a semi trailer and crushed the passenger side of the front and cab. The engine still ran well, and not even any warning lights on the dash. 4.0 SOHC, automatic, 4wd, XLT(I think).

Learning (the hard way) that the cab was too badly mangled to fit a new windshield in, he then bought a 2008 ranger with a blown engine and a "good" body and frame.

With the application of some profanity, he's managed to pull the engine and transmission from the 2010 and stuff it into the 2008. He moved the 2010 wiring harness over with it.

Unfortunately, he's not much for reading or following directions, but I'm reasonably impressed that he seems to have found an appropriate place for all of the plugs to re-plug. Personally, mid-'70s wiring harnesses are more my speed - my ranger runs a carbureted 460...

It fires up, but is obviously running vastly too rich - cats started glowing almost immediately.

I don't have the codes in front of me, but I believe it was showing an over-voltage on the downstream O2 sensor on one side (but not the other), and a crank position sensor error. Nothing else obviously related.

So -- where do I start? Are there obvious/known incompatibilities between the 2010 wiring harness or engine systems and the 2008 chassis? Google says "oh, you have to change the injector manifold" ... google says lots of things that aren't true these days, so I don't know if I should believe that, or ??? Of course, I'll take a look at the crank position sensor, but if there's a known "pin X moved to position Y" on the harness change, or any other common wisdom on this swap, I'd really appreciate pointers so that I'm not just poking this steaming pile and hoping I find where he screwed something up.

 

did he change the ECU also?

 

Swapping the ECU cassette results in a PATS lockout and no crank/no-start (that is, using the 2010's ECU in the 2008 chassis with the 2008 steering column and lock cylinder). He has valid chipped keys for both chassis, but I'm not sure what collection of parts would need to be swapped in addition to the ECU, to get the PATS data to line up from key to ECU. I'm not above gutting the lock cylinder and making the 2008 cylinder work with his 2010 key, but I'd rather acquire some wisdom before just starting to gut parts that annoy me :-/

 

I’m not 100% sure but I’m almost positive. You need the same key lock column, ECU and wire loom off the same vehicle. I don’t believe the other sensors make any difference. I believe them that PATS SHOULD BE OK

 

So that would be swap the 2010 wiring harness out and install the 2008 wiring harness? I wonder how challenging it is to swap out the key lock and associated electronics instead -- there's a heck of a lot of wiring loom to undo and redo!

 

so this has the same ECU, wiring loom, ect but just a newer motor? it started and ran? how long? any info on the new motor? maybe its a flex fuel motor? if it started and ran for 5min. the ECU is working. i think you could ck Rock Auto to see if most of the sensors are the same. if it was a flex motor, the new one, you would need to exchange the injectors.

 

This is the 2010 engine and 2010 wiring harness, in the 2008 chassis with the 2008 ECU. In that configuration it starts and runs, and without the cats on, doesn't sound half bad. With the cats on, it becomes obvious that it's running excessively rich, though the only relevant codes it throws are a crank position sensor code (which can't be that bad, since it runs), and a downstream O2 sensor overvoltage code.

I will need to look at the 2010 and see if it claims that it's a flex. That'd be an obvious and stupid problem, but probably relatively easy to fix?

edit : nope, no such luck. Both vehicles are Gasoline/E10, non-flex.

If the answer is "swap to the 2008 harness" any idea of how much of the wiring actually needs swapped?

 

in that case it also could be the O2 sensors. They’re the only sensors that actually wear out and you need to replace them every 10 years or 100,000 miles. Those sensors tell the motor what the problems are with the fuel mixtures and when they go bad or even if they not 100% running good, you can have issues. The easiest way is to look at live data if you can look at short term, long-term fuel trims and voltage on the O2 sensors. You have to do this when they are warmed up. They don’t start working until the motor is completely warmed up.

 

It's going to light on fire if he tries to run it long enough to warm up the engine (sensors). The cats are bright orange within a minute, on the excess fuel coming through the system.

I don't have concrete knowledge that the O2 sensors are good, but the 2010 engine and peripherals ran (and drove) fine, with no CEL/codes, before being swapped into the 2008 chassis. He moved the O2 sensors over with the engine and wiring harness, so I think there's a reasonable chance that the sensors are OK.

 

check this vid

A catalytic converter glows red from extreme overheating, usually caused by unburned fuel entering it and igniting, leading to combustion inside the converter instead of the engine. Key culprits are engine misfires (bad spark plugs, coils, or timing), a rich fuel mixture (faulty sensors, injectors), or a clogged exhaust restricting flow, all of which send too much fuel or heat downstream, melting the internal ceramic structure and creating a serious fire hazard