I have a 99 with 144k miles that I bought from my friend in 2017 3 years ago for $550 (I got it at 121k). When I got it from him (it was in running order) the battery was 7 years old, the coolant was a brown mush that I had to replace and flush, the oil was in desperate need of a change, and there was almost no power steering fluid. Fast forward to 6 months ago the fuel pump goes bad and it sits in my driveway for 2 1/2 months until I fix it and then when I start driving after I put it in the engine is stuttering and isn’t riding smoothly, which wasn’t like that before the fuel pump went out. Take it to the local shop and after much time he tells me the valves are bad and that I should consider selling it. I’m wondering what could cause this and if it’d be worth it to fix. It’s not my daily

This is it about a month before the fuel pump went out
truck, I used it as my beach and yardwork work and it’s been paining me the last few months using my Silverado since Its been getting dirty and wear from the work. Any help is appreciated.

 

Hard to say not knowing how the mechanic diagnosed "valve issue"

Pretty easy to do a compression test on a 4cyl engine, dry, then if compression is low add a teaspoon of oil and retest to see if its valve issue or rings

The 2.5l Lima engine was pretty bullet-proof, not alot of power but ran and ran, it was used in many Ford vehicles from 1974 to 2001, mostly as a 2.3l, 2.5l was just a stroked version so same engine

These do have a timing BELT which needs to be changed every 100k miles, it can stretch or slip and cause running issues and lower compression, when was yours last changed?

By changing the fuel pump you could have put gas tank debris into the fuel filter causing it to get clogged up, even if it was new with the new pump, and maybe injectors are clogging up as well

Is it an automatic or manual transmission?

If its a manual transmission then you can look at the cost of engine repair versus replacement vehicle cost, Ranger running gear tends to last a long time without much serving

If its an automatic its a tougher call because automatic servicing gets expensive, and with 144k you are getting up there, manuals just last, but you do need to change clutch

Basically look at cost of replacement vehicle, and how long you think it will last you, at low or no cost, 5 years, 10years?
Then the cost of fixing the Ranger, and how long it will last
Whats the cost per year?

 

while they were figuring out what was wrong at the shop they did replace the timing belt, it had jumped the engine. It’s an automatic trans. I’ve been wanting to buy a compression tester, just never went through with it. I thought though that if the valves were bad it wouldn’t really be road worthy. I shakes in low speeds, but it’s drives. I drove it home from the shop today, only a 10 min drive. I saw a guy on fb mkt that had a 2.5 with bad valves and he said his didn’t have compression and wouldn’t drive

 

The 2.3l or 2.5l Limas were just not known for valve issues, it can happen on any engine, of course, just way down on the list for a misfire on this 4 cylinder engine

There is an old test that is free to try, "Dollar bill test", lol, no not those, the one you do at the tail pipe of a vehicle
With engine idling hold a dollar bill(any denomination will do, lol) over the tail pipe, exhaust should always blow OUT, if there is a burnt exhaust valve it will SUCK IN between blowing out, bill will "rattle" ad you can see it "suck in" each time that cylinder is on intake stroke.

At idle Vacuum in intake is high, so when intake valve opens piston is sucking in air, exhaust valve should be closed, but it it burnt/leaking then it SUCKS in as well but from exhaust side

Jeeze, haven't thought of that test in YEARS, lol, Grandfather taught it to me


I have seen a few posts where rocker slipped sideways so valve wasn't opening all the way, or at all, and that cylinder was misfiring
Just need to take of the valve cover to fix it

You have a steady misfire from the description, so 3 of the 4 cylinders are working, one is not, and that can certainly be caused by a bad valve in that cylinder, or a bad injector, probably not spark because there are 2 of them.

 

so I bought a new battery and got it started so I did the dollar test since I don’t have an actual compression tester yet. It does seem that the exhaust is sucking in. I took a video of it, it’s right here

 

Yup, does look like an exhaust valve is leaking, not just a regular misfire

Bummer

Obviously not a definitive test, lol, like a compression test but not a good sign

You can do the dollar bill test on the other vehicle, and then maybe pull one spark plug wire so you can see difference in a regular misfire and a leaking exhaust valve misfire

 

im getting a compression tester from autozone tomorrow to see if it’s 1,2,3, or 4 that’s bad. Do you know of a good video or a guide of how to replace it if I want to go down that road. I really just want to fix it for my own betterment now. I just got an 02 3.0 to replace it, but I’d really like to have them both running because I’m considering starting up landscaping and could use both of them

 

You need to remove 1 spark plug from each cylinder, the easiest one to get to
Then test compression, expected on a 2.5l Lima is 165psi

If you have one that is lower than the others then its most likely a valve issue, you can put a teaspoon of oil in the low cylinder and retest to see how much it comes up, if just a few psi then its a valve issue for sure
It 3 cylinders are 160 and 4th is 130 or lower, and adding oil makes it 140 its a valve issue

You would take the head off and take it to a machine shop, they will clean it and pressure test it to makes sure there are no cracks, because a head can crack so no use wasting money on it once you know
Machine shop can do a "valve job" if head is OK, they will replace any bad valves and seats and regrind all the valves for best seal
Then they will Surface the head, make it flat for new head gasket installation

Call a few machine shops to get pricing on this

Just as a how to, I use a straw, like from McDonald's or ??, I dip straw into a bottle of oil so its 1/2 way full, then put finger over the end and lift straw out, oil stays in straw
Then put straw in the spark plug hole and lift finger off the end
Thats about a teaspoon of oil and not too messy, lol

 

Great info from Ron as always!

Just my 2 cents if you do need to pull the head. I have a 2.5L also and ended up with a bad head gasket. After calling a few local reputable machine shops I got prices that were the same or higher than just buying one of the internet. I went the internet route so once I had all the needed parts it was one weekend of work to tear down, clean, inspect, then put it all back together and done! No waiting the 1 to 2 weeks for machine shop.