steadyhand
Active Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2010
- Messages
- 98
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Missouri
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 Mercury Mountaineer
I recently bought a 92 Ford Ranger, 2.3l, 5 speed. This truck was bought simply to use as a backup that would be cheaper on fuel. When I first looked at the truck, it ran and shifted fine. It had/has a check engine light but these trucks are fairly simple to work on so I went ahead and bought it.
I got the truck home and right away it started to manifest some problems. Odd how that always happens. My first concern is a very loud clunking sound when the engine is idling and when driving down the road. It is so loud it sounds like a bad motor mount, but the clunking is random and sometimes hits harder than others.
I got to looking around to find the noise and I noticed the previous owner stuck two 2x4 blocks between the cross member and the transmission.
Why do you suppose he would have done this? He did say the transmission was recently rebuilt and it does look like someone has had it open recently. It shifts great but I don't understand why he put the blocks there and I don't want to take them out just yet.
The engine is running rough due to a bad ECT sensor and ECM module. I just replaced the ECT sensor and backflushed the cooling system to get some rust out. The ECM is next.
The smoother the engine runs, the less the clunking occurs during idle. However, as soon as I start driving down the road you really hear the clunking. The cross member and transmission mount at the rear of the transmission, near the tail of it, look ok to me. The bell housing appears to be mounted right with no missing bolts. I don't know what these should look like underneath. Hopefully someone else has some insight on why this was done.
I got the truck home and right away it started to manifest some problems. Odd how that always happens. My first concern is a very loud clunking sound when the engine is idling and when driving down the road. It is so loud it sounds like a bad motor mount, but the clunking is random and sometimes hits harder than others.
I got to looking around to find the noise and I noticed the previous owner stuck two 2x4 blocks between the cross member and the transmission.
Why do you suppose he would have done this? He did say the transmission was recently rebuilt and it does look like someone has had it open recently. It shifts great but I don't understand why he put the blocks there and I don't want to take them out just yet.
The engine is running rough due to a bad ECT sensor and ECM module. I just replaced the ECT sensor and backflushed the cooling system to get some rust out. The ECM is next.
The smoother the engine runs, the less the clunking occurs during idle. However, as soon as I start driving down the road you really hear the clunking. The cross member and transmission mount at the rear of the transmission, near the tail of it, look ok to me. The bell housing appears to be mounted right with no missing bolts. I don't know what these should look like underneath. Hopefully someone else has some insight on why this was done.
