Bought Daughter a 2010 Ranger, She Paid it Off, Blew Engine, I Replaced Engine.......

[BKennedy]

6" long socket? Wow! I've never seen a coolant temp sensor that needed more than a standard deep well.

It's ridiculous. The plug hard plastic and 3" above the sensor. A deep socket won't clear it. Need a extra deep socket or a small space sensor socket set. My O2 sensor socket won't fit because the sensor is recessed into the head.

 

[JoshT]

Again... Wow!

He also suggested pulling the fuel pump and ignition relays before the first cranking of the starter. Turn it over for 15 seconds. He said it will get the oil flowing, and if I did something wrong that will let me know without destroying the engine. Good advice.

Personally I'd do that and crank it until it was showing oil pressure on the gauge, even if it took more than 15 second. Basically priming the oil system with the starter. Might take a several seconds, but if it doesn't come up then you know you have a problem before you ever fire it off for the first time. If it does give good oil pressure with just the starter, it definitely should when running.

When I finished up rebuilding my 5.0L I had a oil pump priming tool, but cranking with the starter until registering oil pressure is what I would have done if I hadn't had the tool.

 

[BKennedy]

The real deep socket was delivered last night. The ad called it an impact socket, but its very thin-walled. Being thin walled made it easier to get down through the small access hole in the valve cover. It worked fine to swap out the head temp sensors. Another tool I'll probably never use again.

Fusion sensor on the right. They are completely different. Ranger sensor had an oil bath due to the leaking valve cover.

Pile of stuff. I wonder if anyone would want the Fusion timing cover, intake, valve cover and oil pan? Maybe I'll put an ad in CL's free section. I've heard that when a Fusion gets in a frontal or front side collision they are totalled due to the timing cover. It has an upper engine mount on it and the impact breaks the cover. Someone might be able to get their car back on the road with these parts.

 

[JoshT]

Yeah, you might not have needed the full 6 inches, but definitely a deeper than normal socket. (EDIT: I meant deeper than a normal deep well socket) That was most definitely a dumb design choice.

These days "impact rated" is used more often as a marketing ploy than anything else. Seems like most of the time its either because the material is CrMo/CrV, or because it has a black finish. Occasionally it actually given approprately because the design is beefed up with things like thicker walls in addition to the stronger materials. In this case it seems to be more of a marketing ploy. Who cares, it got the job done and that's not a situation where you need an impact anyway (hopefully).

 

[BKennedy]

No impact on soft parts. They came out easy and got swapped snug.

A normal deep socket would have fit if the plug wasn't so tall. Deep sockets narrow down past where the bolt head or nut fits. This cheap one is thin walled the entire length. Sometimes, cheap is better. If I used an impact on it, I bet it would twist up like a barber pole.

 

[BKennedy]

I got everything installed, plugged in, etc., except for this one plug. I can't find where it goes. It's on the back passenger side of the engine, and the wiring harness is short so it's mate should be within a few inches. It's part of the main engine harness. Everything else was fairly easy to figure out. Maybe it will appear tomorrow.

Edit: I looked at a picture I took of the back side of the engine. I think that plugs into the EGR valve. That's going to be fun now that the intake is on and I can't see behind the engine. It's the engine on the right that looks like Medusa

Edit x2: Yep, that was it. Wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Needs fluids, then it will be ready to start. I'm out of time today, so maybe tomorrow.

 

[410Fortune]

It’s a cylinder head temp sensor and they are like 4” long… silly
Cheap socket for the win!

Fingers crossed! I’m sure she will run fantastic!

 

[Rick]

It’s a cylinder head temp sensor and they are like 4” long… silly

Looks like a meat thermometer.

 

[Josh P]

Looks like a nearly running truck to me.

 

[BKennedy]

It's a runner!!!!

I filled it up with fluids, and installed the battery. Pulled the fuel pump fuse and cranked it for ten seconds and the battery died. Got out my old Sears battery charger and cranked it another 30 seconds. Truck has no oil pressure gauge, just a coolant temp gauge so no way to tell about oil pressure. Put the fuse back in and it started right up. I let it idle for 10 minutes and there was a little smoke off the exhaust manifold when it burnt off some oil. Good throttle response, no clicks or clank, runs smooth. I shut it off for 20 minutes and it's idling now. I'll let it idle for 20 minutes or so and call this a success. I should be able to clean up the wiring, install the inner fender, tire and hood, reinstate the insurance and take it for a drive soon.

YES!! I think I'll have a glass of whiskey and sleep for the next ten hours.

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Brought a dead truck and a engine that was sitting in a junk yard for two years back to life!!

 

[Josh P]

Got out my old Sears battery charger

Sears, what's that? Seriously though, that charger will outlast us, the new stuff is junk.

 

[BKennedy]

The Sears charger is at least 40 years old and still works great.

I figure I should put 150-200 miles on the Ranger, then change the oil/filter and trans fluid/filter because it's due. Then I will turn it back over to the daughter.

 

[Rick]

It's a runner!!!!

I filled it up with fluids, and installed the battery. Pulled the fuel pump fuse and cranked it for ten seconds and the battery died. Got out my old Sears battery charger and cranked it another 30 seconds. Truck has no oil pressure gauge, just a coolant temp gauge so no way to tell about oil pressure. Put the fuse back in and it started right up. I let it idle for 10 minutes and there was a little smoke off the exhaust manifold when it burnt off some oil. Good throttle response, no clicks or clank, runs smooth. I shut it off for 20 minutes and it's idling now. I'll let it idle for 20 minutes or so and call this a success. I should be able to clean up the wiring, install the inner fender, tire and hood, reinstate the insurance and take it for a drive soon.

YES!! I think I'll have a glass of whiskey and sleep for the next ten hours.

Congrats!

 

[410Fortune]

Excellent news!!!! So glad to hear seriously this is a big deal. Good job!! Bye bye money pit beemer

 

[BKennedy]

It's huge for Sarah. The truck was worth maybe $2,000. KBB says it's worth $8,000-12,000 now.

I cleaned up all the wiring, reinstalled the inner fender, tire and hood. Its ready for a test drive. I need to reinstate the insurance and play musical vehicles to get it out to the street, so I'll do that in a day or two.

The only thing not working is the AC. I can hear the cluch kicking on and off and there was some green stuff on a fitting that got pushed around several times. Totally acceptable.

 

[BKennedy]

Someone who does engines like 410Fortune could make good side money doing this. I'm in this for under $1,000. In his area the Focus and Fusion engines are cheaper. Buy a 2.3 Ranger with a blown motor for under $2,000, $300-400 for the engine, double that for misc parts. Sell it for $10K.

 

[410Fortune]

Shhhhhhhhh!
I get the rangers w bad engines more like $400-1200 lol

 

[BKennedy]

Took it for its first test drive. Drove about seven miles round trip to fill up the tank. I dumped a bunch of injector cleaner prior to filling it with premium. After I dropped off a Amazon return, the CEL appeared. Code reader showed a EGR code. I'm hoping the fuel additive triggered the code. Maybe it freaked out because it's never had premium fuel before. I cleared it and will drive it some more tomorrow. It runs fine. I wish there were more gauges other than coolant temp and voltage.

Dog doesn't really fit in this truck

Edit: I ordered a scanner with more features than the FixIt I've been using. Scanner says it has real time data so I can check the oil pressure, etc., while I'm driving. It should arrive later today. I've been meaning to get one in any case.

 

[BKennedy]

Over the weekend I put the engine through several heat cycles. Code reader shows no issues.

I had a partial can of R134a and when I put that into the AC system, it started blowing cold. I took a drive to a auto parts store to pick up another can, Ranger ran great. When I was leaving the lot, I accelerated and got a CEL. That's the same thing I was doing when the CEL came on the other day. When I got home I ran the codes and got P400, EGR code, same as the other day. Engine runs fine, pretty peppy for a little 2.3.

I'm thinking (hoping) it just needs to be driven. Maybe if the code is still there in a month or two, I'll order and change the EGR valve. I'll keep driving it around for another week with the code reader recording real time to see what happens when it triggers the code.