kuzimm
New Member
- Joined
- September 6, 2011
- Messages
- 1
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- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 89 Ford Ranger
Hi all, I wanted to try and get some alternate opinions in the hopes that my worst fears are not true.
I have an '89 Ranger 2.9 V6. Just about everything on it leaks a little bit at this point, but no major problems until recently I noticed a lot of coolant starting to weep out of my water pump. Took it in and got it replaced as this truck is currently my daily driver and I have limited tools to do anything myself quickly. During the leaking I stayed on top of the coolant and the engine never ran hotter than normal.
That was about a week ago. This past weekend I drove from LA down to San Diego for labor day. Didn't notice any problems, however today when coming back I started hearing an odd sound coming from my engine bay while driving on the freeway. Not especially menacing sounding, but I am just hyper sensitive to anything out of the ordinary at this point in that truck. The sound was rhythmic and stopped if I eased up on the accelerator. I pulled off to take a look and as I stopped at a stop sign to pull into a parking lot the truck stuttered and stalled (automatic). I started it back up and a huge amount of thick white smoke poured out the tail pipe, the engine also ran very rough and threatened to stall again if I didn't keep the revs up. Pulled the last 100 feet into the parking lot and shut her down. Faint sweet smell outside the truck. With the hood up I started the engine again and again got a ton of smoke pouring out the tail, and the engine block itself seemed to be rocking quite violently in the bay. I quickly turned the truck back off not wanting to cause any more damage. I also noticed that this point that the temp gauge on the dash was a much higher than normal. Not all the way too full hot but the gauge spells "N O R M A L" between the C and H on the arc and the needle typically sits right on the O even after a long highway drive, the gauge was up to around the A or L at this point.
Not sure what to do at this point and still about 50 miles from home I had my girlfriend use her AAA and we got towed the rest of the way home. Dropped me off in front of my apartment and I was able to start the truck up and pull it into my spot without much problem, no smoke, although I am suspecting that was just because the engine was completely cold at that point.
Any ideas? Based on what I've read sounds like a head gasket, but that is not a repair I have time to do myself with this being my only transportation and my limited work space and tools, and I don't really want to pay a mechanic $1000+ to do on this super old truck that has sucked up waaaaaaay too much of my money in my one year of ownership.
I have an '89 Ranger 2.9 V6. Just about everything on it leaks a little bit at this point, but no major problems until recently I noticed a lot of coolant starting to weep out of my water pump. Took it in and got it replaced as this truck is currently my daily driver and I have limited tools to do anything myself quickly. During the leaking I stayed on top of the coolant and the engine never ran hotter than normal.
That was about a week ago. This past weekend I drove from LA down to San Diego for labor day. Didn't notice any problems, however today when coming back I started hearing an odd sound coming from my engine bay while driving on the freeway. Not especially menacing sounding, but I am just hyper sensitive to anything out of the ordinary at this point in that truck. The sound was rhythmic and stopped if I eased up on the accelerator. I pulled off to take a look and as I stopped at a stop sign to pull into a parking lot the truck stuttered and stalled (automatic). I started it back up and a huge amount of thick white smoke poured out the tail pipe, the engine also ran very rough and threatened to stall again if I didn't keep the revs up. Pulled the last 100 feet into the parking lot and shut her down. Faint sweet smell outside the truck. With the hood up I started the engine again and again got a ton of smoke pouring out the tail, and the engine block itself seemed to be rocking quite violently in the bay. I quickly turned the truck back off not wanting to cause any more damage. I also noticed that this point that the temp gauge on the dash was a much higher than normal. Not all the way too full hot but the gauge spells "N O R M A L" between the C and H on the arc and the needle typically sits right on the O even after a long highway drive, the gauge was up to around the A or L at this point.
Not sure what to do at this point and still about 50 miles from home I had my girlfriend use her AAA and we got towed the rest of the way home. Dropped me off in front of my apartment and I was able to start the truck up and pull it into my spot without much problem, no smoke, although I am suspecting that was just because the engine was completely cold at that point.
Any ideas? Based on what I've read sounds like a head gasket, but that is not a repair I have time to do myself with this being my only transportation and my limited work space and tools, and I don't really want to pay a mechanic $1000+ to do on this super old truck that has sucked up waaaaaaay too much of my money in my one year of ownership.
