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 A 2000 Ford Ranger and 2013 Subaru Crosstrek discuss head gaskets About two years ago, we traded my wife's 2004 Mazda 3. It was a good car, or at least it had been - the back-country roads of Vermont weren't treating it's suspension very well, and the low clearance often had trouble making it up the driveway. So off to the lot it went, and I took the money from that and bought this fine piece of American engineering: Ford Ranger, 2000 4WD, Extended Cab 117k miles Snowplow (!!) The body's good, for the most part, though there's a little rust on the frame. The gas milage isn't the best, but it wasn't the price of a new truck, either. Mostly, it was that coveted thing - a beater truck to haul myself back and forth to work, take the garbage to the dump, and the dogs for an occasional ride. But, over the past two years, it's developed some interesting quirks, which I'll get to in a minute. The biggest issue is that on the ride up the hill to work last week, it went from making it's usual mournful gasping putter to a full throated roar in a split second. While I enjoyed the change of pitch, something told me that this was wrong, and my poor truck may well have been in its death throes. Upon arriving at work, I looked under and noted that while the exhaust assembly was still present, it was definitely not intact. Behold:   So while I had been cheerfully ignoring most of the other problems, I've now got one that can't be ignored. Which means that I have to do something about it. Which means I'm making this thread. The time to be my own mechanic is here, hopefully with input from people who know more about this than I do. So here's the list of problems, with the really pressing issues closer to the top. Help me, goons. 1) 2) It's eating coolant. It's not dripping it, it's not leaking in any way that I have been able to tell, but once every other fill up, I have to add a couple of quarts of coolant. I've heard of an issue where it can secretly leak behind a firewall, but I haven't gotten that far yet. This may also be a head gasket issue. I now have the tool to check the radiator for exhaust gasses. 3) Electrical gremlins abound. The instrument panel is plagued with weird electrical issues. While the speedometer is working, as well as the fuel gauge (thankfully), the tachometer is hilariously useless. Sometime's I'm idling at redline, sometimes I'm going full out up a hill and it's reading zero. Also related: 4) 5) A reluctant snowplow.. Country living in Vermont means that a snowplow's a handy thing to have. However, the one on this truck likes to poo poo the bed when it snows. I'm pretty sure that it's a ground wire issue and some sort of electrical short. Last time it snowed heavily, and I was attempting to put the plow on the truck, it would spark between the mount and the retaining pin whenever I'd try to engage the hydraulics to lift the plow. This is an issue for later, but it's July, so that means I've got 60 days or so before it starts snowing again. If we can get these problems fixed, and this turned into a reliable daily driver again, then the wife has given me the OK to start making poor decisions and modding the truck. But first thing first, let's get this exhaust fixed. I understand that this thing is called a donut gasket, and that there are spring bolts that hold two flanges together to make the seal. But one of them seems to be missing! Is this a thing that would have been welded to the pipe coming from the catalytic converter, or is this something that I can buy at Napa or Advance and replace? Do I really need to get a new converter? Weltlich fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Aug 9, 2017 |
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Jul 21, 2017 20:50
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It's a beater, just pull the back half of the exhaust off and cement a turndown pipe to the remaining portion.
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Jul 21, 2017 20:55
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You might be able to get away with just filing/cutting off the flanges and putting in an exhaust band clamp like this: Most parts stores should have something like this available if not in stock. You'll need to measure the diameter of the exhaust pipes to know which size to buy. The very cheap ghetto junkyard fix would be to cut a Coke can lengthwise, smear the tubes with muffler putty, then use hose clamps to tighten the Coke can metal across the gap between the tubes. This generally lasts 2-3 years even in high-salt environments..
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Jul 21, 2017 20:58
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Weltlich posted:A quick tickticktickticktick as it bounced from reading proper pressure to OH poo poo. As soon as I started moving again, it went away. So, either I do have an oil pressure issue, or I've got a faulty sensor, or the same instrument panel gremlin has claimed another victim. The little arm has also lodged under the peg, so it's not ticking anymore. If this is only happening at idle, and only when the engine is warm, you probably do have an oil pressure issue. How's the oil look, anyway? If it's drinking that much coolant, I would think you have plenty of coolant in the oil (this is bad).
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Jul 21, 2017 21:34
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Powershift posted:It's a beater, just pull the back half of the exhaust off and cement a turndown pipe to the remaining portion. I like this idea, but it won't pass inspection. Well, I might be able to find a mechanic that would pass it. This is now Plan C. Seat Safety Switch posted:You might be able to get away with just filing/cutting off the flanges and putting in an exhaust band clamp like this: I saw one of these when I was in O'Reilly the other day and thought it might be used as that. I'm going to call this Plan B for now. The coke can idea also has merit and is now Plan D. For Plan A, I think I've found a solution that's similar to the original - https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/walker-flange-repair-kit-36130/26010007-P  I went out and measured the pipe, and this one should do the trick.
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Jul 21, 2017 21:45
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:If this is only happening at idle, and only when the engine is warm, you probably do have an oil pressure issue. I'll check it again, but so far no coolant in the oil. I have looked for the "frothy" stuff on the oil cap, but so far nothing. The oil is dark and due for a change, though.
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Jul 21, 2017 21:47
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Weltlich posted:I'll check it again, but so far no coolant in the oil. I have looked for the "frothy" stuff on the oil cap, but so far nothing. The oil is dark and due for a change, though. There are exhaust gas testing kits for coolant too they are pretty cheap. check your heater hoses that go into the firewall and the water pump as well.
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Jul 21, 2017 21:59
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Weltlich posted:For Plan A, I think I've found a solution that's similar to the original - https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/walker-flange-repair-kit-36130/26010007-P A split flange will work but it depends how much of the original flange is left. If it's basically just two straight pipes you're stuck with a band clamp I think.
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Jul 21, 2017 23:04
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Seat Safety Switch posted:A split flange will work but it depends how much of the original flange is left. If it's basically just two straight pipes you're stuck with a band clamp I think. There's still a flare on the pipe where the previous flange was, so fingers crossed that this is enough. I cleaned off the debris that was around where the old donut gasket used to be and the pipe itself looks to be in relatively good shape. Mr-Spain posted:There are exhaust gas testing kits for coolant too they are pretty cheap. check your heater hoses that go into the firewall and the water pump as well. I picked up one of the coolant tests this week, but have yet to use it. It requires a vacuum line. When the time comes I'll post a pic of my engine compartment so goons can help me play "Where's Waldo" with a vacuum outlet. The water pump was actually replaced in it about a year ago (when it was still eating coolant) and the mechanic swore it was that and not head gasket. We'll see!
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Jul 21, 2017 23:47
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Ok, I managed to find one of the flange repair kits at Autozone yesterday, so I was all ready to go this morning to fix the exhaust. Only the penetrating oil failed to penetrate the bolts. After futzing around with that for a few hours, intermittently spraying the rusted nuts and trying to not strip the bolt heads attempting to get them to release, I said "gently caress this" and went and got an angle grinder. Zipped those things right off, and didn't injure myself in the process. A total win. I used a wire brush to scrub off the remains of the previous gasket, then jammed the new one on the end of the pipe. From the looks of it, this wasn't the first flange refit this truck's had. The other flange was also a flange repair kit, though quite a bit rustier than this new one:  All that was left was to put the new spring bolts on. But these seemed to be quite a bit springier than the old ones, and I couldn't get the springs to depress enough to get the threads through to tighten the nuts down. One c-clamp later to pull the two pipes a little bit closer, and I managed to get the thing assembled.  And right about then was when I realized I'd left the keys to the truck at home. So, I'll post an update monday to see if this system actually makes the muffler a going concern again.
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Jul 23, 2017 03:08
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That sure looks like it works but if it was me I'd just take it to a muffler shop and let them go buck wild on it. You'd be suprised how cheap that can really be.
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Jul 23, 2017 04:43
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Well, I was at work until 11pm last night, but the repair held for the ride home. Doesn't look like any major stress on it or signs of coming off, so I'm calling it a win.Mr-Spain posted:That sure looks like it works but if it was me I'd just take it to a muffler shop and let them go buck wild on it. You'd be suprised how cheap that can really be. I think if I found the right shop, that would def. be the case, but I was more worried that some shady place would do the whole "Looks like you need a new catalytic converter /and/ muffler! And we only use Ford Certified parts!" My rationale goes: If this truck dies on me, then it's no giant loss, so why not learn some mechanic skills on something that isn't super valuable?
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Jul 25, 2017 18:17
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New month means my budget for truck repairs rolled over. So next on my list was to fix the oil pressure indicator. Since the needle was stuck under the peg, and I'm a lazy man, I decided the easiest way to fix it was not to undo the panel properly. Rather, I'd to drill a hole right over the problem area and fish a piece of wire through it to flip the indicator back above the peg. Step 1: Drill the hole.  Whoops. I managed to drill the peg off, which is fine I guess. Problem solved. With that out of the way, I monitored how the oil pressure gague "flapped" when coming to a stop after I'd been driving for about a half hour. Might as well start with the obvious and easiest fix, an oil change. Amazingly enough that seems to have worked. I drained it, changed the filter and added 5 quarts of a good synthetic 5w-20, and the flapping has not returned. I'd driven it all of ~2,500 miles since I got it, so I guess it was time. Anyhow, now it registers "good pressure" during all of my commute, and then some. Weltlich fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Aug 9, 2017 |
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Aug 9, 2017 01:37
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most ford clusters of that era come apart pretty easliy, often without provocation. You should get an ELM 327 and forscan, it should give you an actual live oil pressure number that will give you a better idea of what it's doing.
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Aug 9, 2017 01:47
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Weltlich posted:New month means my budget for truck repairs rolled over. I'm impressed. I wonder if between your tacho problems and this you have a faulty instrument cluster ground or something.
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Aug 9, 2017 02:02
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Powershift posted:most ford clusters of that era come apart pretty easliy, often without provocation. Would this be what I'm looking for? https://www.amazon.com/OHP-Forscan-compatible-diagnostic-interface/dp/B06XJL31Z7 Seat Safety Switch posted:I'm impressed. This is a distinct possibility. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow, but there's a circuit spike in the electrical panel that I've puzzled over for the past few months. I was having ABS issues with the truck as few months ago, and tried disconnecting the ABS fuse to see if I could just get by without it until I could figure out a permanent solution. (My first two vehicles didn't have ABS, I'm pretty confident driving without it.) Anyway while this did fix the ABS firing off every time I rolled to a stop, it also made the transmission do very strange things and shift incredibly roughly, and disabled my speedometer.  The ABS issue was solved by getting my local mechanic to change out the front right wheel bearing, so that's fixed for the moment.
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Aug 9, 2017 02:41
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The sensors sometimes get dirty or whatever but the bearing come with new ones attached if it is like a cheby.
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Aug 9, 2017 03:04
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Weltlich posted:Would this be what I'm looking for? https://www.amazon.com/OHP-Forscan-compatible-diagnostic-interface/dp/B06XJL31Z7 $30 is way too much, mine was like $12. some of the cheap ones could be junk but these ones have decent reviews: $12 so not much of a risk. it seems either it's DOA out of the box or works fantastic. https://www.amazon.com/Hikeren-Blue...keywords=elm327 I think this is the one i got, it uses wifi instead of bluetooth, makes using it with an iphone easier, but makes googling poo poo harder. https://www.amazon.com/KKmoon-OBDII...keywords=elm327 Forscan is here http://www.forscan.org/download.html It's free for PC or like $5 for phones. i use it on PC and it's pretty powerful for the ford specific stuff. It determines the vehicle based on the vin in the computer and gets everything better than the general ODB programs. There's also torque pro for android that works for other brands of vehicle that can give you all sorts of gauges and stuff, but it's not quite as good as the diagnostic stuff.
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Aug 9, 2017 03:23
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Powershift posted:most ford clusters of that era come apart pretty easliy, often without provocation. A lot of the cheap clones have issues talking to earlier Ford OBD2 ECUs, so make sure you're buying somewhere with a good return policy. If you're getting it from Amazon, look for "fulfilled by Amazon" or "sold by Amazon.com", returns are pretty easy that way.
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Aug 9, 2017 04:48
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Powershift posted:most ford clusters of that era come apart pretty easliy, often without provocation. Yeah, it's like eight or ten easy to access screws to get the panel out and apart.
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Aug 9, 2017 08:50
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IOwnCalculus posted:Yeah, it's like eight or ten easy to access screws to get the panel out and apart. Yeah, probably took more time to chuck up a drill bit. That's impressively ghetto poo poo.
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Aug 9, 2017 12:43
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Larrymer posted:Yeah, probably took more time to chuck up a drill bit. That's impressively ghetto poo poo. This was a situation where a half assed job simply would not do. I needed to crank it up to a full three-quarters of an rear end.
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Aug 9, 2017 18:13
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