Thermostat, etc., '92 2.3 Ranger 2WD
 

Hi,
I just bought this pickup at what I thought was a good price. When looking under it I saw the gas filler hose was new but I thought nothing of it. It also ran cold, temp gage never moved. I suspected a defective gage untilI I took a trip to 2000' in the mountains and the temp crept up slightly..
It definitely does need a thermostat. From what I could see, it looks like the upper hose outlet has 2 bolts holding it to the front of the block, but the T-belt cover appears to prevent getting the bolts out easily. Is there a way around that, or does the T-belt cover have to come off first?
When trying to gas up the first time, it took about half a gallon and then gushed gas back out. I could not get any gas in at the pump, and could only get gas in by pouring it in slowly from a gas can. On looking closer the filler hose has a slight dip in it which may be acting like a sink trap elbow, plus I don't see a smaller hose that might act as a vapor vent. Any ideas on that?
Thanks,
Ray Mac.

Ray, the vent hose should be on the top of the tank where you can't see it (or even reach it.) If you don't have a bedliner or camper shell on the truck you actually pull the bed off to get to everything pretty easily. It's held on with 6 Torx head bolts (T-55 as I recall), then you remove the screws behind the filler door that secure the filler neck and unplg the taillight harness, With the help of another person the bed lifts right off, the whole process taking about 15 minutes. Seems kind of extreme to get to a vent hose but it's generally either that or drop the tank, which is more of a PITA. (I had to drop the tank on my '89 to replace the fuel pump because I have both a shell and a bedliner as well as a lot of parts stroed in the bed since I'm doing an engine swap on the truck right now...)

It sounds like the problem is either with the vent hose or the filler hose being pinched. The filler hose also has a tube of some sort inside of it, I haven't really looked at it that closely to see just how it's set up. That might be part of your problem. With the bed off it's esy to get to everything and check it all out.

And as I recall you do indeed need to remove the cover, or at least the outer cover and then loosen the bolts for the inner cover to allow it to move to the side enough for easier access. But it's been a while since I mess with the T-stat on a 2.3 without having to go deeper anyway. Be a good opportunity to check the condition of the timing belt and maybe stick a new on on there if it looks at all suspect.

BTW, since you're in my neck of the woods, please feel free to stop by the No. Calif. Chapter forum. The bottom line of my sig is a direct link. Got some great people who hang out in there and we all help each other out a lot. :-X22

Gas filler & thermostat
 

Thanks for the detailed reply, TigerDan.
It looks like the bed must have been lfted off to replace the filler hose, since at least one clamp is not accesssible otherwise. So I was alrerady wondering if lifting the bed was the way to go.
Thanks also for the invite to the N. Cal site, will check it out soon.
Ray Mac.

Well, I didn't get to the fuel filter vent problem yet but can live with that for now.
I did change out the thermostat. Barely managed it by removing fan and shroud and moving the timing cover to the side a bit.
Still, changing the T-stat on my 3.0 Aero was a piece of cake compared to this, very hard for me to do.
Now I find it wasn't the thermostat, so now I need to check out the gage and the sending unit.
Ray Mac.

Does your heater blow hot air? IE - does it feel like the truck warms up normally? Are all the hoses got to the touch?

Chances are it is the coolant temp sensor that is bad. Are there any codes in the computer?

Thermostat
 

When I first drove the truck I didn't look at the temp gage, but the heater blew very hot.
When I DID notice the low gage reading, I should have tested the temp in the radiator next, but I didn't, assuming the low reading meant a bad T'stat.
I assume this truck is OBD-I but I don't have a code reader.
Thanks,
Ray Mac.

You can get a basic code reader at the parts store for ~$30. They can come in handy trying to find out what the truck "thinks" is wrong.

The other thing I didn't mention since it is silly, but sometimes the silly crap will burn you. Anyway, are you sure you put the t-stat in facing the correct direction?

Yes, it is OBD-I and as G2IC_Wraith stated, you can get a code scanner pretty cheap. Mine was 35 bucks at Kragen.

But there are also a couple of ways you can pull the codes yourself without a code scanner. Here's how:

http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=13

And here are the 2-digit codes:

http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=14

Thanks.
I'll check Kragen again, but the last time I went there they only had combo -I and -II readers at a pretty hefty price.
Ray Mac