I've had my BII two years, having paid $2k for it and sinking at least that much since into replacement oriented repairs. I recently put new tires on it and can boast that I've actually built a part of it. And it has all my conservative stickers on it as well, which probably triple its value. I love the little guy.

But it won't last forever. And I'm wondering at what point one should say goodbye and buy another. Like what systems to pay special attention to, like what will be too costly to replace, or whatever. And how to get the most resale before it's unsellable.

Any expert knowledge here?

 

I'm in a similar situation as you. Everything is great on my truck, except for parts of the motor. Recently I overheated (my fault) and water has been getting into the oil ever since. When I overheated, that morning I accidentally left the pressure cap off when I was filling it with water because it has a water leak. Anyway, since then, the oil has water in it, otherwise it'd still be driving great. I've been debating over whether I should have the motor ripped apart to see if the heads or gaskets are bad, or to just screw all that and get a new motor. My dad thinks we should get a new motor because if we ripped it open, with as many miles it has (about 327,500), we would find more problems with it than we knew, and we'd end up putting more money into the old engine, whereas we can get it a new engine with no problems.

Everything else is great on the truck. I mean, there are things that have aged (dash is sun damaged and has a few cracks, but big deal, this is my point A to point B daily driver, a crack in the windshield, and I can't open the sunroof, and the paint isn't the greatest, but that's about all). The power steering pump has a slight leak, water leak since I got it (still haven't found it, so it's prolly internal), and that's about it. A new and in perfect working order automatic transmission replaced the old one 2 years ago, and the transfer case works like a charm. Everything on it is great. It's just that friggin' motor and it's kept me from driving to places I've been wanting to go. I'm thinking if we end up just doing a motor swap, I might as well just drive to places I need to go with it and raise the money for a new motor, and then by the time it wants to go kaput I'll have a new motor ready to put in it.

 

I gave up on my old B2 the day i bought a big bronco. on mine it had 219k(319k) auto tranny was dying, motor ran rough(white/black smoke) body was a lil beat up but not bad, tires i sold to my brother and stole his old tires, grille guard kickd but, one of the few parts that served well. in the end i sunk about 2k into a truck that was only worth $300 when i sold it. so i ended up with a B2 that gives B2's a bad name. Dont get me wrong i loved that thing(that why it kept getting money) but when i went unemployed for 1 1/2 months, that was the end financially for it and me. that thing was alota fun off-road. did things my 4.0 TJ friend wouldnt dare. you sometimes just gotta let things go and move on.
Tim

 

I plan on keeping mine until everything goes kaput. Currently I'm gonna fix it or get a new motor (chances are a new motor) and from then it'll probably run another 100k-200k miles I'm sure, if the one I drop in it doesn't have a million miles on it either, and then make it a better vehicle (make it look better and that kind of stuff) and I plan on keeping it for years to come. In a couple of years I plan on retiring it from normal daily driving and leave it for off-road things (and if I never do any kind of off-roading, then I'll sell it) but chances are I plan on doing stuff. In a couple of years I'm gonna buy a 2002 Exploder and use it for my daily driver while the Bronco II serves as my off-road fun truck, but keep it also as a backup in case something happens to the Exploder.

 

Ok, if I'm not set up to replace an engine, then would that kill it?

And I found watter drippin out of the exhaust pipe, does that mean water in the engine?

 

water in the engine (getting into the combustion chambers) would be white smoke. To this day I still don't know what water dripping from the exhaust pipe means. A friend of mine had an old GMC S15 that did that.

 

Water from the tail pipe is condensation. Don't worry about that.

If you take care of it, it will take care of you. Yes things will have to be replaced. Is it worth it? That can only be determained by you. My 89 runs great. Too good in fact. I've been wanting to drop a 4.0 in for some time, but wont until the 2.9 dies.

 

Like I've been saying, my 2.9 has been a great engine (especially with almost 327,500 miles with minimal problems) and it would still be going great if I didn't blow it up (lol) but I am looking for a new 2.9. I would go with a bigger engine, but right now I can't afford to have the bay and all that stuff modified to mount the bigger engine (like a 4.0 or something) so I need just a working engine that has no major problems that can just drop in with no mods needed (aka, another 2.9). Then in a couple of years when I buy myself a newer, more reliable car I'll probably lift it a little bit, and then if that 2.9 decides to go kaput when it can't handle mods (or could the 2.9 be modded to handle the extra needed power?) I'll prolly get a 4.0.

Ugh, I hate being without a car right now...

 

Okay, I'm going to try and cover all the bases here, so bare with me. When is it a good time to say good-bye? When you are no longer happy with it, or it has outlived it's usefullness. Think of it this way, you can have a new car with a minimum of $200 a month payment, that you sink no money into; or you can have a car that's paid for that you nickel and dime every few months to keep it on the road. So, it's up to you. Me, I'm keeping mine. I love driving it, parking it, 4-wheelin' it, you name it, I can do it.
As for the last couple of posts about upgrades for the BII, Go with a 4.0L. You already have stated that you want to replace the engine, and a 4.0L can be found (IMHO) just as easily and in most cases (at least in my neck of the woods) cheaper because there are more of them still running. The swap is easy, the only thing you have to change is the computer which in most cases you can get with the engine. So, with the 4.0L you won't have to modify motor mounts, tranny application, engine compartment steering box or shaft, or anything else really. Choice is yours, if you plan on doing the swap later, but you have to replace the engine anyway, you may want to think about it. Just my 2 cents.

 

Oh, if a 4.0 swap only requires the computer from it, shoot, I'll start looking for 4.0's! Now, are we talking about the 4.0 SOHC used in the Explorer or is there an old 4.0 OHV used in the past? I started calling some junkyards and such today and I'm having no luck finding 2.9s. There was one place I found a 2.9 from a '92 Ranger, but the dude said he went and cranked it up and he said it was making a bunch of noise and it wasn't worth getting, and he had no others. I wouldn't mind getting myself a rebuilt engine or something, but a rebuilt engine is ungodly expensive.

I'll start looking for 4.0s.



As for the good-bye? I would probably get rid of it when it can't do anything anymore. Me, for example, in my BII, everything is good 'cept the engine, so I'm looking for the engine. I'm by far not getting rid of it. If the body was in crappy shape, nothing was good in it anymore, and the engine and tranny and everything worked like crap, then that's when I'd sell it and get me a new vehicle.

 

I'm in the same boat, yeah that's me at the stern with the flare gun and now flares to signal the coat guard chopper overhead....

My mech says $1000 for a new carb, vaccum lines, tune up, and no guarrantee that it won't break down in 6 months...... I had paid $400 in March to trouble shoot it and install parts that I had supplied.... and my wife says, "what did we pay him $400 for just to say it's not worth another $1000......"

What I'm looking at is buying another carb out of FLA and installing the vaccum lines myself, and doing the tune-up thing with only rotor and plugs -- no points since I'm sure it's electronic. For $200+ for the carb, and another $50 for the tune-up parts, I can live with it going belly up in another year.

BUT, there is a problem with a rubbing sound coming from the left side of the truck above 35mph and goes away above 50mph.... any ideas?? It's not the tires, they sound differently, and when you hold the breaks to see if it's a bearing, the noise doesn't go away -- I've forgot what that means from votech school 24 years ago...... decided not be work as a mech when the graduation came since the local job market was in the toilet.

My orginal plans were to buy the truck and replace the engine when it goes.... since then I've bought a '92 XLT full-size Bronco with 101k, z-bart, and some extras --- I'm the third owner, the last one was a retired school teacher and his wife.

AND what carb goes in a 1984 Bronco II anyway.... I thought it was a Holley, but really don't know. No carb tag to say what it is, but I thought of taking pictures of it and going that route.

 

well....look at it like this guys..and gals....i have discovered that IF you look around.you usualy find a rolled BII for ,like 400$there out ther e and should be easy to find..close by and/or in your state.....keep yer BII and just buy an old one for cheap.....and use all those parts to keep yer baby runniing,,

 

It's a Motorcraft 2150 2-bl with electronic mixture control. Expect to pay over $300 to closer to $400 for a rebuilt one. I got my pricing from various parts houses websites.
I rebuilt mine a few years ago, but then I've been rebuilding carbs on and off for years. IMO, it's not that difficult a carb to rebuild. But then I like to build Quadrajets too.

I'm looking at other possibilities with my '85 BII. An earlier 2150 without the electronic solenoid will fit as will a Holley 350cfm 2-barrel. Or I can modify the original carb to un-computerize it and rejet a bit smaller (which is what I'll probably do along with a few other mods to it while I'm in there). Most of my computor control sensors and solenoids were dead or missing when I got the truck almost 4 years ago. Beats me that it keeps on going as it does although it only gets about 11mpg. As where I live emissions testing isn't required, I'm going to change it all over to an earlier DuraSpark ignition system (new distributor, ignition control module and associated wireing harness) and rig up something for the torque convertor lockup (I've got several ideas on that one). The entire EEC-IV set up will be gone including the rat's nest of wiring on top of the engine. Makes for a cleaner look under the hood too!

*****