TY very much. I really do appreciate it. This road has been rough and full of anger and sadness. When I was with my ex fiance, he always put me down. Never gave me compliments etc...Now that I am free of that and with my son, on our own...I am starting to really appreciate the ppl who offer compliments etc a whole lot more.

Next steps are to have the brakes and the suspension checked. THEN, have the tranny fluid/filter changed. I will do the spark plugs and wires tomorrow.

See, I did not have any sort of service/maintenance history with this truck when I bought it. SO, I just assume everything is old and needs changed out. Truck is 28 years old and is showing it. I DID change the air filter/breather filter before it was stolen. Checked those today. They are still good.

My a/c compressor has what appears to be leakage around it, and so I have to replace that as well, the a/c is not working. The clutch just spins and stops. Classic sign of a/c compressor failure?

I do believe though, that I will STILL have to replace the radiator. I checked the fluid today...it smells nasty. Looks rusty...the shop I had work on it after the cops recovered it said it was completely clogged and it took them THREE times to flush it out, they said it still wasn't 100%, but it was working. They also changed out the thermostat, which wasn't working right. The dealer I bought the truck from paid for that part of the repair. Truck was under 15 day/500 mile warranty when it was stolen. He honored the warranty, even though it wasn't recovered until Jan 25th. and was stolen Jan 6th. Makes me wish they would have just replaced the radiator...the overflow tank is nasty at the bottom as well. Looks like a thin film of RUST at the bottom...I would take it back to them, but they are a 4 hr drive ONE way so...I will just fix it myself. Hard lesson learned..NEVER trust a shop you don't know. This shop was recommended to me by the dealer I bought my truck from...they did a good enough job, but I think for the amount of money I paid, they could have done better by replacing the radiator. Anyway...off my soap box LOL!

 

drain and flush the radiator/engine yourself.
i pull the thermostat, remove top hose from the radiator, and stick a garden hose in the bib on the top of the radiator where you removed the top hose.
turn the garden hose on, start engine and let run at idle, and let it flow until clean water flows out.
if there is any oil residue in the coolant system, i will pour 2-3 tablespoons dawn dish soap in radiator and let engine run for 15-20 minutes before flushing it.

 

Only problem: I live in an apartment complex. I do have a friend that I could take it to, he lives back in NM and I could probably do it there. He is a 2 hr drive one way from me though.

 

Double check to make sure it correct for your truck.
https://www.fordpartsgiant.com/parts...z-17618-b.html

 

TY! Just what I needed! Will make trying to salvage the one that's in there much easier LOL!

 

There is a You Tube video that shows you and tells you what to but to bleach them back out. My Ranger was rusty cruddy looking and I opted to just buy new tank and move my washer pump over from old tank to new tank. Buying the tank was easier to me than buying the chemical and soaking it.

Google this:

How To Clean & Restore Coolant Tank

 

Once I get the radiator taken care of, I will just replace the overflow reservoir with a new one. Probably beats bleaching the old one. New ones can be had on rockauto for like 30 bucks.

 

WHELP...Not ALL of my electrical issues are fixed. ARGH!! Seems my door "UNLOCK" on both of the power switches has failed. For whatever reason. I have checked fuses and those are good. Neither door wants to unlock now using the power switches. I'm so tired of this. Guess I'm gonna save up to have an auto electrical person look at it. My guess would have to be something with the PATS system...was the remote PATS standard with these older trucks or optional?

Thinking the A/C compressor is bad...?







I changed the spark plugs and wires today. DANG. The spark plugs were ALL BAD. The wires were basically melted onto the tops of the plugs. Autolites...so not original but still...looks like they've been in there a long time.

 

yea. the gap on them plugs is a little wide.
and yes the ac compressor is on it's last legs.
question on the door locks. if you unlock the door manually, will they power lock with the switch?
the actuators die with age, and one hint they are dying is they will pull the mechanism down to lock the door, but don't have the umph to push it up to unlock it.

 

I wasn't having a problem with them unlocking until all this electrical BS started...BOTH of them were working. Now, BOTH of them are not unlocking. When I hit either switch, it doesn't even make the noise like it's trying to unlock them so...I don't know. I can unlock them with my keys and they will come up. I can power LOCK them with the switches yes. BUT, I am STILL having the alarm issue. I have to get into the driver door panel and see what there is to see...I gotta see if I can find a diagram of the driver door lock cylinders and all that is connected to it.
Like today, I had the driver door locked, but the passenger door was UNLOCKED, I OPENED the passenger door, the damn alarm went off!! So, disconnected the battery, and opened the driver door with the handle. I'm so sick of trying to figure these ghosts out.

I figured the a/c compressor was shot...never seen one quite this bad though. Lord knows what else is broke through there....I could just replace the compressor, but I could be wasting my time.

 

Ok y'all...WTH is supposed to attach to the firewall underneath the glove box??!! I checked for heat in my truck today cuz a friend of mine said if my radiator was clogged and the shop flushed it, the heater core is probably clogged too and the way to check it is to see if it has heat coming out the vents...well, it has heat...BUT NOT out of the vents in the dash.









i know my trailer brake controls are gone...the connector is right there.
A***oles who stole my truck never should have left it for the cops to find. I am so damn mad. I don't have the thousands of dollars MORE it's going to take to fix her up....maybe I should just throw in the towel and sell.

 

picture 3, the tab is supposed to be in the arm of the vacuum control. that is a door actuator.
there is also supposed to be a duct connected to the open squarish part on the left that goes to the heater box. that supplies air to either dash vents, or defroster vents. i just don't remember which one.

 

Ok. TY. I will see if I can find one on ebay or something...I might try going to the junkyards later this week. Just wished I knew what it looked like before...

 

Junkyard would be your best bet.
this way you can see what is there, and not on yours

 

Apparently there is nothing missing. A friend of mine has a 150 and a 250 and I looked at both of them. The only issue I had was that blend door actuator? that the plastic piece was not connected. I reconnected it. I will have to find a way to get that bracket fixed. It's not holding anything up....