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1983 - 2012 Ranger & B-Series All Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series models

4.0 OHC Engine swap sensor issues

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Old Oct 16, 2025 | 06:45 PM
  #1  
Casey Boydston's Avatar
Casey Boydston
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4.0 OHC Engine swap sensor issues

Upfront:
  1. good engine from 1995 Ford ranger with 4.0 and manual tranny
  2. 1999 Ford ranger with 4.0 ohc and auto tranny with bad engine
I ran into an issue doing my engine swap. The 95 has a different camshaft synchronizer. I was going to reuse the one from the 1999, but it doesn't fully seat in the block. What are my options? I planned to use the wiring from the 1999 so all the sensors would work... Obviously I was wrong in my assumption.
 
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Old Oct 17, 2025 | 09:16 PM
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Not clear what you mean by different. Looks like 1999 used either a two pin or a three pin sensor. 1995 used only the three pin. If your 99 uses a three pin then you might be able to just buy a 1995 three pin sensor and synchronizer. Might have to swap some wires if the connector is different. What happened to the one that was in the 95 engine?

If your 99 used a two pin you might have some problems. Looks like the design is very different.

When you're posting about it make sure you distinguish between the sensor, where the wires attach, and the synchronizer, which is the mechanical part. Good luck.

Browse Rockauto. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...hronizer,10722
 
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Old Oct 18, 2025 | 01:10 PM
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Remember that the 1999 Ranger 4.0L engine was still a pushrod like the 1995, it didn't get the OHC 4.0L type until 2001.
 

Last edited by pawpaw; Oct 18, 2025 at 10:20 PM.
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Old Oct 18, 2025 | 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Casey Boydston
it doesn't fully seat in the block. What are my options?
If it was mine I'd check oil the gear engagement and the insertion of the drive quill. If those are good and it's only sitting up by a small amount it might be fine. A shim might work to get proper clamping force.

It would be best to have the old one to compare to though. You don't want to mess up the drive gear on the camshaft. It runs the oil pump too.
 
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Old Oct 18, 2025 | 01:34 PM
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Any chance the drive quill is still in the hole and not fitting in the sync shaft? Or maybe the drive quill is not seating in the pump. Not clear.

Good luck.
 
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Old Oct 19, 2025 | 07:08 PM
  #6  
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So

I figured out what was going on and want to get an opinion.

The issue is the end of the unit from the 1999 engine was an 1/8 of an inch longer than the 1995 one measured from the gear to the end where the oil pump drive shaft is inserted. I used a drimmel and cut an 1/8 inch off the end and it sits flush on the block as expected. The oil pump drive shaft still sits in the shaft fully completely engaging the gear.

Any thoughts? I believe I will try it and see how it works. If oil pressure is not as expected on my mechanical gauge I will have to come up with something else.
 
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Old Oct 19, 2025 | 08:01 PM
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Don't forget to align it. Good luck.
 
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