Heya out there in Truck-land everybody, I'm a recent arrival, coming by way of the need to get a "beater" in the driveway for reasons no one needs to know, or would be expected to care about. Anyway, I'm rambling, lemme get to my point: I just purchased a little 96 Mazda B2300, 2-wheel drive, I think it's the "SE" model, if that helps. It's about as bare bones as it gets, auto, the little 14" steel wheels, it is black in color, hence my user name. It's got a little over 135k on the clock, and has a few little problems I'd like to address, with y'alls help. So anyone with too much time on their hands, or who just feels like being helpful, lend me your ear.

Well, lemme give a little more info on it first, I guess. I paid $600 for the little thing, so I'm pretty happy already. It did sustain a decent lick on the left front end, there's quite a few pieces there that I need to replace, but we were able to re-align it without discovering any bent or loose parts, I was psyched to find that out. The A/C even works great, and it runs and drives w/o smoking or knocking, so I think I got a pretty good deal. It even had the timing belt replaced last month, the injectors were cleaned, and the check engine light was addressed and resolved, so it isn't on currently. So it's basically a great little truck with a few little things wrong, but I know you guys are the ones that can help me :-)

Ok, first things first: the fuel gauge is broken, so the previous owner told me to "put 300 miles on the trip meter and fill up", but I'm not so sure that's a wise thing to do, lol. Anybody know the fuel tank capacity off-hand? And, is there some easy/cheap way of cleaning the fuel sending unit? Or is it just hosed, and needs replacement?

Secondly, minor little deal, the gauge illumination doesn't work over the volt gauge, is that a bulb to simply replace? Also, minor thing again: the dome light will not go out, so I'm thinking both door jamb switches are trashed. Where are they, and how do you go about replacing 'em?

Thirdly, and most important: what's the OEM spec for base time on that 2.3L? I could swear when "joe's backyard mechanic shop" put the front of the motor back together that they put the timing belt on a tooth or two off, as this thing has _NO_ guts whatsoever. It's horrible, seriously. I can verify mechanical time, but I need to know what base timing is supposed to be set at, and I found the little dashpot to pull to keep the computer from advancing at idle, so no problems there. Oh, also, what's it supposed to idle at, RPM-wise? Mine seems to idle real low, the steering wheel shakes and the whole cab resonates when you're sitting at a light, it gets rather annoying rather quickly. I could guess that making sure the thing is in time, or if it isn't, fixing it, would get rid of that problem, as it doesn't seem to be something Mazda/Ford would have designed it to do.

Lastly, and this may be related to the engine's power problems: the tranny will not up-shift at WOT, it'll just sit there at whatever gear you're in, and that's suddenly the truck's new top speed. No rev-limiter, no up-shift, just a certain speed and that's it. Now, the tranny fluid is a little dark, and the tranny pan gasket leaks a little bit, so I'm gonna change 'em both, and a fellow mechanic friend of mine mentioned draining the torque convertor too. Is there a drain plug on the torque convertor I should look for? Or is what I get out of the pan just gonna be it?

I think that's about it for now, I'll address the left front end parts issue as time/funds allow, unless one of y'all out there has a parts truck and is willing to unload a bunch of pieces for dirt cheap ;-)

So thanks in advance for reading all this, and I welcome answers/conversation.

Chucker, the new Trucker

 

A good (and inexpensive) investment is the Haynes and/or Chilton manuals...but this forum too is a good place to find answers!

Not sure about the fuel gauge, so I can't answer that one. I know that my 94 2.3L has a 15.3 gallon Fuel Tank and ~300 miles on a tank.

The gauge lights are small bulbs that twist into the back of the instrument panel, can't think of the bulb # right now, but they are dirt cheap. For MY ranger to change them I have to take out the radio and ashtray, then the front part of the dash 'snaps' off and with a little (and very nice) persuassion comes off. From there, there are about 6 screws that hold the instrument panel, take those out and there are 2 large plugs (call them cannon plugs in the army, not sure what the "real" technical term for them are) that come off, then the speedo cable and the instrument panel comes completely out. Probably is a good idea to change all the bulbs at once rather then changing them as they burn out. The speedo cable is a little tricky to hook back up so pay close attention...

My ranger the door jamb switches are mounted just between the top and bottom door hinges. Never changed them, but they look fairly simple and straight forward.

My Haynes says timing should be (#1) TDC, there are marks on the Camshaft and Crankshaft sprockets, if the plastic covers are over the camshaft sprocket, there is a rubber grommet that comes out and allows you to find the timing marks on the Cam.

For the RPM, I have heard (I think) ~900...that might not be right (most likely isn't), and I can't seem to locate that in my Haynes?!

I have a manual, and I nothing about the auto's.

Maybe this will help?!

Welcome to FTE

 

Thanks, Nightme, for the helpful reply, I noticed the little grommet in the front timing cover and didn't even think of how easy it'd be to just quickly verify mechanical time, thanks for the tip.

Anyone else feel like tackling the other questions?

 

The fuel gauge sender on my old 1988 Ranger was mounted in the tank, integral with the fuel pump. The senders do deteriorate over time, and a new sender cost enough that I used the "tripmeter reset and go 300 miles" routine for over 5 years of the 12 years I had the truck.

If you get a sender/fuel pump from a junk yard, it will likely have the same condition, if it's older.

No info on the 2.3 engine, other than no one here says it has much in the way of power. I had a 2.9 in my '88, and now have the 4.0.

 

My '94 extended cab has a 19+ gallon tank (one local gas station even insists it can put almost 21 gallons in it according to their gas pump- I don't buy gas there any more). The fuel pump/ float/ sending unit is submerged in the tank. Drop the tank (or some people lift the bed) and the unit can be pulled from the top of the tank. Make sure you have a new gasket beforehand.

Pick up a Hayne's manual at minimum, or a Chilton's manual if you can find one. You won't need it often but it's super handy when you do need to work on something new.

 

If your dome light switch is anything like the newer units it is built into the door latch itself. Just give them a big healthy dose of WD-40....seems to do the trick pretty well.

 

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone that offered tips and help, and to whomever it is that is responsible for this site's content: it is top-notch. I was able to verify my fuel tank's capacity via the on-line owner's manual, at 16.5 gallons, and that "WD-40 in the door jamb latches" tip worked great, my dome light functions properly now.

I was also able to verify that the truck is one tooth off, timing belt-wise, that is. A fellow 2.3L SVO buddy of mine and I were able to pry the top of the front cover back enough to see where hooterhead and sons at Highland Road car care re-assembled their timing belt job just a little too quickly or carelessly, and managed to retard the cam roughly 18 degrees. It's no wonder the truck won't get out of it's own way. But that's something I can remedy for free, no real big deal, just a little of my own time.

I'm also planning on pulling the bed and replacing the float on the sending unit, thanks for the tip, and replacing those bulbs behind the instrument cluster. I also found that their is a drain plug on the torque convertor, for when I change the tranny fluid and fix that pesky leak at the pan gasket. This little thing oughta really come together with y'alls help, thanks! This site and it's members, again, are top-notch.

Have a good day, y'all

Chucker the Trucker