hey all ,

i got an 85 ranger that i bought used and have had for about 1 yr now it has 2.8 v6 auto 2wd .it has 150,000 miles about 7000 of those that ive put on since i got it with regular maintenance. it runs good i cant complain but it has a ticking noise that i believe to be lifters. the front oil seal leaks about 1 qt every 2,000 miles and i just patched the fuel tank leaks recently .now i come to my questions/problems(1)just dicovered this today transmisson fluid leaking from front of transmisson(picture front of bellhousing by back of oil pan there is a thin metal plate bolted on to here with what looks to be a vent or some sort of opening pointing down right at bottom this plate )transmission fluid leaking out of here ??anyone have any clue??

and also(2)fuel tank is factory tank to my knowledge is supposed to hold 17 gallons of fuel (full),1st problem is when fuel gauge read empty(and i have crawled under the truck and knocked on tank and it sounded like there wasnt much liquid in there so the fuel guage was pretty accurate) i go to fill tank ,when i do this it only takes maybe 8.2-8.3 gallons fuel guage then reading past full and also tank begins to overflow out of filler neck?? and another thing is i think my restricter is #####ed up because when i put gas in i have to pump it really slow or the fuel will flow back up and make the pump stop??

someone pleez help me ,thanx dave in n.y.

 

the oil leak is your trans front seal. cheap to buy the seal,but the trans has to come out to change it--better get some help on that or take it to a shop. the lifters do have a rattle to them because the 2.8 is a solid lifter engine.some noise is to be expected there is an adjustment to them-buy a haynes or chilton manual and look it up. maybe your truck has [or had] dual fuel tanks-my 85 has 2 tanks,one on the left side frame just under the front of the box,and one between the frame rails just behind the rear ax.each one of my tanks holds about 8.5 gallons, for a total of 17. look under your truck to see if there is a second tank or evidence that it was once there. good luck...

 

your valve lash needs to be adjusted. ford specifies it should be adjusted every 12000 miles or something like that. chances are it has never been ajusted. just get a haynes manual and follow their procedure. its not too difficult. as for the transmission first are you sure it is trans fluid. it could be leaking from the engine (back of valve cover or something) and gets blown back there. all fluids tend to drip from that same spot.
My 2.8 ranger had the same fuel problems you describe. Shuts off the pump at teh gas station and gauge dosent seem to be accurate. I took off the bed and pulled the sender. I needed a new one of those (a common problem) and then i pulled the filler neck hose. There was a penny stuck in it. I doubt this is your problem but you never know. The hose is tapered and something could easily have gotten stuck in it. You might want to blow air through the emmission lines that connect to the tank first though.