ok, so after i get back monday after being gone for 2 weeks, i drive my ranger a little bit, i got about 100-200 miles or so and it starts acting funny, it started by popping the pcv valve out a couple of times, then i started getting white smoke in the cab, then when i went to leave town, my dad was following me, he said that it had white smoke coming out from the drivers side under the cab, and it was really gutless, 45 was about all it could muster, was almost able to reach 50. my dad says that this is a bad headgasket, now i regret tearing into the engine without running a compression test becauseeverything seemed fine except that the headbolts were cranked on way more than what they should be, and the front of the #4 piston looked like the ring land was ate away from detonation. but there is no groove whatsoever in the cylinder wall.so now im kinda lost as to what happened.

 

I'd check for cracks in the combustion chamber. Look VERY closely and you may find a hairline crack that opens up when heated.
tom

 

most likely a cracked or warped head

 

im gonna check it for being warped, and im gonna do the best i can for cracks w/o magnafluxin it. but i think that i found the problem. on the intake gasket it looks like it had been cut beside the waterports and it shows where it had been leaking water into the intake.which also explains why there was no water in the oil and no oil in what little water there was.

 

that most definetly could be the cause

 

whats strangest is that napa has taken over a week to get my gaskets in...