I bought my 88 Ranger 4x4 a few months ago. It has the 2.9L engine. I had lots of ignition problems at first and eventually solved them.

The engine has 180k miles, and has a noisy lifter.

My heater wasin't blowing out warm air, only luke cool at best after it had been running for at least 20 minutes. I felt of the hoses going into and out of the heater core and radiator and and they all felt the same, barely warm to the touch.

I figured the Thermostat was stuck, so I went to put a new one in, and low and behold, there was NO thermostat already in the truck.

I put the new thermostat in and I started getting heat out of my vents, so I took it for a test drive to really see what it could do and it started blowing ICE cold on me.

I pulled off to a parking lot and there was antifreeze mixture leaking all over the place. It was coming from the overflow container because the little hose that goes from the radiator (just under the cap), to the container was old and stretched and it was leaking out where the hose attatched to the overflow container.

I went ahead and topped the radiator back off, let it run for a few minutes and all seemed well so I drove it home expecting to see antifreeze leaking all over the place again, but it wasin't leaking.

About 3 days later I drove it to work and it was the same thing as before. My air was blowing really nice and warm, but it went ice cold on me. I went ahead and drove it to work though since it's only 2 miles from my house and I was most of the way to work. I checked it once I parked and it was once again leaking antifreeze all over from the same spot as before.

A few things I have noticed:
1. When the air is blowing cold and the truck is leaking antifreeze mixture all over the ground, the top radiator hose is almost collapsed in on itself. The little spring inside it that keeps it from doing so is the only thing stopping it from doing that.

2. My tailpipe is blowing loads of steam, even after the truck has been running for quite awhile. I put my hand in front of it and after a few seconds my hand is almost dripping with moisture.

I am thinking I have a blown head gasket. Can anyone help me confirm this? And if that is the case, should I bother trying to find out which side it's on, or just replace both at the same time? Is there anything I can do about that noisy lifter while im replacing those gaskets, or would that removing the engine and doing some machine work?

Thanks!

 

It is starting to sound like a head gasket. There are different block test kits that will pick up different gass's/fumes in the cooling system that may help you.
Do you have coolant and oil mixed in the radiator, or on the oil dip stick?

 

It sounds like head gasket to me also. You will want to determine for sure as soon as possible. Running with the gasket blown can allow antifreeze to enter the cylinders and then you are looking at a rebuild or new motor.

 

jdraughn, Another possibility besides a head gasket is that a head has cracked thru the water jacket and letting coolant into a cylinder. Some of the 2.9's were good for this. From what you have told us it is at least a bad head gasket. All the steam you are noticing plus the wet hand test really indicates that coolant is going where it shouldn't. Plus the problem with the overflow tank hose and coolant all over the place. Sounds like what it's doing is the engine is pumping up the cooling system with too much pressure and making the overflow hose blow around like a loose water hose with lots of pressure. When you take the heads off to replace the gaskets, take them to an automotive machine shop to get them checked for being warped and cracked. They'll let you know what's going on with them. Let us know what you find.

 

Update:

I went to a radiator shop and they used the machine they use for emissions to get for any exhaust gasses coming out of the radiator where the cap goes on. It came up totally clean. so I went ahead and had them do a flow test. I removed the radiator in the field next to the shop and had them test it. It came up to be about 60% restricted, so was going to have them rod it for 50.00, but they were concerened about some epoxy welds breaking. So I went ahead and got a new radiator.

I still had the same problem.

It's so strange because when I first start my truck, after about 5 minutes or so I can start to get a little heat out of the heater in the truck. About 5 minutes more of driving it, the heater will start blowing ice cold air. Sometimes the temperature gauge will show the truck overheating WHILE it's blowing out ice cold air in the cab.

I have also replaced the water pump, I was concerned that maybe the impeller was intermentally not spinning due to it not being pressed onto the axle anymore.

So, I have replaced the Radiator, Thermostat, and Water pump, but my truck still overheats sometimes, and sometimes blows ice cold air in the cab.

I also checked that new thermostat in a pot of boiling water and it looked to be opening up ok.

My thoughts are:
The shop was wrong, I do have a blown head gasket, or a crack in the block or head or something.
Maybe the heater core is has some kind of intermentent restriction.

The heater core being bad wouldint cause the engine to overheat though, which leads me back to there being something wrong with the engine.

After I replaced the water pump, which was the day after I replaced the radiator, I drove it to checkers to get my core credit from the pump, I topped off the radiator to replace the air, and then drove it around for 30 minutes and it ran PERFECT. The temperature was slightly below the middle of "normal" and I was getting HOT air coming out of the vents inside the cab.

But as soon as the truck cools down for a few hours, and I go to drive it, the whole thing repeats, start getting warm air out of the vents, it goes ice cold, and my engine starts to overheat. Then, sometimes after I let it sit for about 20 minutes, then drive it some more and it does ok and works good.

Im stumped.

 

What you are describing is almost certainly either a head, or head gasket problem. My friend and I just pulled a 2.9l out of an '88 for exactly the symptoms you describe. His was like yours is now for a while, and he used it for short runs from his house to where he worked, about 3/4 mile away. The problem gradually worsened until a couple months later the truck wouldn't even safely get him to work. Before we lifted the engine out (truck was scrap anyway), exhaust was visible from the radiator mouth while running. We haven't torn into it to find out what it is, but my guess would be head, and that is my guess on yours as well. As a cracked head is warmed during operation, it swells, naturally closing the crack, and limiting or sealing leakage. Check for coolant in the oil, and if you want to salvage the engine, I would advise fixing it now. And while you have it torn down, looking for a sign of a blown head gasket and having the heads inspected, go ahead and replace the lifters. The 2.9l is a great engine when it's right, but if you don't take the time to tie up every loose end, you'll just end up back inside it again. Do it once, do it right, and be done with it.

 

I don't think this is solved yet. Bubbles in the cooling system can cause erratic behaviour, and are not guaranteed to purge themselves. You say you got a new radiator, that is a good start. It blows heat sometimes? If air gets trapped in the heater core, it can stop all flow through it. While these air pockets could come from a blown head gasket, they could also come from air that gets trapped either from the bad overflow tube, or because the system was never properly burped to begin with. Have your cooling system pressure tested.

 

I agree with the pressure test

Also did you replace your radiator cap with the new radiator?(just for good measure)

It sounds like you have a cracked head. remove your radiator cap and let the truck run. Top off your radiator and just watch it. Depending on how bad the head gasket/head is it might be fairly obvious. We had a jeep that would send bubbles out the top of the radiator like crazy, and you could also see exhaust with it. But they had the same problem. Cracked head/blown head gasket.

 

yeah, I forgot to mention I had also got a new radiator cap. I think I will go loosen the cap and run to the store to make sure I got all the air out. I will let you know how it goes.

Another weird thing about all this is this all started when I went to replace the thermostat because i wsin't getting any heat in the cab. But the original thermostat WASINT EVEN THERE. I never had overheating problems when the thermostat was missing, but I also never got any heat inside the cab since the radiator leeched so much heat out of the system.

This truck was only 300.00 but I had to buy a distributer, spark plugs and cables, and a few other things. It did pass utah emissions and safety though a couple of months ago, so im not totally convinced it has a blown head gasket, unless it cracked since it passed.

 

So what part of utah are you in?

 

Did you replace the thermostat? Are you sure you did not install it backwards?

 

Im in Orem, Utah County.

Yeah, im positive (spring torward engine).