Hello all,

New to forum and Fords. Uncle brought a 1993 Ranger w/ 3.0L to my place to fix for his son to drive. Has been parked for over 2 years. Engine felt seized, turned motor over with big pipe wrench. Would crank but not run. Diagnosed it as fuel pump and replaced it. Cranked and ran immediately.
Truck had approx. 1/2 tank of old gas. Yea, I shoulda siphoned it before putting truck bed back on, but didn't.
Changed oil, took it for a test drive. Ranger begins to have loud valve rattle-like sound under any type of load (I am blaming bad gas in my rabbit mind at this point). Oil pressure gauge works and sometimes doesn't (I think I erroneously chalked it up to faulty sender or guage due to setting up forever). Check oil dummy light never comes on. I blame bad gas, So I sea-foam and fill tank with premium gas.
I drive approx. 6 miles, with no deviation of chatter and diesel sound.
Temp guage pegs out hot and I pull over with steam boiling from under hood. I let Ranger sit for 15 minutes, add water and attempt to limp home. Turn key, I can hear bendix pop but will not turn motor over. Have brand new battery. Try to jump start, same thing bendix pops, no turn-over. Positive cable begins to melt and smoke from excesssive trying to start. Also noticed small amount of smoke billowing from seams of air cleaner housing. Oil is new but smells burnt. Exhaust pipe is beautiful, no smoke or build up of carbon or anything. Truck never had any visible exhaust of any color at any time.
Get vehicle pulled to nearest gas station. Try to turn motor with pipe wrench again.....It doesn't move. Engine has approx. 243,000 miles.

Question is: Did I smoke the motor by blowing off the oil pressure guage and have a bad pump? Has anyone ever had any of the chattering before and what was it? Anyone ever deal with any of these issues on a 3.0?
Is Check oil dummy light supposed to illuminate when pressure fails?

I drove Ranger 18 miles at interstate speeds before it died.

I am not devastated by any means, a motor with that many miles was bound to die soon anyway, but you still wonder.

I have a used motor coming w/ 120,000 miles on it. While the motor is out, what do you reckon I should swap (timing chain, oil pump...etc?) before I stick it in?

Motor has 60 day warranty after install and was said to be a great motor with zero issues.

Sorry for the long first-timer post, any comments, except smart-a%% ones would be appreciated.

 

On the old ford that I'm getting running from a long storage, I dropped the tank, mainly because it had a hole in it that needed repair so the old gas wasn't an issue.

I also used a mechanical oil pressure guage to check oil pressure before any long term running.

I got the water pump replaced because it was leaking and tightened up the cooling system with new clamps and a new hose for the heater.

It starts right up with no problem, but soon the radiator is bubbling so I think it has a blown head gasket, but it's still drivable just not for long. No freeways for it.

 

I'd say you toasted the engine. Gauge sounds like it was warning you and ignored. Usually by the time idiot lights come on it's too late anyway, think they are set about 5psi. On your "new" engine, yes I would change or at least check the timing chain/belt and new oil pump. Then you can have fun and tear down the old engine to see what all damage there is, plus good learning experience. I would pick up a mechanical oil pressure gauge and use it at least for awhile to see how it does. I keep a set of mechanical gauges and use them even on new engines for awhile till satisfied everything is doing ok.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I should have the replacement motor Monday. Anyone have any advice on a Ranger R&R. It has auto trans, any weird buggers I need to know about or is it a straight forward engine swap?

Thanks again.