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Overheating: 1992 Ford Ranger V6 4.0Liter 140k Miles
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Quercitin
Novice
Feb 13, 2011, 6:36 PM
Post #1 of 3
(6150 views)
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Overheating: 1992 Ford Ranger V6 4.0Liter 140k Miles
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Noticed steam under hood, repaired ruptured heater hose and things seemed okay. On drive after repair, the temp gauge was giving erratic readings – figured it might be due to air trapped in the cooling system. Otherwise everything seemed fine. After about 15 minutes of driving, the gauge pegged all the way to the right, the “Check Engine” light came on, and the engine starting knocking badly. I was less than 5 minutes from home and went for it, keeping the RPM as low as possible. I turned off the engine and she was steaming badly, but I couldn’t find any leaks – I think it was mostly from fluid flooding out of the coolant reservoir from the radiator.
I allowed the engine to cool way down, refilled the radiator with water, and started the engine. To my delight, she fired right up and sounded normal – I was concerned that permanent damage may have been done to the engine and she either wouldn’t start or would make some horrendous noise if she did start. All indications were normal for several minutes as the engine warmed up, but the temp gauge continued past normal into the hot range and the flooding of steaming coolant from the reservoir happened again.
After waiting overnight, I tugged on the both the water-pump pulley and the fan, neither of which had any “play”. To drain the radiator, I disconnected at the bottom of the radiator the hose that connects to the water pump. The water didn’t seem too bad – slight rust color, some small pieces of grit, but nothing alarming. I re-filled the radiator, started the engine, and again everything was normal. As she warmed up, I continually monitored the temp gauge and the exhaust pipe while carefully looking for leaks, noises, etc under the hood. I also was regularly squeezing the upper return hose to the radiator to determine if the thermostat would open. Until the temp approached “normal” on the gauge, the upper return hose was easy to hold in a pinched position. Then it became firm and too hot to pinch for long, which I took to mean the thermostat had opened. I think that also means the water pump is working, right? I don’t see how there could be flow through the upper return hose if the coolant weren’t being pumped. As far as I can tell, the radiator fan seems to be working okay and the amount of condensation from the exhaust seems normal – certainly nothing like I’ve seen from videos of blown head gaskets. Also, I find no indications of an emulsion in the oil.
But, the same reservoir flooding described above happened again a few minutes after the temp gauge reached “normal”. This time I started with the radiator full and the reservoir empty and turned her off before the reservoir overflowed. When I came back, the coolant in the reservoir had been sucked back into the radiator. I repeated the process and let her run a bit longer until the reservoir overflowed. Again, when I came back, the coolant had been sucked back into the radiator.
I’m at a loss and about ready to take her to a mechanic. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Feb 13, 2011, 7:19 PM
Post #2 of 3
(6142 views)
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Re: Overheating: 1992 Ford Ranger V6 4.0Liter 140k Miles
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Hard as it is don't keep driving overheating engines unless your life depends on it.
Either cooling system is inadequate - you should feel heat blowing off the radiator and heater should stay warm/hot air requested. When it if it does go cool despite temp gauge you are in trouble.
Head gaskets can fail in such a way that combustion gasses pressure the system which will behave as air in the system but not leak out or other tell-tale head gasket symptoms,
T
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Quercitin
Novice
Mar 12, 2011, 1:28 PM
Post #3 of 3
(6069 views)
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Re: Overheating: 1992 Ford Ranger V6 4.0Liter 140k Miles
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I fixed the problem by replacing the thermostat, an absurdly difficult job on this vehicle! I didn't expect that replacing the thermostat would fix the problem, but it was a place to start. So far so good. Lucky me!
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