02 3.0 Ranger + '96 5.0 Explorer = FUN! (or so I hope!)

RangerSVT · Jul 13, 2014

Yep, they are known to leak fluid and cause a fire. Even with the modified harness installed, they can still mess with the cruise control system. I ran into that when doing a customers V8 swap into a sport trac recently...

SVT

win · Jul 13, 2014

RangerSVT said:
Yep, they are known to leak fluid and cause a fire. Even with the modified harness installed, they can still mess with the cruise control system. I ran into that when doing a customers V8 swap into a sport trac recently...

SVT

Got it! Will look to a replacement.

Found my fuel problem, crossed the fuel lines at the filter when I modded the return system. Manually triggered the fuel pump relay to pressurize the system and with a cough and a stumble as the injectors purged themselves, it fired right up and into an idle.

Much closer to getting it back on the road.

Temp gauge showed quite high temps really quickly. Gotta dig out my IR thermometer and make sure its a sender problem and noy something deeper.

RangerSVT · Jul 13, 2014

Make sure to use the original ranger's sending units as they could be a different value...

SVT

win · Jul 14, 2014

Tad bit more detail done today.

Got the rest of the a/c system assembled, vacuumed and charged, found and fixed a minor trans fluid leak.

My ODBII hand held is showing an engine temp of 195°F with the gauge pegged. My Fluke hand held IR thermometer is showing an external temp closer to 160 so I think it's clear that my gauge is getting an incorrect signal from the '96 Explorer temp sensor.

A bit of checking around shows that the 02 Ranger calls for a 2 wire sensor, the Expo uses a single so a simple swap of the sending unit is not the answer.

Think I've got two options, either move to the 2 wire sensor with a plug and an add on ground or try an earlier '96 era gauge in my dash. Not for sure which I'll try.

Next new snag is a slightly bend axle shaft -- probably from the accident that totaled the Expo in the first place. Local pull-a-part wants $40 out the door for a shaft, 10 min further away is a yard that wants $50. I'll gladly pay the extra $10 for the ease of an over the counter sale.

Still, initial road test was very favorable. 1500 rpm at 50 mph, plenty of power and probably only a bit more noise than I'd really hoped for.

win · Jul 15, 2014

And its road worthy

Got a replacement axle shaft installed this afternoon, finished the wiring for the a/c and had a very successful 2nd test drive. No leaks, A/C blows nice and cold, speedometer works. Higher speeds are nice, it goes quiet at about 65 mph or so, still only turning 2100 rpm.

Only real outstanding issue is the temp gauge/sender mis-match. Per the ODBII scanner, engine temps stayed between 195° and 205°. Decided to wire in a later 2 wire temp sensor, will install tomorrow.

Thinking I've got a sticking EGR valve, I'm getting both P0401 Insufficient EGR flow and P0402 Excessive EGR flow. Not 100% sure how the '96 PCM detects EGR flow but the only way I think both faults can occur in a short span of time is if the valve it sticking.

Time to put some miles on it!

RangerSVT · Jul 15, 2014

Could also be the dpfe sensor...

SVT

win · Jul 15, 2014

RangerSVT said:
Could also be the dpfe sensor...

SVT

Yea, I'd thought about that but the mix of both high and low flow rates seemed odd. Still, the Ford dpfe sensor does have a terrible reputation.

Going to have to pull the EGR valve off and do some testing. If I can't find anything to suspect on the valve, will probably toss a new sensor.

win · Jul 18, 2014

EGR issue is resolved, the valve was sticking badly. Cleaned the valve and replaced the position sensor. Won't say which effort cured the problem but it's another item off the punch list.

Got the temp gauge issue resolved. Napa sold me the incorrect temp sending unit for the 02 3.0, Autozone "found" the right one, works out it only needs a single wire. Need to clean up the connection, maybe breakers yard the correct plug for the sensor.

Lost the water pump and serp belt on the 2nd real test drive. 25 miles on a new pump and the bearings came apart, started wobbling so bad the belt started jumping grooves and shredded. Sigh. Gotta get in touch with Rock Auto on an RMA. Replaced with an Autozone lifetime warranty item. Sucks losing the new coolant and Gatorback belt.

Having trouble finding an exhaust shop that will take on a 3" tail pipe -- might have to get a 3" to 2 1/2" Y pipe and go with twin tail pipes. Not really what I want but might be the path I have to take.

Truck runs and drives great. The 3.27 gears help keep the tires stuck to the pavement but there's still plenty of romp available. There's still plenty of details and cosmetics to resolve along with the tail pipe but the Ranger is fully back in service after it's 2 week hiatus.

Not sure about the fuel economy yet -- Have about 100 miles on the 1st fill up; by the gauge, certainly seems no worse than the 3.0. Won't know for sure till I do a 1K mile average but I don't think I've lost any ground.

Only real regret: Wish I'd done this years ago!!!!!

win · Jul 22, 2014

The punch list gets shorter:

Had an ABS fault with no ABS codes issue -- removed the ABS sensors, wiped them off and reinstalled, no more ABS fault.

Had gotten a couple Bank 2, Sensor 2 faults, swapped in the front O2 sensors from the 3.0 to be the post cat sensors. No more check engine lights/faults.

Parking brake is still an issue. The parking brake pedal goes to the floor without adding any noticeable braking force.

Best I can tell, the self adjusting pedal assembly is working correctly. At rest, the cable hands down from under the body and I can extend and retract cable from the adjuster's take up system. Press the pedal just a bit and the take up system locks up as it should. There's just way too much slack in the cable for it to take up. Might have to make up a shorter cable.

The big issue item at this point is fuel economy. Much to my surprise, it's clearly under the 3.0 with it's damaged cat.

Have ordered a Camshaft Position Sensor alignment tool to see if that is the issue. I'd marked the sensor prior to going thru the engine, reassembled to the same position but perhaps I've missed the mark or the thing was incorrect the first place. Alignment tool is due in a couple days.

Also modified a couple spark plug non-fouling adapters to use as pressure test ports to check for a restriction in the exhaust. The Explorer was way to badly damaged to test drive in any meaningful fashion, like the 3.0, I might have a clogged cat in the system.

The 1st adapter I modified will allow the O2 sensor to stay in use (front sensor), the 2nd will simply replace the rear sensor.

Will test at both sensor locations at the same time -- I'll know how much back pressure I'm getting at each cat. Once I've got the 1st set of cats checked out, simply need to let the exhaust cool, swap the adapters and check the 2nd set of cats.

win · Jul 30, 2014

Still in pursuit of a fuel economy problem.

Getting 13.5 mpg essentially no matter how I drive the truck. Drive it like I stole it, ease it down the highway and everything in the middle, 13.5 mpg.

Other than the fuel usage, the only clear symptom is a poor hot re-start. Cold, the engine starts well, hot, usually takes 3 tries.

One clear indicator, my ODBII handheld shows both front 02 sensors indicate a rich mixture, near continuously between .69 and .8 volts.

Verified the cam position timing with an OTC alignment tool.

Engine temps (when warm) are between 195° and 205°F
Both short term and long term fuel trims hover around 0% -- why is the ECU NOT adjusting for a continuous rich issue from the 02 sensors?
TPS reads 14% open at idle, 96% open at WOT -- not great, but I don't think salient to the issue at hand.
IAT shows ambient temp cold, but upwards of +50°F warm -- again, think I need to look at a cold air intake but probably not my current problem.
Absolutely no back pressure in the exhaust at idle, less than 5 psi at 50 mph. Cats aren't clogged, that's for sure!

Have to admit, I'm pretty stumped on this one. I've NO history of the doner Expo but I'm seriously beginning to wonder if it's got a tune of some sort. It's almost like the PCM never goes into Open loop fuel control.

RangerSVT · Jul 31, 2014

Injectors, are they 19 lb squirters? Maf, is it clean and is it a stock 5.0 unit? This will greatly affect fuel economy. Whats the ecu code, and how many wires is the cps (2 or 3)?

SVT

win · Jul 31, 2014

RangerSVT said:
Injectors, are they 19 lb squirters? Maf, is it clean and is it a stock 5.0 unit? This will greatly affect fuel economy. Whats the ecu code, and how many wires is the cps (2 or 3)?SVT

To the best of my knowledge, the Maf and injectors are box stock '96 Expo.

Maf is as clean as I can get it, particularly the hot wires in the sensor tube.

One quirk with the MAF, my ODB2 handheld does not show 0 gal/sec with the ignition on but not running.

Crankshaft position sensor is a 2 wire, the Camshaft Position sensor is a 3 wire, both OEM spec as far as I know.

ECU is an EEC-V F67F-12A650-TB unit.

RangerSVT · Jul 31, 2014

Whats the 4 digit code on the ecu, located near the connector (ie SLL4, XDT2, etc)...

SVT

RangerSVT · Jul 31, 2014

Just read this again, the poor fuel economy and hard hot start are timing related. Noticed you went into the motor. When you reinstalled the cam, did you retime it straight up? Did you degree it? With OBD2, cams have to be straight up, not advanced or retarded manually like the older motors. Advance/retard is done with a tune. Do you have a custom tune on your handheld, or is it a canned tune? Which handheld are you using?

SVT

win · Jul 31, 2014

RangerSVT said:
Whats the 4 digit code on the ecu, located near the connector (ie SLL4, XDT2, etc)...

SLL1

SVT

RangerSVT said:
Just read this again, the poor fuel economy and hard hot start are timing related. Noticed you went into the motor. When you reinstalled the cam, did you retime it straight up? Did you degree it? With OBD2, cams have to be straight up, not advanced or retarded manually like the older motors. Advance/retard is done with a tune. Do you have a custom tune on your handheld, or is it a canned tune? Which handheld are you using?

SVT

Cam is timed to TDC, no offset keys, no multiple key ways, no "after the fact" tune -- my ODB handheld is simply an older scan tool with real time data display, fairly high end in it's day but probably pretty modest by current standards.

I agree, my chief suspect is timing, either the cam or the injectors-- heck, I'm seriously thinking about pulling the timing cover just to verify the cam timing at this point. Can't see the cam being 9 1/2° out of time (or further) but I'm running out of "other" things to check.

A solid as the engine runs, I've been most suspicious of the injector timing from the onset.

Think my plans for Saturday are to pull the plugs, run a compression test, absolutely verify I've got the Cam Position Sensor timed to TDC #1 and go from there.

After that, I'm probably looking at pulling the timing cover and possibly pulling the injectors to verify their spray patterns.

02 3.0 Ranger + '96 5.0 Explorer = FUN! (or so I hope!)

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