smoking ranger-1983-need help

4wheeler

in an earlier thread i was bragging on my pickup,now it is smoking out the exhaust after it warms up while idling. changed pvc valve,air filter. engine acts like it is not breathing broperly. also cleaned the ekg valve. i donot believe it is a broken piston ring because smoke smells like real heavy exhaust smell and it is not blue smoke like oil. saturday i am going to check all the vacuum lines to pvc,etc. to make sure they are not plugged. next thing i am going to pull valve covers to make sure all valves and springs are working. truck is running okay except for the smoke bomb it is creating. any ideas out there? i checked on a rebuilt engine,runs around $2500 dollars. before i spend that kind of money i may buy another truck although i would like to keep this one.

UNIVERSITY50

is it white smoke? if it starts after warm up and it is white smoke could be coolent burning, would run ruff like bad egr valve. could be cracked head(water jacket) or just a head gasket. mine was a cracked head,of course! never the simple suff for me!

Big Sky Redneck

White smoke can also be transmission fluid coming thru the vacuum modulator. That is if it's an automatic.

4wheeler

you are right 7mm,it was bad but i changed it earlier in the week. i completely missed the blown head gasket idea but this makes since although i am not losing water but it could be bad on the oil side.

barto

also check your brake fluid- they can suck fluid through a cracked diaphram. rare, but ive seen it. barto

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the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer

Big Sky Redneck

Thru what diaphram? The only place vaccum from the engine has anything to do with brakes is in the booster which is a seperate part alltogether from the master cylinder. One way to see if the head gasket needs replaced is to remove the radiator cap, run the engine for a few minutes to get the thermostat open then look in the radiator for bubbles in the coolant. I would definatly look for coolant burning in the cylinders. Also no coolant is near the egr where it can be pulled into the intake. The egr valve is pollution control junk that allows certain amounts of exaust to be "recycled" thru the engine. You can thank Kalifornia for that neat little toy, plug the vacuum to it and put a plate over the hole where that thing was mounted and that problem is fixed! One other thing you can do if you want is to run a compression check on all cylinders, that will tell you alot of things that can be helpfull in finding the culprit. If it's an auto and you already changed the modulator then scratch that idea, look for coolant going where it aint supposed to be. I'm not sure what year you have and if you have an older 2.8, yank it out and throw a new one in.

Tailgunner1954

Heavy smell ? check out your carb float and float needle while your in their check the choke operation.Yes, it is possiable to suck brake fluid thru the booster diaphram.If your coolent level is not dropping and if the oil is not a milky white color the odds are that the cooling system is OKcheck carefully for vacuum leaks, spritz around with carb cleaner while listining to the engine, when / if how it's running changes, you have found the vacuum leak

UNIVERSITY50

the egr part of may post was to describe what it may run like if you were getting coolent into the cyliners. egr does not have any thing to do with coolent, but most people with high mileage vehicles have come across a ruff running engine due to bad egr valve, very common thing. sorry if i confused you.

sodbuster

4 Wheeler,,Does your Ranger have the 2.8L V6 or the 2.3L I4 cylinder??I had a 1984 BroncoII with a 2.8 V6. I believe that Ford only made this engine for a few short years. The 2.8L has solid lifters and they are usually a "noisy" engine if the lifters aren't adjusted just perfect. This engine was replaced I believe in 1985 with a 2.9L that that hydraulic lifters.I had the same experience with my BroncoII that you are having. It's pretty embarrasingwhen you leave a smoke cloud while waiting at the drive through McDonalds. I did some research and found out that the 2.8L engine is notorious for having bad oil seals around the lifters. This allows oil to seep down right into the intake and there is your smoking. This doesn't cause a large amount of oil consumption but a large amount of embarassing smoke. At least this was what I encountered. 4-Wheeler, if your engine is a 2.8L and you are experiencing something like this you might try this. Try changing your oil and put in Motorcraft 15W40. Also leave enough room for one can of STP or other oil thickener product. In my case this thickened the oil enough that my idle smoke stopped immediately. Just for the record, I don't recommend motor "honey" for engines that are in good condition, I used it in this case as an exception. As for the recommendation of Motorcraft oil, I changed my oil one time using a store brand oil and my BroncoII smoked immediately. If your Ranger has the 2.3L then it sounds like you've tried about all the options short of a rebuilt longblock. A friend of mine just purchased a rebuilt 2.8L longblock from Car-Quest with a 3 year warranty including all the necessary gaskets for $1,350.00. Best of luck 4-Wheeler!!!

arthur welling

Lots of interesting suggestions, most of them good.As a (too) experienced tech, might I suggest that now would be a good time to let a good diagnostic tech tell you what's REALLY wrong, so maybe you can fix what counts and save some $$?

sf340flyer

You didn't mention if you checked the oil. This is back on the track of a blown head gasket. If the coolant is leaking from the waterjacket, it may find it's way into the oil. Is the oil level extra high or milky colored? Just an idea.Oops, saw somebody else allready touched on this possibility, sorry.[This message has been edited by sf340flyer (edited 04-06-2002).]

will270win

Sounds like junk in the needle & seat or it might be worn out. Them carbs gotta be rebuilt ever now and then.

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It has become my purpose in life to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.. will270win@aol.com ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~[This message has been edited by will270win (edited 04-06-2002).]

mickthenailer

Check the fruit juice can that serves as a vacuum reservoir. They tend to rust out on the back side and cause most of the problems you described.

4wheeler

gentlemen,thanks for all the replys. it wind snowed here today but i did get closer to solving the problem. it is i believe a vacuum,breathing or carb problem.i removed the air filter and it quit smoking,either the pvc hose is plugged or the carb needs rebuilding. by the way it is a 2.8 engine. that is best buy on an engine at carquest,thanks for the info. everyone came thru with all ideas and thanks alot.ps.i installed a new filter and it started smoking again. as soon as it warms up a little will do further checks and let everyone know final fix.