2.3L valve clatter....yikes!

[Dan B.]

Was coming home in my 1990 2.3l Ranger today. About 3 miles from home I could hear a clatter starting and power started going away. I cautiously babied it home as it got louder. Anything over 1/4 throttle it bogs terrible. Before this the motor was super quiet and ran flawless. Not even a sputter.

I changed the oil in December. Since then I've only put 400 miles on it. The gauge was starting to act wonky. Jumping or not moving at all. I suspected the gauge since it was perfect before the oil change. I changed it with a putolator filter and castrol 10w-30.

What the heck would have made this thing go south so fast? And what could it be? I'm guessing it's more than a bad gauge and I lost oil pressure to the top end. Need to get a gauge on it and see.

[JeffreyCole]

Sounds like the timing belt jumped time.

[somethingclever]

pull a valve cover and check the rollers/lash adjusters

[Dan B.]

They are all making noise. It's terrible the noise coming from under that cover!

[PaxtonShelby]

You'll do anything to justify swapping a 5.0 in there...

[Martin0660]

1st check the timing belt since you just have to spin the crank to TDC and pop out the round plug on that cam cover to see ... frankly I doubt it there based on the noise you describe .....

2nd - The 2.3 uses hydraulic lash adjusters and low / no oil pressure would let them go flat. Once they are flat, you wouldn't have anything to take up the lash and it would rattle like that. Be really careful as the roller followers (should be with a 90) can pop out, and start other destruction getting into the valves and cam.

Curious about how close this ties with the oil change. I've never heard of issues with a Purolator filter, but it could be an issue.

I used to break HLA's pretty frequently, and they make a hell of a racket when only one is off ... When I put a new cam in mine, you compress the HLA's to get the oil out, and set base lash .... Starting it up after this, and until oil pressure fills them and it sounds like 8 sewing machines running.

A lot of the oil pressure in a 2.3 is derived in the head. I am not sure on the newer Rangers, but just about every other 2.3 has the oil pressure sensor located on the main oil gallery on the head, drivers side rear. When there is an oiling issue in the head, the oil pressure will show low / none. Stranger things have happened, I've seen cam bearings pop out. broken HLA's, missing cam plugs (not an issue unless you changed cams), etc.

After the quick check of the cam timing, I would pull the valve cover to have a look.

This was one broken HLA, it made a hell of a noise, lost oil pressure (was ok, just low), and had no power to drive it home.





This could account for the noise and no power since cam lift would be like nothing with the HLA's flat.

[Dan B.]

You'll do anything to justify swapping a 5.0 in there...

Ron.........you are no help at all! I'm actually trying to keep this one stock since it's in such excellent condition.

This could account for the noise and no power since cam lift would be like nothing with the HLA's flat.

Bob...........I'll check timing then pull the valve cover. Thanks for the input. Since the power started to fall off at the same time the clatter started I'm guessing you guys are right that its a lack of oil pressure allowing the HLA's to collapse.

[yeahloh95]

aux shaft ?

[Dan B.]

Dropped the pan part way tonight......lifted the motor from the top to make room. The pan is a gooey mess on the outside and there is no gasket at all. I'm guessing it's all in the pick up tube screen. There is no way that I can see to get the pan out from the bottom so it looks like I'm pulling the motor. Dang.

[PaxtonShelby]

5.0 swap....2nd in a month....giddy up

[Dan B.]

Ttteerrrrbboowwwww

[phillysrt4]

Ttteerrrrbboowwwww

lol yes!!!!!!! IIRC on the 2.3 block thats just a tap away!

[Dan B.]

I'm watching CL for a donor car. In the meantime I'm going to fix this issue then get my other two Rangers squared away.

[phillysrt4]

a 5.0 donor car or a 2.3t donor car?

If memory servers (and I know someone will chime in if I have this wrong) the only difference between the 2.3T block and the 2.3NA block is that the 2.3T block has the oil feed for the turbo tapped. The provision is in all blocks though.

If you're doing a 2.3T you could probably go to a u-pull and get the motor out of a thunderbird for next to nothing.

[Dan B.]

2.3T. Would prefer to get an entire car with the ecu and all the hardware needed.

[phillysrt4]

what? no megasquirt? ;)

[Dan B.]

image.jpg

Found the problem. Plugged pick up tube. I scraped the rubber gasket material away just to see how tight it was. She was jammed in tight.

[JeffreyCole]

That'll do it.

[PaxtonShelby]

Did anything get hurt? You should just swap in a 5.0 just to be sure...

[Dan B.]

Not sure. Going to stick in a pump and pick up tube then see what happens. It didn't start knocking. Only the valve clatter. It's got two spark plugs per cylinder. You'd think this thing would fly!