TTAC Commentator Modest Holdings writes:
Sajeev may have once read the primer on my truck but for everyone else, here’s the brief: short-box, regular cab 1994 Ford F-150, 300-six, Mazda hand-shaker. Four wheel drive, 133K, yadda yadda yadda.
Some time ago – it must have been before last winter, because my toes still haven’t recovered – the radiator fan clutch seized and the engine has consistently run cold. Fuel economy has sufered – three recent 1,600 mile interstate runs averaged 12.2, 11.5 and 11.9 mpg on a combination of hi-altitude 85 straight gas and what I suspect was E-10 87 octane through Nebraska and Iowa.
I was going to replace the damn thing back in…January?… but couldn’t get the nut busted free and gave up. It did nothing for my ambition when I changed a friend’s water pump for her on the 3.9l in her Dakota and needed both acetylene and eventually a plasma cutter to get the fan off her old pump. So, what suggest ye to bust nut free? I’ve tried the obvious things: heat, thrice-a-day WD-40 applications, cheater bars, swear words. Many bloody knuckles resulted. I briefly considered dynamite.
If necessary, I’ll drain the whole system and pull the water pump. And get the plasma fired up. I don’t intend to replace the fan: I’ve got an electric and I hear they’re good for a few horsepower. (The big six needs all the help it can get. Heading up some mountains here in Wyoming, I’m sure I’ll have to get out and push.) I’ve heard tell the water pump should be replaced whenever the fan is replaced or removed because it will change the load on the pump’s internal bearings, but that sounds iffy to me. Thoughts?
And finally: I love the truck and bought it for the stick. But that was before I learned of the Mazda’s sometime habit of nastiness. A friend had one that blew up and simultaneously locked up the drive wheels and the engine, at 60 mph. It’s a testament to the durability of the old sixes that the engine survived the encounter, it’s a testament to my buddy that he didn’t kill himself or someone else. Question: how much trouble is a swap to a more hearty tranny? I’ve posted and browsed the forums, but there isn’t agreement. Some say it’s an easy swap. Others warn that the 4×4 transfer case will need to be moved back and new driveshafts will need to be fabricated. If so, that’s too much work and I’ll find another truck. Or wait for catastrophe.
And one final hint, since some wrench will want to know: the computer isn’t throwing any codes.
Sajeev Answers:
I shouldn’t wax nostalgically over an I-6 powered, 1994 F-150 that I truly loved (and was tempted to buy) but I will. These are real trucks: an open cockpit with great visibility, reasonable ride height and an intelligently designed bed that doesn’t need “man steps” for access. And that six-cylinder with port EFI towed like a far bigger truck: pulling other trucks, 27-ft boats, tons of mulch, etc after a swap to quicker 3.55 gears. Ultimately it was all for naught, this lovely American workhorse ran 330,000 miles only to be killed by a Cash for Clunkers rebate on a Buick Enclave. Tragic.
So let’s set your F-150 straight. Give up on the wrench, you have an obligation to make it easy with said plasma cutter. Cut off the fan at the shaft, replace the water pump (past it’s prime anyway) and do the electric fan you mentioned. The Lincoln Mark VIII electric fan is a common, affordable and very effective upgrade on the hot rod scene, if you didn’t already know.
But your story and mine have a common point: switch the stock gear to something more aggressive. I’m gonna assume you have 3.08 or 3.27 rear gears, so do yourself a solid and get a complete junkyard axle assembly with a 3.55 or 3.73 gear, do the switcheroo and return your “slow” axle as a core. You will see increased performance and almost no change in fuel economy, especially when towing on the highways. I understand the Mazda transmission is junk, but worry about that later: these big sixes go from zero to hero with the right final drive. Trust me on that.
Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.
My favorite penetrating lubricant is P B’laster http://www.blastercorporation.com/ and one of the upsides is that it’s not flamable like WD40 (you know if you get pissed and go after the sucker with the torch before the lubricant is dry [don’t ask me how I know.]) The transmission thing is up to you… the difficulty depends on your skill level. I was trying to figure out from reading your description if the transmission swap requires a “divorced” transfer case or not, or if the transfer case with the Mazda 5speed is already divoriced. At any rate…
When I make occasional pilgrimages back to Ohio (the land of my birth) I still hear farmers wax nostolgic about those F150s with the big I6. There’s even one guy who had upgraded the gears in his old 4×4 F150 and then a few years later bought a new 1997 F150 4X4 with a stick and a V8. The new truck (in his eyes) was so down on the low end grunt needed to get a couple of fully loaded grain wagons moving, he kept using the old I6 for 90% of farming duty and the new truck for long distance “into town” runs.
Keep the old I6 going and someday you can be like old Paul Niedermeyer and have the same truck for decades with the requisite memories.
My trade school wouldn’t allow in any lubricant other than PB for just that reason. That and it works better than anything else.
Myself, I use “Deep Creep”, which is made by the Sea Foam people. WD isn’t even supposed to be a lubricant, it is more for water proofing, with the WD in WD-40 standing for “Water Dispersant”
I second the PB blaster…if you have the time, let it soak for overnight…and yes, WD is flammable. Especially when the can ruptures due to an electrical burn through on the battery terminal.
At this point, dump the pump. Electric would make things easy, too. The drivetrain lockup sounds scary. My father witnessed drivetrain lockup of a Mistusbishi 3000 next to him on the road. Smoke billowed out of the wheels as the tires locked and the car followed the crown of the road into the gutter where it struck a tree. Scary. Don’t know if I would feel comfortable driving at high speed with a potential time bomb…
I use Aerokroil (from Kano labs) which has worked great for me. I prefer it over PB blaster as it has worked to break bolts. They also sell a lube called Penephite which has graphite in it that you can spray on to penetrate and lubricate. Sometimes I have to soak them for several hours and take a hammer and tap it on them repeatedly or also before soaking it with lube is heat up the threads. By doing this it breaks away the corrosion a little better allowing greater oil penetration into the threads.
I had a terrible time getting a couple large bolts off (such as on o2 sensor) and tried a method recommended by heat the frozen nut/bolt up with a torch then take a candle to it and the wax melts and is sucked up into the threads. I then used a pneumatic wrench and was able to break it free (has been successful on 30 year old suspension bolts). The best thing is to have the right tools with appropriate leverage.
Save your consumables for cutting out that rusty chicken wind vane and do it how all the old school grease monkeys manning their one lift shops would do.Grab a beer to consume instead while you apply some trusty PB Blaster once or twice to the stupid (insert offensive compound adjective here) nut. Following your instincts, apply some heat via your map gas torch(you did spend the extra $4 for MAP gas, right?). Grab another beer and your gloves. They will help prevent any abrasions that would allow the PB Blaster direct access to your bloodstream. Leave those sight scoffing safety glasses buried face down on the workbench, you are only going to screw them up worse while disturbing some largish, dense piece of refuse from it’s sleepy hollow to become a formidable combatant to your foot. You know you’re probably gonna just scratch and smudge them up even more before forgetting them on top of the plasma cutter, along with your full beer.Better yet, put them with your cutoff grinder, the only place they would serve any purpose. This could perceptibly save the hours of searching for them when you want to keep pieces of cutoff wheel out of your eyes before finally you go to cut out that rooster 3 months from now. Just grab another beer, fire up the air compressor, grab your Harbor Freight air impact chisel, then the Hilti style deal you decide is more bad ass and therefore the more appropriate tool, mosey over and set your beer on the upper radiator support. Find, free and untangle an extension cord, find a working outlet to plug in to, then see if your cord works after yanking it out from under an old engine block or similar natural habitat. Drink another beer. Test fit and then realize that the (non-church adjective) electric hammer deal just isn’t going to fit in there. Passionate, loud cursing may help prolong the function and ability to locate the stupid damn Hilti if utilized swiftly. Drink another beer and wait for the unreasonable anger that consumes you to dissipate. After finding where you left the air chisel, fin the least leaky airline combination that will reach the engine bay and connect it to the chisel you set down somewhere stupid again while getting air to your work area(it’s sitting on the black air cleaner right in front of you, mocking you with it’s contrasting semi-shiny silver sheen. Hook it up and jam it forcefully in behind the fan,getting SO CLOSE to the stupid nut you tear one of your $28 pair of mechanic’s gloves in the vain attempt. Drink another beer.Congratulations you diligent technician, you have found yet another one of Ford’s sick jokes in the form of the 13 things that are just barely in the way you now have to remove to get to that #&#%$@# nut.Drink a beer while you label some zip lock freezer bags in several variations of “wtf is this here for”. Use separate bags for each heavy, filthy, fragile and surprisingly expensive to replace design of a Ford engineer or bureaucrat. Hangovers , hookers,hidden hard drug habits and sadism conceived these “accessories”. A young malnourished group, far more despondent than even you at the moment and from a whole other world(3rd). Include the variety of standard, metric, and Torx fasteners associated with said part that didn’t snap, gall, or strip on their way out in the same bag.try and think ahead and use humor to reduce stress. For instance, mark a bag as “blow it out your (expletive) #@&^hole you (series of adult adjectives) and go back to (where u found it)to use for that seized air pump you have to put back on solely to pass inspection.
You want to be just a few degrees off of hitting a flat on the nut squarely with the flat of the chisel tip,pivoting slightly and off to that side of the nut that is opposite of the engine’s rotation (like maybe counter-clockwise?… If you have metabolized some blaster along with those beers catching up and aren’t sure of it’s rotation, grab a beer and study the clues offered by the pitch of the fan blades. Hit the nut with some more Blaster while you finish your beer then calmly make sure you don’t have your mental picture upside down and backwards. By now the PB blaster fog should be visiting your neighbors and the beer has dulled the frustration. Then realize you could have got the plasma cutter in there :)
BEING SERIOUS AND TO THE POINT ,THE IDEA IS TO:
Use an air chisel to break it loose by vibration, like an impact gun, giving it short, sharp shocks.put the chisel tip flush against an easily accessible flat. Rotate the tool a few degrees toward the direction you want it to turn and position the tip more toward that side. The nut probably wants to come off the opposite direction the engine spins, this might be CLOCKWISE. Hold tip of chisel in desired location firmly and pull the trigger. You can now use an adjustable or the fan to get it off all the way, it usually takes only 1-3 seconds using this method to break it loose. I was joking about removing accessories; you can get a long chisel bit if needed that will work for sure.
Ah, back when Ford made real no-nonsense, no Harley Davidson, no King Ranch, trucks. I had a 78 F-150 and an 81 Bronco, both with the six, and my dad had a 95 F-150 with the six. Keep this truck. You won’t regret it. Watch for above the rear wheel arches.
Plasma cutter? Lets not go overboard here. A big strap wrench around the center of the pulley the fan rides on, and break those suckers loose with a good ol’ 6 or 12-point wrench. Then replace it with a like fan (when a mechanical fan like this fails the end result isn’t destructive overheating). I would also replace the thermostat out of general principle, unless it has been replaced recently.
I was going to suggest an air rachet, but that may be overkill.
Air ratchet won’t help. What you’re thinking of is an air impact driver. Which I’m amazed nobody has suggested yet.
There probably isn’t room unless you start hacking blades off the fan hub, which is a bunch of misdirected energy in my opinion. Back in my younger, more foolish days I was a line mechanic at a Ford dealership and had to deal with the fans on those 300 c.i. motors. Strap wrench and a good 6 or 12-point combo wrench is all I ever needed. Never rounded a bolt because more often than not the stud would come out with the nut still frozen on it.
At the shop where I work, we’d probably have the radiator out for this job. Plenty of room for the big-ass air gun after that. Although I have to admit I cna’t remember ever seeing a L6 truck in there, so I may be underestimating how tight the gap between the grille and the fan is.
But I agree with others that pulling and replacing the water pump should be done in this case anyway, which renders the whole “how to remove the fan in situ” question relatively moot.
In order to remove the crankshaft nut on my Elantra (150 ft-lbs factor), I had to wedge a wood chisel into the flywheel teeth (after removing the starter), in order to gain enough leverage. It broke loose at probably 300 ft-lbs, and then was finger-loose.
But I agree with Sajeev; just torch it. Even if you get enough torque via some other method, you may just break the bolt anyway.
Do the right thing. Remove the pump and replace the fan and pump and associated parts and you’ll save all that frustration. If more stuff starts to go wrong, you can always just jack up the radiator cap and replace everything underneath. It’s getting old anyway. (EDIT): Those Fords WERE nice looking trucks, for sure. If it makes sense to you to fix it, by all means do it. Generally cheaper to fix than replace.
Man I love these old trucks. I also particularly like the comment on the “man-steps.” They may advertise a horsepower race, but I’ve only ever seen it as a height race. Being able to jump in and out of the bed without breaking your legs is critical for pickup ownership.
Oh and I second the PBlaster. With patience, it will get anything off (submit your own dirty joke), and I cite the horrifying broken-off exhaust studs on a VG30 Pathfinder. Just don’t get it in your eyes, it really smarts.
Mix up some Acetone and ATF. Apply to stuck nut. Much better than PB Blaster.
I am going to go out on a limb here and ask, did you attempt to go clockwise to see if there was any give? I too, have met my share of stubborn nuts and bolts.. Giving a go on the direction of tightening has helped in better than 50 percent of my attempts. It sounds as though you may be beyond that but figured I’d mention it. Of note, this method bailed me out when I could not figure out how to remove my LH thread lugs on my 65 Chrysler.. ha!
I hate to admit it, but I had a bolt on my old Dakota that wouldn’t budge. Tried all the usual stuff. Finally I went to my favorite mechanic and said, can you get it off and just charge labor? I’ll put the new part on. They got it off in 5 minutes and charged me $12 bucks. Well worth it.
John
Before you go overboard, do some research if the thread on the fan clutch is right or left handed. You could be tightening by mistake. I know all the Ranger/Bronco II/Explorer fan clutches are all left hand threads. Sometimes Ford will tell you the fan clutch is left handed with a big warning on the radiator shroud.
Pull the waterpump and replace the pump and fan.
I learned to drive on an ’85 F150 with the big 6 and a 4-speed granny. Good engine. When my dad sold it at 200k, the engine would still fire up with maybe half a revolution of the starter. It never required anything but oil, spark plugs, and the occasional cap & rotor. That 4-speed granny though…what a POS. It got the job done…granny was good for pulling a boat, but talk about hard to shift. Shifting to 3rd had to be done with a very delicate, very particular kind of finesse. You could slowly push as hard as you wanted, and it absolutely, positively wouldn’t go into 3rd. It wouldn’t with too light a force either. Many a time I had to shift back into 2nd because I lost too much speed trying to shift to 3rd.
But yeah- no problem pulling our 16′ ski boat and turning in 16 mpg doing it, or 18 unladen. There was another version with ultra-tall gears that would get low 20’s on the freeway.
@EducatorDan: +1 on the PBlaster, FTW.
A buddy of mine and I raced for awhile in the late 80’s with everything shoved into his 73 Chevy pickup with 250 ci six and three on tree tranny. It had a cap that we reinforced so we could lash stuff on top of and had a tow bar for our Dodge Coronet race car. It wasn’t zippy, but we eventually got there and back. It never ceased to amaze me how much stuff that old truck could haul with 100 HP (maybe?) while these days folks need a 6,000 lb, 450 HP V10 to take the lawn mower to be repaired…
Like Sajeev says, it’s all about gearing with the big six, they were used in much larger trucks than the F-series. That tranny is generally known as the “Mazdog” on F-series forums, and with good reason!
Depending upon available room in the area of the stubborn nut…….
a pipe wrench, the bigger the better, may allow you to remove said nut.
234th agreeing with PB Blaster.
Then there’s that inexpensive device designed to “split” a nut (bust a nut?) and get the critter off with that device.
I know it would make me move but that’s a different application.
One of several types/versions:
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Cracker-Splitter-Buster-C-FRAME/dp/B000J47UL4
I’ve got any old reel type push mower that I’ve been working on getting going again and I’m real close to breaking out the “nut-buster” on it. Only thing I’ve ever seen that PB didn’t help with.
The guys at the Gulf station had a device called a “nut buster” As best I remember it never failed.
I’m almost certain that the nut is a left-handed one. By trying to turn it counter-clockwise, you have probably tightened it quite well.
Try the other direction.
Bob
Will going lower than 3.55 gearing require a change in the drive shaft or tranny tail shaft housing? I know 3.55 is the generally agreed upon go/no go point on the Panther platform for using the (heavier) stock metal drive shaft when you do a gear swap. Lower (higher numerical) gearing requires you use the MMC drive shaft and extended tail shaft housing due to drive shaft vibrations with the lower gearing. Don’t know if the same is true for the F150’s.
I’m pretty sure too that it’s a left hand thread. And the fan running all the time is not the reason your truck is running cold: it has to be a thermostat problem. Older cars and trucks (like mine) had no fan clutch at all, and they run nice and warm. The thermostat cuts the flow to the radiator, so the fan running makes no real difference, except using a bit more fuel.
Re: your transmission: have you checked out fordsix.com forums? http://fordsix.com/forum/ It’s a gold mine of info on the mazda tranny and anything to do with big six trucks.
I am suspicious of the temp gauge on these things. My 92 w 300/2wd/5 speed was reading low and not making much heat so I put in a new thermostat. That helped and it now makes heat but the gauge still read towards the low end of normal no matter how long it is running. I had similar symptoms on an ’89 F250 300/4 speed I used to have.
And thanks for the fordsix link Paul. For some reason I hadnt found that one.
Thanks. I’ve spent a good deal of time both at Ford Six and FTE. I put a new thermostat in it when I first figured out there was no heat and it seemed to be running cold (although I am also weary of the idiot-gauges in the cluster of this truck) but that didn’t do it. Maybe I got a bum one – it wouldn’t be the first time.
Another tool sometimes called a “nut buster” is like this:
http://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/detail.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=AT540A
It allows you to apply pneumatic hammer blows while applying torque at the same time. Much more effective than penetrating oil IME.
A heating technique I’ve watched (but not personally done) is using a carbon-arc brazing torch with an arc welder. The carbons are placed on opposing flats of the nut and then the welder is turned on. The current will make the nut red hot while hardly heating the bolt/stud at all.
When you say that you have checked the forums did that mean you went to ford-trucks.com? There is a lot of information on that website, a lot of the writing is juvenile but there are a lot of old dudes like me that hang out there and are willing to help. That six is a great engine and if the truck is fairly rust free, well worth saving. Still, it seems as though a lot of the posters here have a handle on your situation.
aside getting the water pump changed, I used to had a 300 I6, I did converted to external oil filter and took a Merc condenser / the a/c cooler infront of the rad, to run the hot engine oil thru, it did a cool job on the engine oil. I had spun a con bearing earlier, I was too cheap to re-do the crank. I replaced the con bearing. anyways, it did lose oil pressure when the engine warmed up, but soon as i slapped the oil cooler on the oil pressure stays the same, and even the mild knocking went away.
so if u want to keep this truck for longer, the oil cooler could be beneficial.
u can use any oil cooler, trans cooler to cool down the oil.
oil cooler were common on older mercs, sports car saw 1 on MGB.
Would a seized fan clutch really make the engine run cold? On the highway, there would be plenty of cold air blasting through the radiator, even with the fan freewheeling. Seems like the thermostat would be a more likely culprit.
Also, I remember being told that a higher rear end ratio would result in “almost no change in fuel economy” on my ’91 5.0 Mustang. But my highway mileage went from 24 to like 18 when I put in 3.55s. That was one mod that I always regretted.
Putting in 3.55s is a waste on a Mustang, mostly because it sucks more gas and nets mediocre performance improvements. 3.73s at the bare minimum. Especially on the 5-speed models.
Not so with the big truck. The gearing reduces throttle input, puts the engine in the powerband (in OD) on the highway while towing. Oh yeah, forgot to mention getting a big tranny cooler for towing, even more important when you consider how easy it is to speed/tow in a 4.9L Ford with better gearing.
“…an open cockpit with great visibility, reasonable ride height and an intelligently designed bed that doesn’t need “man steps” for access.” What a revelation!
Seriously, when I look at pickup trucks today I have trouble understanding how the Fords, Chevies and Dodges of a quarter century ago managed to do all of the same work as today’s designs, without looking like armored personnel carriers. A friend has a 1970 F350 which is in great shape, has all of the characteristics you note and is an excellent workhorse. Ok, it might be nice to have a little more space behind the seat, but the ride height is very utilitarian and the visibility simply cannot be matched in a modern “full-sized” pickup from any manufacturer. What’s up with that?
Design for the sake of design is absolutely idiotic in the world of trucks. That’s what’s up.
I’ve used Kroil penetrating oil soaking overnight and more leverage to remove stubborn nuts. Have read that a mixture of automatic transmission fluid and acetone works great, but haven’t tried it.
Yes, it’s a LEFT HANDED NUT, and any decent auto parts store should have the 2-piece tool set to deal with it. One piece holds the pulley by the bolt heads, the other fits the nut. Both pieces have 1/2″ square drive holes in the ends so that breaker bars can be used. KD and Lisle are the 2 most common tool suppliers for this operation.
On many of Ford’s fan shrouds there is either a decal or embossed lettering referring to the nut’s left-handed threads.
I had this truck as a ’96. Great engine, towed like nothing short of a Diesel. 12mpg with car hauler, 12 mpg without, in town on the highway 12 mpg. As for the tranny, they tend to eat the throwout bearing/slave which is inside the bell-housing – bad design, $400 labor to replace a $60 part, shame on you Ford. Other than that enjoy one of the best torque hogs in truck history. One more thing the twin I-beam will eat tires, especially if you don’t rotate them every 3000 miles. And one more thing it will eat shocks too. And one more thing, the frame is waxed and tends to rust like hell on the last years for these 94-96.
I’ve been fortunate on the rust front. None anywhere – wheel wells even! – except for a spot where an I-beam was dropped across the top of the cab and the tailgate. I’ve put a little paint on the spot on the cab, but eventually I’ll sand it down and do it proper.
What was the last year for the big-ass 300 six? I remember driving a new one once that was an absolute stripper, including a 3-on-the-tree stick and this was maybe a 1988 or so. Anyone know the last year for the 3-speed? Did that have an overdrive option? I kinda remember a friend having one with a 5-speed, though I don’t remember if it was a granny + 4.
1996. With the 1997 redesign the tall six wouldn’t fit under the new hood. I don’t know the last year Ford offered a manual on the column but I’d bet it was long before 1988. I’d be surprised if a column shift was available after the 1980 refresh.
Thanks everyone. I suspect I will replace the water pump and install an electrical fan I’ve got sitting around. I need every extra HP.
As much as I’d like to start swapping gears, I’d have to find a set for the front diff as well. Maybe I can do it when this Mazda grenades on me and I put in a ZF? I’m a dreamer.
Sorry Sajeev he’s going to need 2 new axles to change from 3.00 to 3.54 as its 4wd. Can’t really use 4wd with different ratios in the axles. I might check into the cost of a reputable shop installing a different set of used gears in his axles.
Argh, I missed the 4WD part when I wrote the Piston Slap!
My friend, I know the M5OD from a previous work experience. Yes, they tend to lock, usually at around 250K-300K kms, because one fork or more will break and lock the whole thing. It’s not difficult to fix and is not the piece of junk you think (or they have made you to think) either. And those were transmissions behind a 302/5.0 EFI, with fleet use in a city, and the drivers were far from being kind with them. They are filled with ATF instead of normal gear oil, if yours is filled with gear oil, I recommend you to change to ATF (read your service manual)
The ZF that came installed in the F-350 here (with the 5.8/351 engine) had the same habit but the kms were a bit higher: 350K-400K kms.
Don’t worry about the gearbox and solve the cooling problem, because working cooler will eat your cylinder walls. And even so, with a ridge of about 2-3 mms (and little to no compression), those 300 I-6 bitches will continue to run.
About the diff swap Sajeev suggests, he forgot to tell you that the VSS is located back there, and you must (please) find one with that provision when you get to dead cars “heaven”. Yours might also have ABS in the rear wheels, so check for ABS sensor presence or holes and related parts. Try to get one with the LSD or Trak-Lok. Some of them came from the factory like that (at least the ones with the 10.25 diff)
I know those trucks much more than I want. They’re honest and sound engineered trucks, that thing should last you forever if properly cared.
I can also point you other problem areas you might find:
Headlamp bulbs: be sure they fit properly in the headlamp case, because if not, they will melt it and burn (first indication). Then you will have to replace the assembly (easy).
There’s a small bearing in the steering column that wears out around 200K-300K kms. You will notice a strange play in the steering wheel and it will eventually lock.
Already explained about the M5OD.
Be aware that your interior courtesy lamp is in the same circuit as the VSS. Silly.
The 8.8 eventually wears off too. I saw it happening maybe in 2 trucks (out of 20) but it did. 300K kms+. Maybe was drive abuse, don’t remember.
The ECU is pretty stout, it’s a EEC-IV with the 108 pin connector (and have like 100 different part numbers/callibrations according to the part manual), don’t worry about it. I saw one of them become BBQ in an F-350, but only 1 case. In general, they don’t have many electrical/electronic glitches.
The door hinge pins tend to wear and the doors start to sag. We made some bushings that solved the problem, but you live in the US where 3M of those are sold every year, and Ford parts must be stupid cheap, so go to the stealeship and get new ones.
I never liked the E4OD. Once they are damaged, you better get a remanufactured or new one. If you fix it yourself the result will be rubbish. Then you need their external oil cooler if you’re going to do some serious work with the truck.
I don’t remember anything else. Hope it helps you.
Wow Stingray!
You really know your Fords! And here I was thinking you only knew your Chevies :)!!!
Anyway, is this truck similar to the Brazilian F1000? I think its got a 3.9 engine, and that’s about all I know!
Anyway, a friend has recently bought a (in good physical, but questionable mechanical shape) 1987 and I’m going to cut and paste your article for him. Might help him get his truck working properly. He bought it about 6 months ago but every month, without fail, something comes up that keeps it off the road for about 2 weeks. If the trucks are similar I’m sure your post will help.
Thanks!
+1 on the possible reverse threads. Get a strap wrench and six point (not 12) wrench and try going the opposite direction.
But your basic reason for this whole thing is that it’s running cold. How do you know this? I read you swapped the thermostat but it seems pretty easy to confirm it was installed the proper direction and that it is not defective. Can you tell if coolant is passing through the system at all? Does the temperature of the heater change?
Even if the fan was stuck spinning all the time, I find it hard to believe that the engine wouldn’t reach operating temperature after awhile when idling. Without the airflow over the radiator, the fan will be pulling ambient air. For comparison, my old Mustang has a fixed fan that always spins and it has no trouble reaching operating temperature even when it spins all the time. The thermostat on your 300 is probably a higher temperature than my Mustang but there’s no way that the fan alone can keep the engine cool enough to not permit the thermostat to open eventually.
I would focus on a few things before the fan:
1) Make sure the pump is really pumping water. Make sure the water is really going through the thermostat. You can see this if you open the radiator cap, start the car, let it heat up above thermostat temperature, and look to see if the radiator is churning (like water is moving around)..
2) Observe whether the water is churning right away (even on a cold engine) or the radiator is still until it warms up. This will tell you whether the thermostat is stuck open.
3) If the churning began when the engine was warm/hot, measure the temperature of the water. It should be in the ballpark of the thermostat temperature. If the churning started right away, you have a problem with the thermostat opening at the wrong time (or stuck open).
4) Observe the heater temperature during all this. If you can get to operating temperature of the water and the heater blows cold, then coolant isn’t passing through the heater core. You should be able to feel warm hoses going in and out of the heater core. This will help determine if the issue with heating might be the core or a blockage in the hoses or the valve that directs hot water to the core.
assuming “left hand thread” didn’t end the problem: if lube/penetrant and tapping it before using a breaker bar doesn’t do it, stop messing around and break out the nut splitter.
@ Sajeev: raise the final drive ratio to improve towing in OD? What’s the point? Much easier/cheaper to just leave it in 4th/direct drive for towing and nearly the same results. Plus in direct drive there is much less stress on the tranny as there is no load on the gears and countershaft.
Very good point. What I said was applicable to an automatic model (wide ratio 4 speed, the RPM drop through the gears was murder on towing) but isn’t a big deal at all with the stick.
So…maybe I totally got this one wrong.