My son’s 2002 Ranger -4.0, 4x4 auto just got the timing chain death rattle. I was quoted 2000 for the R&R and labor/parts. I found an 01 4.0 out of a Ranger with a manual transmission 4x4 for $1300 bucks with low miles.

will this engine work in my sons truck? I’m thinking about the computer, the fact this engine was a manual and my truck is an automatic and anything else that may not be worth the hassle?

I plan to pick it up Tuesday but want to cross my “t”s and dot my “I”s prior to forking over cash and not getting in too deep.

thank you in advance!

mike

 

Yes, it will work, should be plug and play, and no issue with computer as long as you are not swapping to manual trans
Heads up, the 1997-2003 4.0l SOHC engines had this issue........you are getting a 2001

Change the 2 timing chain tensioners on the replacement engine, then every 100k miles after that, use Motorcraft if available, Cloyes as 2nd choice, there is NO 3rd choice

Change the rear main seal, any time any engine is out
If you pull lower intake change Knock sensor

Inspect thermostat housing for cracks, keep your old one as replacement

Automatics need to have the torque converter re-seated before being installed on engine, if you are not sure what that means it can cost you a transmission, lol, Google: How to seat torque converter
Brand/model of automatic doesn't matter they are all the same for this procedure

 

Life saver Ron! I don’t know what seating the torque converter means but will look that up. I guess I’m doing a pull and replace this week with my son. Any gotchas or other things to do to ease the removal and reinstall of the heart transplant?

 

Take lots of pictures as you remove hoses and connectors, tape and labels will make your memory better, lol

Exhaust bolts are the toughest to deal with, start there, get the frustration out of the way

I use a longer table and as smaller parts and brackets come off they go on the far end of the table, then closer and closer to the other end, prevents me from putting on a part and then having to take it off again to put on a part that needed to go on first.
But the floor works fine for that as well, farthest part away goes on last, lol

Automatics and torque converters leak trans fluid when separated from the engine, have pans available

Engines weigh a lot
When you lift the engine off the frame you are also lifting the majority of weight off the front suspension, so the front end of vehicle raises up A LOT and engine hoist may now not have clearance to lift the engine up and over the body
Have a jack and stands available to remove front tires to lower the front end if that happens("if you can't raise the bridge, then lower the river")

When reinstalling transmission to engine make sure ALL the wiring near the firewall is taped/wired up high and out of the way, it is quite common to pinch a wire or three between bell housing and engine block when mating engine and trans

Yes, seating torque converter, I did my first automatic install 40 years ago, just paid for it to be rebuilt, broke the front pump, but didn't know it, got it all back together ready to drive.
Engine running put it in R...........nothing, put it in D............nothing, nothing in any gear, only PARK worked, lol
Took trans back out and back to the shop that rebuilt it, I was mad, "they" screwed up the rebuild
Well no they didn't, I screwed up the install
Had to pay more to have new front pump installed and partial tear down
But learn my expensive lesson, and try to pass it on

 

Thank you again for the helpful tips, I can’t find Motorcraft Cam Tensioners anywhere so I went with Cloyes 95587 and 95586. For the rear main seal, my local parts store has a Felpro BS40619.

I can order a “Ford” F5TZ-6701-A from Amazon, is Felpro OK, or should I roll the dice with a China (pun intended) Ford seal?

I ordered a tool, OTC-7834 to install the seal. I’ve read that you need to use a lube to install the seal but have never done this.

any feedback on the Felpro seal and Lube?

For the exhaust, I fortunately (or unfortunately) had my cats and entire exhaust replaced in the last year.

is that what you meant with starting with the exhaust?

I also have a Norco mid rise lift, would that be worthwhile to use that to remove the engine? I can’t access the transmission very good with that in place.

Also any thoughts on cracking the valve covers open to inspect the Timing Cassettes? Motor runs great, the truck was wrecked and mechanic owned. This is a budget vehicle for my son, hate to keep piling hundreds of dollars into it. Since I will have the other motor out, I could have that one worked on if I develop an issue.

Would you out of curiosity throw the timing tensioners in the motor in my son's truck now to see if that eliminate the noise before pulling the motor? It rattles like a card in a bicycle tire but much louder. Sounds like a rod is going to shoot through the valve cover (I know that's impossible) but that sounds like something hard is hitting the inside of the drivers side valve cover.

thank you again,

mike

 

Once the rattle is very bad it is highly unlikely replacing only the tensioners will eliminate the rattle. It is very likely the cassette(s) broke and need to be replaced. The 2001 model year is infamous for this failure with the 4.0 SOHC engine.

 

Last first, if there is a rattle then guide has broken, new tensioner will help since old one is broken, which is why the guide broken in the first place, but guide will still be broken so noise will still be there but maybe less pronounced
This is not a chicken or egg thing, tensioner breaks first, always, which causes guide to break

If exhaust bolts are new or recently removed and re-installed then they should be easy to deal with, which is never the case with old, never touched, exhaust bolts, lol

Yes, Fel-pro parts are fine, and yes, you pre-lube seals so no dry starts

Norco is a vehicle lift, so not for pulling out engines, you need an engine hoist, you can rent them or buy used and then resell when done using, check craigslist, "engine hoist" or "cherry picker"

No real reason to pull valve covers until you are ready to pull the engine, they are plastic so need to be removed prior to attaching straps/chains to engine
Seeing broken guides doesn't help much unless you can get too them to change them

I have seen a post or two from people who removed transmission and then changed the passenger side rear timing cassette without pulling the engine
The front drivers side cassette can be changed without pulling the engine

 

Thanks,

Sorry I meant should I use the Norco mid Lift in Leu of jack stands, I have a cherry picker and my shop has 12 foot ceilings. You had mentioned earlier about the possibility of needing to remove the tires and lower the truck to clear the radiator support. I've never swapped a motor in anything but my first gen Mustang. I know with that, I have 4 exhaust bolts, 6 bell housing bolts, 5 or 6 torque convertor bolts, motor mounts and whala (removal of accessories and radiator not mentioned) it's free. For the first gen Mustang I can get to most everything needed, the starter was a pain, but never down anything newer.

Maybe Jack Stands and a creeper are the way to go about this....

Mike

 

Just 4 torque converter bolts, but yes outside of the wiring, hoses and fuel line that's about it

You will need to support the transmission once its unbolted
Hood will be off of course, you can use a 2x4/4x4 with pads under it across fenders to hold bell housing from the top, so vehicle can be rolled if needed

You can jack up the front frame now so tires are just touching the ground, that will pretty much be the HEIGHT of the rad support with engine weight off of the frame, you can measure it and then get an idea of how high the engine needs to be to clear the body
Best guess would be the engine, without intake and valve covers is 25" tall at lowest part of oil pan

 

Hey I’ve started the engine swap in my sons 2002 Ranger.

the donor engine has an immaculate wiring harness.

the one my truck is bad, crunchy plastic looms and exposed wires near the connectors in places. The person I bought the engine from gave me the computer and both part numbers are the same - F87F 12B523 BA > PPGF 10 < - his was a 2001, 4.0, 4x4 5 speed and mine is a 2002, 4.0, 4x4 automatic.

my question is can I use his harness?

also I can get this exhaust stud out of the manifold on the donor engine. Tried MAp gas and vise grips - any tricks?

 

Swap exhaust manifolds

I would stick with your harness
In 2001 and up Ford used different harnesses for manuals and automatics
Earlier just had one main harness for manuals, then an added harness for automatics that plugged into the main harness

So the 2002 harness won't have the clutch switch plug in

 

Made some good progress tonight on the engine swap.

All wiring and accessories are disconnected, torque converter bolts are out, all I have left is the bell housing bolts.

How many are there total?

Also, since I am going to be putting an engine in that was a manual transmission, how am I suppose to line up my flywheel to the donor engine?

I used a paint marker on the removal of the engine flywheel to torque converter but that is moot because I have to bolt the fly wheel on the new donor engine. How am I suppose to know the position for “balance” or is that nothing to worry about?

Thank you for all the help, I’m hoping to have it back on the road Sunday!

Michael

 

Sorry, one last question - anything unusual about removing the “manually transmission flywheel or flex plate, whatever it’s called. Also is there an input bearing that needs removed? This is a bad picture, but you can see the “manual” transmission things on the back of the engine.

 

The flywheel that is used for a manual transmission has the pilot bearing in the flywheel. So, when you remove the flywheel the pilot bearing goes with it. Some earlier Rangers had the pilot bearing in the crankshaft but not with the 4.0 SOHC engine. I don't know much about the flex plate for the automatic, but you should be able to bolt it up to the crankshaft after removing the flywheel.

 

Got the old engine out, started swapping everything over. So far so good, transmission bolts are probably the biggest, absolute pain in the butt bolts I’ve ever seen in my life. I had to remove the front cat, both exhaust manifolds from the old engine in the vehicle to get access to the bolts. I can’t imagine what it going to be like trying to get them back in.

 

Didn't realize how tall that engine is, glade you got it out, good work

Yes, have done a few clutches and the "Y" pipes need to come out on any Ranger
For the upper trans bolts I lower the trans a bit and could get long extensions with wobble sockets on the bolts, took them out first, then put trans back up a bit and did the rest

 

Thanks for the ongoing encouragement! I had a brand new thermostat housing on my old motor, can I put this on the new motor or is that a “one time” use install. I thought I read that somewhere.

 

Yes, you can swap thermostat housing over

If it leaks again there is a 3rd party metal housing now, so it won't leak again

 

Got all new gaskets, thermostat, cam tensioners, knock sensor and rear main installed by noon. Spent the last 9 hours trying to mate the transmission and engine. I’ve tried it with motor mounts on and off, I’ve tried to connect a couple of bolts as I adjust angles, I’ve made sure the torque converter bolts are through the flywheel. I can’t get the darn thing together. There are no wires or anything physically preventing the closure.


any ideas? Tips, for hire help?

on a good note, donor engine is real clean inside, all plastic chain guides are in good shape, I hope I get this in the road soon.

 

Torque converter needs to be seated inside transmission first, very important

There are 2 alignment dowels, one on each side of bell housing or block, they align crank and input shaft

Block plate from old engine should be on the new block

Need a jack under bell housing to set its angle, also its Yaw, the "o'clock" rotation, to match engine's Yaw

They do just slide together but..............the alignment dowels are a tight fit because they have to be to get correct "dead on" alignment
So when these alignment sleeves or pins are at their mating holes some "wiggling" is usually required to get a flush mating of bell housing and block
Then torque converter cab be pull forward and bolted to flexplate

Do not use bolts to force bell housing and block together, you can with a manual trans but not an automatic, just "wiggle" and push/pull

 

So when I removed the engine from the transmission, I had a jack under it and used a load leveler to pull the engine with the front pointed up. It worked OK, I cant say it fell out but didn't have much issue. The torque convertor stayed in the transmission and lost zero fluid. I did spin the torque convertor and lift and push back to make sure it was seated (it didn't lift or push back). Now I'm not an expert as you can tell, but it spins smoothly and free so I assume that it is seated. I didn't get any "clunks" or "movements" to the rear as I spun the torque convertor. That is how I based my "seated" assumption in addition to not being able to put my fingers behind the torque convertor/bellhousing and the head still behind the belling house when using a straight edge. I did not at any time pull the torque convertor out, I didn't feel the need as it makes sense to leave it in it's natural state. Lining up the torque convertor bolts to poke through the flywheel at the same time a 350 pound engine is chained up to a hoist isn't precision surgery. I was able to enlist the help of a more mechanically inclined friend after a few hours of fighting it. He's a strong Kansas farm boy with an engineering degree and has rebuilt everything from Mitsubishi cars to Farmall tractors. He's smart and knows time and clear thinking/planning can outweigh the brute force approach. After 1 or 2 hours of him adjusting angles, using pry bars and levers, we tried the manhandle approach with one of use under the transmission/bell housing and the other above moving the motor side to side. Man when I say it's tough, it's tough. We stopped about 9 last night after a 14 hours of just painstaking attempts, well to be fair the first half was meticulously putting new parts on the donor engine, cleaning it, and labeling the wire harness, etc.

As he was spinning the crank, I looked through the starter hole and got one torque convertor bolt to line up. I put two bolts into the bottom bell housing with a few turns to hold the position. The torque convertor bolts are not all the way through the flywheel but poking the head so I know that is lined up. The dowels are still not seating.

I think sometimes walking away is the best thing. I hope a clear mind and sense of recovery will help finishing the installation. As each minute passes I'm nervous if I will remember the order I took things off - cats, engine mounts, exhaust manifolds, tranny dip stick tube, wiring, fan clutch before shroud, shroud before radiator, etc.

And as this project is now in it's 4th day, I think to myself of all the things that happened along the way. Yesterday I had a bolt snap off when changing the thermostat housing. That was about an hour to extract the broken bolt - makes you wonder when a shop quotes 11 hours for an R and R of an engine if that accounts for the things like this....

Anyways, long rant this morning. Still struggling but cannot thank this community enough for you help and support. As for the alignment of the transmission and engine, still trying I guess...….

 

Progress, finally... Last evening I reset, and watched this YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=Da7SK6uCE8Y

In this video, the mechanic shows the installation of a 4.0 liter engine in an Explorer. The most eye catching mistake I made was the fact he was installing the motor with the vehicle sitting on the ground. Mine was on jack stand and NOT level and believe I was fighting a "Yaw" on the Y Axis. Therefore not only was I needing the correct entry angle of the dowel alignment, but it had a twist.

Needless to say, stepping away 2 nights ago - mowing and watching a video or two was the help I needed.

Everything is buttoned up underneath and new oil, seals, gaskets, cam shaft tensioners, and more ready to go. Tonight I will install intake, wire everything and put the front accessories on the motor and with luck, fire the donor engine.

One thing I noticed while putting the exhaust on last night, was a shift cable (I think) on the driver's side right by the O2 sensor harness. This is a terrible picture, it was about 11 pm and I was drained. What is this cable? The plastic is cracked and looks like the point at where it cracked is a cable, like a bicycle brake cable. Is this something to worry about? I just want to make sure the vehicle is safe and replace if needed. Thank you all for your help, could not have done this without you!

 

I just fired the donor engine up tonight and started putting antifreeze in it. After 2 minutes or so, I herd like a squirt front the top of engine, looked underneath and oil was pouring out. The engine wasn’t knocking and don’t believe I lost pressure but all of the oil did run out. I suspect the rear main, which btw I did replace and use the correct ford installation tool, but not sure. The upper intake valley on the drivers side has some
oil as well. I am sick to my stomach over this. Anyone see a rear main go bad instantly or could it be something else? Would I be better to bring it to a shop and have them remove the transmission and install a new rear main? Help
please!!!

 

Coming from inside the bell housing?
That would be rear main or rear jack shaft seal
But if its a lot of oil then rear main
Jack shaft seal gets splashed oil

Yes, if it didn't seat well then it will tear on dry start and "leak like a sieve"
Main bearing is right next to it and it squirts out a lot of oil

That's is a big bummer

In a shop it should be a 4-5 hour job, so if shop charges $125/hour then $500-$625 + parts, only thing they really need is the new seal, they don't need to drain coolant or oil, or trans fluid
But get a quote for sure

If that's what you want to do I would finish the reassembly, put a pan down to catch the oil, you can reuse it if pan is clean, because inside bell housing should be clean, you can filter it first but oil filter does that as well
You can time it to see how fast oil is leaking/pumping out, i.e. empty pan, run engine for 2 minutes, pour the oil that comes out into empty oil bottle(s) then do the math
Make sure transmission works, put it in R and D
Get it up to operating temp to make sure there are no other leaks, coolant or trans fluid(cooler lines)

You may be able to drive it to a shop but plan on towing it

 

It leaked all the oil out, no oil touching the dipstick at all. I sure hope I didn't hurt the motor but I shut it down and no noises were being made (pinging/knocking). I heard that weird squirt or swish and then noticed oil coming out of the area from the drivers camshaft position tensioner which was also replaced, looked underneath and seen the oil pouring out just like someone was dumping the oil straight to the ground. I filled all fluids the night before and it was dry as a bone, it appeared the issue happened under pressure. Would the fact I had such a difficult time mating the engine and transmission perhaps damaged the rear main? Gosh I wouldn't think it should have even come close to touching that with the sleeve and 8 bolts that go through the center. For the jack shaft seal, I took a picture of the rear of the donor engine and the one thing I notice is how clean the motor was - no oil seepage anywhere. I don't know if you can see that jack shaft seal or bolt from here or not, but here is a picture of the donor engine rear before I removed the intake,, vacuum lines and wire harness.




I use motor oil and did put oil on the rear main using OTC 7834 Rear Crankshaft Seal Installer. I followed everything to exact specifications and even torqued my valve covers. Here is a picture of the tool and the installation of the rear main. I made sure to use gloves and left no debris in the crank area and seal went from packaging - to clean gloved hand - to cleaned and oiled crank. The crank was not scratched from the removal, perfect condition.




I'm afraid I cannot do a Drive/Reverse test unless I fill it up with oil again and perform this immediately. I didn't get time to even look at where the oil was coming from on the top side (Drivers) of the valve cover intake area because of the amount of oil loss in such a short period of time. I am so nervous, what if I ruined the $1350 donor engine I found with 105,000 miles on it? Is there a diagnostic way to tell without pulling anything apart?

At this point, I'm worn out physically and mentally and don't care about money. I am willing to pay a shop to replace the rear main seal but do they remove the transmission to do that? I have a car trailer so that should be a big issue getting it there. I also am not against pulling the motor again now that I know what I'm doing. I just don't want to have to do this a 3rd time. Would a frost plug blow out and cause this? Do you think the motor is OK? Did I perhaps damage the rear main with the issues I had mating the transmission to the drive shaft?

Thanks as always,

Mike