Greetings!

I've been in automotive forums online since 1999, mainly regarding Subaru as I drive a yellow 1985 Wagon (on my avatar) since new; but also I repair -and modify- many other cars.

This time, I am posting about a 1994 Mazda B2300, which in fact is a rebadged Ford Ranger, it has cab and a half, the 2.3L four cylinder engine that uses two sparkplugs per cylinder, mated to a five speed manual transmission, it is 4X2 but is pretty tall, and the 15" wheels plus fat tires, has augmented nicely its ground clearance. This pick up truck, belongs to a local Friend.

This is the Green '94 pick up:



Here you can see my Yellow wagon in the Background.

 

Soon I will start asking questions regarding that '94 Pick Up. Mainly engine related.

Which is the appropriate sub-forum here?

Kind Regards.

 

My friend reported that his pick up truck started to misbehave on the engine, which already had an "Anemic" feeling during all these years, but lately became even worse, to the point that it felt like misfiring and / or loosing half the power.

This is his work truck since new and he can not stop it during weekdays, so I went to visit him on a weekend to his far away home, in a precious Rural area of Honduras, and did a test drive, the pick up truck really felt anemic, doing more noise than power during acceleration, and even it stumbled a little, hitting the transmission, on hard accelerations.

 

Upon an engine inspection, I found various Vacuum hoses that had been unplugged and their ports closed with caps, even worse: the P.C.V. valve was unplugged and was wrapped with a plastic bag, preventing the crankcase from breathing, that was a "Repair" attempt done by a local mechanic of his area...

At first I searched and Found on the Engine's bay, the "Map" for the routing of the Vacuum hoses, which is pretty useful indeed; and I like the idea by Ford's engineers, of placing all the Engine's vacuum ports on a single place, in a thing shaped like a Flower, on the Driver's side of the intake manifold.

 

 

Then I cleansed deeply the P.C.V. valve, using a generous amount of Carburetor & Choke cleaner, until it rattled freely; then I reconnected it as it should...

It goes inbetween two hoses, the lower hose which looked like 3/4" is the base for the valve, it goes to the engine in a lower, hard-to-reach placement, under the intake; while the upper hose which looked like 5/8" went to the upper side of the valve, and goes to the intake.

Here you can see said P.C.V. valve already in its place, between the two hoses described above; I was about to place the upper clamp, after placing the lower clamp.

 

 

The engine continued behaving almost the same: Despite that it improved a little to the point that during certain moments it feels right, suddenly it fails flat on its face... I checked everything electrical, changed the sparkplugs and checked the conditions of the wiring, everything seems to be alright.

However, I found a Cracked air filter Box, the MAF works alright, but dust penetrates combustion chambers... and this truck has been running like that since 2003, according to the owner; he stated that he got tired of searching for another air filter Box at the junk yards, as this model of car is not pretty popular here, he never found it.

 

So, I promised to the truck owner, to come back to his place the next weekend, to try to fix the engine's misbehaviour; and meanwhile, I would search for the air filter Box and the rubber Link, among local Junk Yards.

 

The Local Junk Yards, called here "Yónkers" are not like the PaP (Pull a Part) or other styles in USA, because in my Li'l country, they remove the useful parts from the cars, and write on them with water paint markers, the Name / Model \ Year of the car where the part was taken from. The rest of the Car, is sent to the Recycler. So, our "Yónkers" ends being some sort of poor men's department stores, which are organized like this:

Overview:





Doors / Tailgates:





Tail Lights / Grilles:





Engines:

And much more different Areas, which have only Seats, Bumpers, ECU's, Transmissions, Stereos, Brakes, Glasses, Steering parts, Suspension Parts, etc... After going to search among nineteen different Junk Yards, I've thrown the Towel: it is pretty difficult to find a truck from this model, on those places, I never found anything.

 

 

 

 

I have done such LED background illumination Retrofitting, on dozens of cars so far.

To this truck, also I have done in the past, certain minor repairs and services, such like changing the Fluids of the Transmission, the Differential, the Brakes and the Power Steering; also I took the radiator to a local radiator shop, in order to change its plastic tanks, with aluminium ones, long years ago; and I installed a new CD / USB stereo plus speakers on it, but Never had an engine failure, until lately.

I went the following weekend with my empty hands, I can not find the air filter Box nor the rubber steering Link, besides the answer to the engine's problem, because then I tried by cleansing the fuel injectors and changing the fuel filter, with no avail.

 

 

A good friend suggested to me, that the culprit of this fail could be the Timing Belt, which might have certain teeth missing; as this is a non-interference engine, the timing might be Jumping, from being on time to being off time, alternatively.

He could be right, in fact, I experienced such behaviour long years ago on my Subaru, whose 1.8L Boxer engine, uses two timing belts, one per head, and being a non interference engine, made that one bank of cylinders went alternatively from being on time to being off time, because one of the timing belts had lost some teeth; you can see photos and read more information regarding such fail, following the web link below:

~► Timin' Belt Covers off! - Ultimate Subaru Message Board

 

I forgot to mention, tha this car runs without both catalytic converters, as they are not legally required in Honduras.

So, I already went to the car part's stores, and purchased a new Gates T-210 timing belt and its tensioner...

I'm planning to visit my Friend and changing the timing belt from his truck, as soon as possible.

Any idea, suggestion or comment, is welcome.

Kind Regards.

 

Just so you know .... I did read all of your posts....
My 1997 Ranger XLT 2.3L runs and idles like new...
You might want to use a propane torch (un-lit) and move it around the vacuum and intake areas...If the engine increases in RPM you found the vacuum leak...
See-ya on kia-forums...
Dave

 

A compression test should be done before changing the timing belt.
I don't know how long it's been since your friends belt was changed, but if the compression is good it may not be the problem.

 

Thank You!


Awesome! Especially knowing its history, I know how hard you've worked on that Ranger, and I am really Glad to know that it is running like a Champ!


Well, I did a similar thing, but shooting carburetor & choke Cleaner bursts in Spray, all around the intake and vacuum ports, with engine at idle speed at normal operating temperatures, and everything is alright; not a single vacuum leak was detected. Thanks for the Suggestion and the Reply.

Kind Regards.

 

Yes, a compression test was done but not by me, it was done by a mechanic that is local to the pick up Truck's owner; he did it meanwhile I was away, searchin' for the timing kit; and he claimed that the numbers are within specs. Thanks for your suggestion.


We also don't know, because my friend purchased this truck, Used, long years ago, and he doesn't remember to have changed the timing belt.

Kind Regards.

 

So, I went to visit my Friend who owns this green truck, the recently passed weekend, and the timing belt was Not the original one from Factory, however it came out as pristine as a brand new timing belt, and as it also is a "Gates" branded, like the one I brought, I believe that maybe I did the last timing belt service on this car, but long years ago, enough to make me forget about it, somehow.

Despite that the old timing belt came out healthy, I changed it with the new one; however the old tensioner came out being worn and about to fail from having its ball bearing too loose; so it was not a waste of effort nor money...

But sadly, the thing still keeps running Rough.

And still I can not find a used air filter Box locally, nor online.

 

 

Well, my new bet, is that the fail could be originated among the sparkplug Wirings, which are the original ones from factory, and could be causing misfiring, due to a loss of the proper current conduction; but I don't know if such a double set of sparkplug Wirings, are available in local aftermarket stores...

Time for a new searching adventure.

Kind Regards.

 

A compression check was something I also was thinking about...
I checked my spark plug wires and they are also ORIGINAL (dated 1997) ... I have new plugs but haven't changed them as of yet... (no misfires)...
Too bad you aren't closer...There are lots of air filter boxes here at the "pul-a-part" yards waiting to be crushed... Have you looked at the F-150 or the Econoline Vans there? Also the Ford Mustang used the 2.3L engine...
Dave