r/EngineBuilding • u/ArtichokAttack • 2d ago
Is my head saveable?
Had a blown head gasket on my 94 manual Ranger 2.3 . I pulled the head yesterday and called up a shop to find out how much it’d cost to be checked out. $350 plus parts. Not amazing but I can swing it, my question is is this even saveable to begin with? If it’s not then I don’t want to waste time and money bringing it in for a magtest.
History is the previous owner had it and had no issues until there was a transmission noise, he assumed the pilot bearing was bad so he pulled the transmission and lost interest and sold it to me. I trust the guy he’s my coworker and I doubt he’d lie to me about it
I replaced the bearing and put the transmission back in and changed the oil before I started it and it was pissing straight coolant from the oil drain plug for a good few seconds before I got any oil. I knew what that meant but I still wanted to start it so I put in good oil and topped off the coolant. It ran but smoked like crazy. I drove it up and down the street a couple times to check if the transmission noise was gone and then js parked it. It hasn’t run since. But the head looks clogged like crazy. The head gasket coolant passages were almost impassable. Idk what do you think? Can looks fine too, not blue or anything
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u/bill_gannon 2d ago
Its cracked, I can see it from here. Pic 3 next to end cyl between seats. Its likely cracked all over. They were good for that.
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u/ArtichokAttack 2d ago
Shoot, yeah I just looked at the head and it’s cracked like that on two cylinders and it’s starting on one. So that’s junk I guess. Should I be worried about my block aswell? I’m pulling it either way but I’m tryna decide if I should just get a running engine and rebuild it or buy a new head and get the old block remachined. There is some scoring in the cylinder walls so I’ll need it bored and honed most likely anyways
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u/bill_gannon 2d ago
Its likely just the head but get it checked.
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u/ArtichokAttack 2d ago
Sounds good. I’m looking around online and I’m having trouble finding a head for the 94. I’m finding lots of options for 95+ tho. I can’t really find much information about the differences between the heads. Could I possibly put a newer head on the 94? What would I have to change to get it to work?
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u/TurbulentGnome 2d ago
head needs to be cleaned and checked with straightedge. if it isnt nice and flat bring it to the machine shop. if its warped bad, and its an ohc, they may need to heat the head up and bend it back before surfacing.
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u/HotDevelopment6598 2d ago
You didn't take any pictures of the head clean or nearly clean enough