Watch these videos.Ī bump, thud or clunk when coming to a stop can be caused by a sticking slip yoke of the drive shaft. Parts are cheap, but replacing them could be labor intensive, especially if badly rusted. Rusted/broken leaf spring hangers and shackles can cause the rear of the vehicle to feel "loose." This problem is more common in the rust belt. We also found many YouTube videos on this subject. Mechanics use what they call a "smoke machine" to find an intake vacuum leak. Often, problems are caused by bad intake manifold gaskets that are more difficult to diagnose.
#TROUBLE SHOOTING 1998 FORD ENGINE CODES CRACKED#
Sometimes a vacuum leak, such as a cracked vacuum pipe or elbow, can be detected by a hissing noise under the hood. Symptoms of a vacuum leak include rough, unstable idle, stalling when coming to a stop and sometimes the trouble codes P0171 and P0174 (lean air fuel mixture).
Intake vacuum leaks are also pretty common in many Ford engines. We found many YouTube videos explaining the problem.Ī bad or sticky IAC (idle air control) valve can cause idle problems, but it's not very expensive and is easy to replace. It can be either lubricated temporarily or replaced the part is not very expensive. Watch these videos describing the problem and repairs.Ĭhirping noise in a 3.0L OHV V6 or 4.0L OHV V6 can be caused by a dry camshaft synchronizer. If you are buying a used Ford Ranger with a 4.0L SOHC engine, try starting the truck when the engine is cold and watch out for a rattling noise. If the repairs are too expensive, one of the options is to replace the whole engine with a used unit. Not all 4.0L SOHC engines have this problem it mostly affected pre-2004 model years and some vehicles have already been repaired by Ford with updated parts during the warranty coverage. Depending on what parts need to be replaced, this could be an expensive job: in some cases, the engine may even need to be removed to get access to the rear timing chain of the right side cylinder bank. One of the symptoms is a metal rattle when the engine is started cold. In a 4.0L SOHC engine, timing chain repairs were quite common in the early model years. There are plenty of YouTube videos describing this problem and repairs. Doing this job in a repair shop will cost from $250 to $450, depending on the parts replaced. We even found an aluminum thermostat housing sold on eBay. Several owners have reported changing the plastic thermostat housing more than once, so using a good quality part will pay off in the long run. You will likely need a few extra parts, such as the temperature sensor O-ring, coolant, etc. The thermostat housing parts are not expensive.
If not repaired in time, overheating can cause more problems.