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Engine shot - Coolant intrusion - 74k miles on my Ford Ranger 2.3L I4 xlt

Msfitoy

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got3fords

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yeah this was a 2004 Saab - Saab started using EFI back in the early 70s , no fuel touch the throttle body.
Was it throttle body injection? I had a Plymouth Sundance in the late '80's that was fuel injected, but it had a single injector just before the throttle body. I think they called it TBI.
 

Msfitoy

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I literally made this exact comment to her... The name of the truck has the word "Off Road" in it. lol
Unfortunate byproduct of our education system...
 
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TJC

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Was it throttle body injection? I had a Plymouth Sundance in the late '80's that fuel injected, but it had a single injector in just before the throttle body. I think they called it TBI.
They acted like a computerized carb! I liked them!
 


dtech

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Was it throttle body injection? I had a Plymouth Sundance in the late '80's that was fuel injected, but it had a single injector just before the throttle body. I think they called it TBI.
This is a SAAB, all European makes that I'm aware used port EFI when they ditched carbs - Bosch mostly, US auto makers hadn't developed their own and were too cheap to licensce Bosch EFI and instead went to low cost throttle body injection - nowhere near effective as port EFI. My 1986 SAAB 9000 - 2.0l turbo, EFI 4 valves per cyl was a hoot to drive up I-70 into the mountains from Denver as when carburated vehicles were running rich and bogging down going up inclines the SAAB flew by them. I used to get a laugh back in those days seeing US made cars with OHC or even DOHC on the trunk as if that was something worthy of bragging about. Then there were the early turbocharged US vehicles that didn't even use a wastegate, they just fed the compressed air into the carb. SAAB didn't pioneer turbocharging but they did incorporate an integrated wastegate with computer management which was a game changer.
 

Cmar

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So do we know what happened, I wondering internally leaking EGR cooler, they've killed a lot of 3.2 diesel rangers and Everests over here. Poor quality stainless steel that eventually cracks internally from repeated thermo cycling. Then they either dump water into the exhaust (if you are lucky - you get a warning) or into the intake usually leading to a silent leak the eventually results in a blown head gasket, water in a cylinder, or warped / cracked head.
 

Doc

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Something I didn't mention previously regarding the diagnosed coolant intrusion issue... the moment this happened was the first I've ever seen an alarm mentioning coolant ever. When I pulled over to get towed I checked the coolant reservoir levels and they were normal right in between the lines... I haven't refilled coolant anytime recently so I don't know how much could've intruded... I also wasn't super focused on that coolant alarm as about a dozen other seemingly all unrelated alarms were going off. Stuff like terrain system fault, hill start assist, pre-collision assist, etc etc before it settled on the generic "see manual" alarm. I was surprised to hear that the issue was coolant intrusion considering that coolant levels were normal.
Just curious, did they find that out in the number four spark plug?

EDIT: There were older posts where water leakage from the #4 spark plug into the #4 cylinder IIRC …
 
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awd.nv

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Public education system.
Yes, for example Nevada is ranked pretty poorly but thankfully we have good charter schools which my boys attend.

Curious what Ai will do with young kids growing up with it. Even with search engines, you still needed to think your way through things.
 

ScarzRanger21(2.0)

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Yep, when I worked for two idiots at a Chrysler dealer many many years ago, one of the local guys bought a brand new Dodge four by four truck beautiful red and black. The 727 auto went out at exactly 12,500 miles and factory would not touch it. Needless to say he did NOT buy another Dodge.
I’ll add that to the list of reasons I’ll never own a Dodge vehicle lol
 

ScarzRanger21(2.0)

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Update: I talked to Ford corporate customer service and they were more helpful than the dealer service woman. They are working with the dealer to have them do a tear down and diagnose further than just reading codes. They said that I might possibly qualify for some help in getting warranty pricing instead of normal customer pricing on a fix. Crossing my fingers because this is a really financially unfortunate time for me personally to have to replace this engine or take a huge loss and buy a new vehicle🤞
I feel that man… Always seems like when money is tight, something goes wrong. I just had that conversation with a buddy of mine. Every time things are going good, life kicks you in the nuts and laughs. I try to remember that things can always be worse.
 

awd.nv

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I feel that man… Always seems like when money is tight, something goes wrong. I just had that conversation with a buddy of mine. Every time things are going good, life kicks you in the nuts and laughs. I try to remember that things can always be worse.
Yeah man, I try to remember the saying "This too shall pass"

Different seasons in life we go through. Enjoy the good and the rough times are usually a good time to learn something from.
 

AzScorpion

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Yeah man, I try to remember the saying "This too shall pass"

Different seasons in life we go through. Enjoy the good and the rough times are usually a good time to learn something from.
It's a good saying Anthony! Life is a lesson and we're always learning up until the end. As bad it as it seems sometimes remember, someone else has it worse and would love to be in your shoes right now.

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