Ranger Belts and Hoses

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Adam
Posts: 2240
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by Adam »

Two thing happened. I noticed an occasional smell of coolant, and I wondered how old the timing belt was.

The previous owner said he never did the timing belt and he got the truck at 70-something-k miles. It now has 91k. Turns out the interval is every 60k.

After closer inspection the upper heater hose had evidence of pinhole leaks, Also the hoses appear to be original. And the belts are cracked. And the tensioners are worn.

Time to fix the Ranger!
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The timing cover is held on with one bolt. And some clips. This bolt is rusty.
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I eventually got it out with a combination of pliers and a large flat head screwdriver.
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Turns out the belt is a Gates. So someone did the belt before.
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The tensioner has seen better days. But you need a special tool to deal with the spring. So I'll do this job later.
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NAPA belts. Its amazing that they were open long enough to sell them.
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Old and new A/C tensioner.
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Napa blets

Old serpentine tensioner. New one is not shown.
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Cracked belts.
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Adam
Posts: 2240
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by Adam »

Coolant is pretty gross.
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Stupid Ford heater host B/S. Just like the stupid LT1 heater host B/S. Actually, as Ford's go this is a pretty simple heater hose setup.
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Fortunately the aftermarket has a replacement.
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Looks like the coolant was leaking past the clamps.
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Reassembled. I added some old heater hose around the new heater hose so the clamps don't wear through things. If you look close you can see where one of the ignition wires was rubbing on the old heater hose.
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This job was pretty easy. The lower radiator hose was a bit of a pain to get back on due to the location of the A/C bracket, but its fine now. The accessory drive is a bit quieter now with the new belts and tensioners. Unfortunately, the Ranger makes enough noise from all the other stuff so you can't really tell.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by kevm14 »

I put those Napa belts on there. I don't think those small cracks mean imminent failure. And I did coolant as well.
Adam
Posts: 2240
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by Adam »

Not imminent failure, but since I had to remove them anyway I replaced them.

How long ago did you replace the coolant? I think the recommendation for this truck is 3 years/36k miles. I know the mileage interval had not been hit. Regardless, the coolant needed to come out to replace the heater hoses. I did the radiator hoses too since they also looked original and it wasn't much more work. Conveniently this truck is (so far) easy to work on.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by kevm14 »

Pretty sure I did both hoses, too.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by kevm14 »

Adam wrote:Conveniently this truck is (so far) easy to work on.
I think basically all pickup trucks are. Which is nice. This 26 year old vehicle (without overhaul) is still providing reliable service.

Did you fix the A/C yet?
Adam
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by Adam »

kevm14 wrote: Did you fix the A/C yet?
No. The transfer station is only about a mile from here, so it hasn't been an issue yet.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by kevm14 »

My transfer station is 4.6 miles, long enough to enjoy functional A/C. Looking at ~20 minutes round trip. But I lived with no A/C in the Ranger given how fast the refrigerant would leak out - didn't make sense to charge for weekly usage.
Fast_Ed
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:45 pm

Re: Ranger Belts and Hoses

Post by Fast_Ed »

I like the part where he mentioned the previous owner.
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