The FORD Lounge

[ctubutis]

The post from Jim made its way to my Inbox, I need to manage my spam settings to keep these things visible!

How is everybody out here? Life's been quite an adventure for me....

[ctubutis]

Something I haven't picked up... what is F.O.G.?

[ctubutis]

Yes, She Who Must Be Obeyed, Sylvia Hall. A real nice lady, TBO.

[ctubutis]

This site doesn't work like FTE does, I need to figure out how to quote posts....

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, that's the real Mr Clean!

FOG = Flareside Owners Group.

As for how I'm doing, Janey and I have both gotten our 1st vaccine shot.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

If you hit the ["quote] button at the top left of the reply window the quote is pasted into your reply.

So, tell us of your adventures!

[ArdWrknTrk]

We have so many new members with Flareside/300 combos I've started welcoming them into the FOG.

It was innocent enough, but seems to be a real thing here.  

[ctubutis]

Gary Lewis wrote

Yep, that's the real Mr Clean!

FOG = Flareside Owners Group.

As for how I'm doing, Janey and I have both gotten our 1st vaccine shot.  

I haven't even gotten a flu shot yet :(

[ctubutis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

If you hit the ["quote] button at the top left of the reply window the quote is pasted into your reply.

So, tell us of your adventures!

Oh, dude.... send me an email and I'll send you a link to a video of my summer's project(s), Gary & Dav id have already seen but I don't want to post that **** publicly....

[ArdWrknTrk]

Ok Chris.
I've sent you an email l through the forum.
Lower your shields, or check your spam box, or whatever...

We don't have PM's here but you can click any username and elect to send an email through the forum.

[salans7]

Hi Chris!

[ctubutis]

salans7 wrote

Hi Chris!

[ArdWrknTrk]

See? It works.  😉

[salans7]

A few days ago I ordered the parts to lower my 2002 Ranger. Today when I went to start it and run it, it ran like it was on two cylinders. By the time I popped the hood and opened it up to listen to the engine, it had evened out. I hooked up my scanner, and noticed the fuel trims are positive at times, which tells me it's running lean. I put new plugs and wires and a fuel pump in this truck previously, and when I unplug the Idle Air Control valve, the idle drops down to 500 which tells me there are no vacuum leaks. What the truck does have, is old fuel in the tank (doesn't smell like varnish, but is at least a year old, maybe two), and possibly a clogged fuel filter. I'm going to change the fuel filter, drain the old fuel and refill with fresh, and then re-assess. Hopefully that fixes it.

[Gary Lewis]

Does the fuel contain ethanol?  If so it may well be the problem.  Good luck!

[ArdWrknTrk]

With the central FL humidity I can see the ethanol starting to phase separate or beginning to gel.

That's always a mess but a gallon of acetone will usually clear any water and deposits (unless they've dried out, like in an unused carburetor bowl)

Changing the filter is a given.

[salans7]

I did throw some Iso-HEET in the tank a couple of months ago to hopefully get rid of the water that may have been in the tank, but I would not be surprised if the ethanol is breaking down as I don't think the truck has been driven to get fuel in a few years. Apparently my great uncle was filling it via a gas can, but it was sitting non-running for a few months before I picked it up so I have no way of knowing how old the fuel is. I do know that when I changed out the fuel pump and filter the first time, the tank was clean and the fuel didn't look or smell awful.

The truck has been running okay (only a slight stumble) since last July when I first got it running, so this is kind of sudden. There's only less than a 1/4 tank left of fuel, so it shouldn't be hard to get most of that out, and then I'll change the fuel filter, run a few gallons of fresh fuel, and then change the fuel filter again to make sure it's clean and clear.

[ctubutis]

salans7 wrote

I did throw some Iso-HEET in the tank a couple of months ago to hopefully get rid of the water that may have been in the tank, but I would not be surprised if the ethanol is breaking down as I don't think the truck has been driven to get fuel in a few years. Apparently my great uncle was filling it via a gas can, but it was sitting non-running for a few months before I picked it up so I have no way of knowing how old the fuel is. I do know that when I changed out the fuel pump and filter the first time, the tank was clean and the fuel didn't look or smell awful. The truck has been running okay (only a slight stumble) since last July when I first got it running, so this is kind of sudden. There's only less than a 1/4 tank left of fuel, so it shouldn't be hard to get most of that out, and then I'll change the fuel filter, run a few gallons of fresh fuel, and then change the fuel filter again to make sure it's clean and clear.

I parked my truck in my brother's back yard for ~7 years, this produced lots of rust in the tanks even with Colorado's dry climate. It wouldn't surprise me if you needed a fuel system flush n fill :)_

[ArdWrknTrk]

An 8oz bottle of isopropyl is less than the 10% corn subsidy that already comes in our gasoline, but it may push the damp alcohol back into suspension.

Like I said, a ketone (like acetone) is going to dissolve deposits while also also acting as a 'getter' for any moisture.

[salans7]

Thanks guys for the info, I will be tackling the fuel issues on the red truck during my vacation next week.

As for today, I hopped in my 2003 Ranger after work, and realized pretty quickly I had no clutch. I rev matched my way down to the Wawa gas station across the street and checked the clutch fluid. Sure enough, it was low. Since I have a new master cylinder in the truck as of December, I knew it was the concentric slave cylinder. So tonight I went ahead and tackled that as I like driving the truck and didn't want to borrow anything. The slave was covered in brake fluid, so I knew the seal was gone.

After I got the truck back together, I took a better look at the offending slave cylinder. I bought it in 2018 as a "just in case" but ended up needing to utilize it when I lost a throwout bearing New Year's Eve 2019. It was a Luk brand that I picked up on Amazon. The Duralast slave cylinder I picked up from the local parts store was stamped FTE Automotive. Come to find out, so was the "LuK" slave cylinder I removed from the truck. I am really surprised at the fact that a LuK slave cylinder failed within a year's time, but after seeing the FTE stamping, I feel like I may have been sold a cheaper slave cylinder in a LuK box. So I guess this is a buyer beware when you're shopping on Amazon.