Ford 2.9L

flint hills willie · Jun 25, 2009

Got a older guy with a ranger that has the 2.9L V6, 110K miles. What kind of a motor is this? What kind of trouble do they have. He has been kind to the truck, oil changes and services. I"d be using it as a daily driver. Thanks for you input.

RodinNS · Jun 25, 2009

Kindness probably didn't do it a bit of good. You might have something that never ran hot enough to burn the vapors out. Generally they were a good engine tho.
Head sets if I'm not mistaken was their weaker point if they had one. It was certainly the weaker point of the 3L that replaced it.

Rod

barn E · Jun 25, 2009

Son had one, think the headbolt, one or two, broke and then oil leaked. Replaced all bolts and head gasket. Okay after that and shifter broke(manual). Dave

RN · Jun 25, 2009

If I remember right that engine came from the German Taunus design family. The biggest over here was a 4.1 long stroke V6 in Rangers. Early engines had a siamesed exhaust on front 2 cylinders- occasional gasket leak and occasional exhaust valve wear when running hot to meet pollution standards. No magor troubles reported in basic engine design- emmissions equipment aggravating failures were known in it as well as Taurus and Escorts of similar vintage, Ranger had somewhat less than cars as cars acted as test beds for tighter emmissions equipment before they were required in light trucks. RN.

Kruse · Jun 25, 2009

The weak point of a 2.9 was the head, but the majority of them did not have a head problem. FWIW, new aftermarket heads are available for a pretty reasonable price if the head would crack.
If you ever listen to an old 2.9, it usually has a ticking lifter sound, but normally it"s the nature of the beast.
Not the best engine in the world, but definitely not the worst either.

cole in mo. · Jun 25, 2009

The heads were the weak point, but they wern't the problem, on the ones that did crack heads, it was the block that was at fault. The block where the heads mounted were humped in the center, bolt a straight head down on a humped block, and it cracks, also if you do buy reman heads, don't buy one thats been plained, it also will crack.

Gun guru · Jun 25, 2009

I had an old boss that had a 2.9L ranger truck, 1987, he beat the snot out that truck and it still ran at 230K miles or so, he used amsoil faithfully in the engine, trans, diff.

No known motor problems that I heard, he was laid off in 2001.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Jun 25, 2009

I worked for a Ford dealer when the 2.9L was still being produced. The only car to ever have the 2.9L was the Merkur Scorpio. The 3.0L used in cars and Ranger is completely different. I have never heard of the warped cyl head deck or cracking heads on 2.9's. The 4.0L had enough problems with cracking heads early on that there was a recall to replace the heads. The head problems that 2.9's are known for is the exhaust valve seats will disintigrate and the engine will loose all compression on the affected cylinders. If it has clattering lifters, it needs cam bearings. Also, check the thrust main bearing by prying the crank forward and back. If it has excessive end play, it's a time bomb. Each connecting rod has it's own journal. When the thrust main gets loose, the crank walks back and forth and when it gets loose enough, the counter weights on the crank will hit the rods and break them.

dhermesc · Jun 26, 2009

If I recall correctly the 2.9 had solid lifters - and thats the reason for the ticking sound.

I had a 1990 Ranger with a 2.9 - great little truck. I ran it up to 160K then sold it to my nephew who ran it another 50K under "extreme" conditions before he totalled it. At about 140K I started adding half a quart of oil between 3000 mile oil changes - for some reason my nephew didn't have that need (never opened the hood?). With a 5 speed it averaged about 26 MPG per tank of fuel.

My brother had a 1988 Bronco with the same engine and he got the same mileage. The engine has about 150 hp - the same as the 3.0 from the Taurus but the 2.9 just seemed to be a lot more powerful.

Kruse · Jun 26, 2009

The early 2.9 engines had mechanical lifters. The block was engineered for mechanical lifters. The "problems" started when they switched to hydraulic lifters and some of the passages were small enough that the lifters didn't get adaquate oil. That, and the hydraulic lifters themselves are sometimes suspect.
Once again, these engines can go high miles, but usually the lifters tick at that time.

Kruse · Jun 26, 2009

http://www.summitracing.com/search/Brand/World-Products/Product-Line/World-Products-Ford-2-9L-Heads/?autoview=sku

Much cheaper to buy new, improved heads instead of factory stock.

dhermesc · Jun 26, 2009

Probably the case. My 1990 had the "tick" sound when I bought it with only 30K on the clock. Stayed the same the entire time I owned it.

frdmnn · Jun 27, 2009

i had two of them that had over 300k on them when i got rid of them. living in ohio the bodies were pretty rotten. neither one had any trouble with cracked heads. the secret to the cracked heads is to not over heat them. they are designed like an old FE block which was a good design.

Ford 2.9L

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