2.9L Bronco II question

[Fred]

I know someone on here will have the answer to this.



A friend has a 1988 2.9L Bronco II. The engine is now sounding like many Bronco II's, very loud chattering, rattling, kinda sounds like the lifters are swapping holes, LOL. My sister had 2 of the B IIs and both sounded like this. Do any of you folks know the real root cause of this Bronco II phenomena? This case could have something to do with the fact that his engine has 208K miles on it, but what was usually the real problem? Oil pump? Pump pick-up screen? Just the fact that it's a Ford? Thanks for any info. I'll send the friend a link so hopefully he can squeeze a few more miles out of old faithful.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Isn't the 2.9 engine equiped with mechanical valve lifters? Maybe you just need to adjust the valves.



I had an '85 Ranger with the 2.9 and adjusted the valves a few times. It was not a hard job at all--took me about an hour.

 

[Fred]

Good point Gavin. I just realized that I left out an important part of the problem. His oil light is on for a long time after start up. Sorry.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Sounds like it is plain worn out...

 

[Fred]

Yeah, I agree. I told him to put a 302 in it.

 

[Todd Z]

My BII did that, had to adjust the lifters and ran 10w40 year round.......



IT was a good little truck.. Rip....



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Brett Wustman]

I don't believe you need to adjust the valves in the 2.9's. I have a '85 BII and in my Haynes manual it states that only the 2.8 V6 needs the valve adjustments. The 2.8 was in the '85 and older BII's and the 2.9 came out in '86 as a "fuel injected" motor.



P.S. I like the 302 idea as well, I hope to do a swap in mine next winter!

 

[Fred]

Yeah, his BII is in great shape. I hope he does something to keep it on the road.

 

[Johnny O]

If it has solid lifters, then yes they need adjusted. 2.8/2.9's are susceptible to cracked heads and run hot, although that's a chicken-or-the-egg kinda thing. Good to run 15w-40 diesel oil in them.

Could be just worn out though. There is a 2.8/2.9 Forum at The Ranger Station where you may find more help.

 

[Phill R]

I always used 10W-40 in my BII and after the first 100K, I did an engine flush with "Gunk" engine cleaner. You pour it in with the oil, run the engine for 15 minutes and then change the oil. It frees up deposits and clears all the oil passages. I used this in high mileage engines in the past that had noisy lifters and it cleared up the problems.

 

[Benjamin Feinstein]

I loved my old BII I had 140,000 miles on mine before I sold it to my Aunt. She still has it and it has 250,000 miles on it now. A co-worker of mine has an '88 and it just turned 400,000 miles and he told me he would keep it untill the tires fall off. I will have to say that it was the best vehicle I ever had when it came to driving in the snow. Havent had a large snow fall to try the trac in yet but the BII would go through 2 feet of snow and not break a sweat.

 

[Fred]

Thanks all! Now he has lots of good ideas to try. MYST.com to the rescue again!