Topic: Bronco problems

[David]

My son is having a couple of problems with his '83 ford bronco, small one with the 2.6 Ltr fuel injected v-6.
I'm wondering if I could get some ideas from the members as to what is the cause and find a cure.

Problem #1. Radiator water is being thrown out of the overflow after engines warms up. Block and radiator have been flushed until clean, new thermostat, a check for exhast gas coming from radiator to indicate head gasget leak or crack has proved negative. All hoses and fittings are new.
Water coming from overflow does however have some rust color to it. A check for air leaks also proves negative. Temp guage shows within normal range even when the water is being thrown out of capture tank.

Problem #2. Engine miss.
New plugs, wires, cap, rotor. All connections are tight and in good conditiion. When all the electrial was changed, the miss went away for about one week but is back.
It will start to miss on cold start, stop as engine warms, then begin again after engine reachs operating temp.
When climbing a grade on the highway the engine begins to lose power, starts to miss worse and sounds like a diesel instead of gas. Down shifting through the gears to bring up the rpm helps some but it still continues to miss.
Also the exhast gas seems to feel overly hot.

Any help would sure be great, this thing is driving us nuts.  Have any of you had similar problems with the small bronco??
We thank you for any advice you could give. David

[Mike D]

sound like what happened to my bros when his valves seals were leaking and what color is your oil

[kyle_22r]

was that motor swapped in?  bronco iis didn't get the 2.9 efi motor until '86 or so...before that they had a carbed 2.8.  the 2.8 was pretty well known for going through valve seals

[Marlin]

Problem #1
Check the raidator neck and cap for proper seating. It sounds like the cap is unable to hold the hot water pressure. Does the top hose get hard from pressure when the motor is hot?

Problem #2
Fords are notorious for driveability problems. Change the fuel filter. Check and clean all of the ground connections. I recall a ground connection at the back of the cylinder head or the intake mainafold? This is a common problem.

Marlin

[David [OP]]

Hey thanks guys. Engine swap? Not that we are aware of, bought it with that engine in it.

Rechecked everything once again. Did the fuel filter as well.

Drove the car again today, opps. The capture tank again overflowed but the big difference this time was that it smelled very strong of exhast fumes!!!! Pulled off the radiator cap and low and behold.....OIL! Bad sign there.
Bottom line,  Bronco

Thanks again. 

[Mike D]

cracked block

[kyle_22r]

well, might as well make the best of things and swap in a 302