My Ranger is a 2001 3.0 V6, owned since new. Despite being pretty careful about oil changes and cooling system service, I had a head gasket failure at about 90,000 miles where I got coolant mixing with oil. Got the gasket replaced and the engine soldiered on until 112,000, then it was done.

At that point, the truck was cosmetically almost perfect and I had needed few repairs otherwise. I have a long commute (60+ miles every day) and I didn't feel like I wanted to just wait for it to die, given the dire sounds the engine was making.

So I decided it was worth an engine swap. In choosing the shop for the swap, I chose poorly. They swapped in an engine remanufactured by Jasper. This was in December 2010. The shop gave me back a truck that ran like crap, actually worse than when I took it in for the rebuild. The truck was in and out of that shop so many times and for so long that I lost track. The basic problem was that the engine ran rough and developed a serious miss under load, which is not good considering I have to drive into the Cascade Mountains every day.

After running through new spark plugs, wires, and fuel injectors, and replacing the intake manifold gasket, Jasper finally agreed to replace the cylinder heads under warranty, which happened in March 2012, more than a year after the original engine swap. (I'm not even going to get into the collateral damage that the shop did to various driveshaft components and so on.) I had to get help from two other shops to convince the original shop that there was a serious problem. By the time I paid all three shops involved, plus the cost of an unrelated rear differential failure, I was about $11,000 and a year and a half into it. (I could have bought a 40,000 mile 4x4 Ranger at that time for $12,000.) Now I'm not that much of a rube; this all happened in $1000 - $1500 chunks so I was kind of stuck with it after making the original (much regretted) decision to do the engine swap.

After that point, the truck ran fine - and still does. In the meanwhile, I bought a more fuel efficient commuter vehicle and retired the truck to weekend haul-a-load-of-mulch-or-take-stuff-to-the-dump light duty. I figured with about 55,000 miles on the rebuilt engine, it had a lot of life left and the truck still looks darn good.

But now I've developed a pretty significant oil leak from - guess where - the cylinder head. As far as I can tell, there's no mixing of the coolant and the oil. I'm trying to decide what to do:

-Cut my losses and run?
-Do nothing and dump oil and/or stop leak into the thing?
-Get it fixed?

My job's a little iffy at the moment due to a pending merger so I'm leery of a big repair, and I'm not going to replace the truck - if I get rid of it, then I don't have a truck any more. (It's hard to move a sofa with a Honda Civic Hybrid.) If I just keep dumping oil in, am I risking oil/coolant mix again? I'm also looking at a $400 bill for fixing the driver's door lock where some brainiac tried to break into the truck, and it should have a new battery some time soon.

Advice?

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2001 Ranger XLT Supercab 3.0 L V6 2wd bone stock

is it still under warranty by jaspar?

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1991 Ford Ranger. 2.3L. 5 SPD. 2WD. Reg. Cab.
2007 Ford F250 6.0l PSD ECLB on 35s
2008 Jeep Gran Cherokee 3.7L on 31's

No, it's out of warranty. Not sure I'd want that shop to fix it regardless. They seem to cause collateral damage on everything they do.

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2001 Ranger XLT Supercab 3.0 L V6 2wd bone stock

Have you pinpointed the exact source of the leak, I mean, oil leak from head is not overly defining. Could be a valve cover gasket.

*Cal Worthington, Worthington Ford back in Federal way again? The (in)famous lot that sells Mustangs with pop-rivets holding the floorboard sheet metal under the carpet together. ;rollseyes:

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2004 Ranger FX4 Level II, 5R55E, Sonic Blue Pearl

Proudly JAP/RICE free since March 2000

You didn't say which head, if its the right side, it might be the oil sending unit, its behind the head, next to the firewall.

At this point if its just a weekend warrior type vehicle id just keep it topped up and drive it till it dies. Sounds like your already over the value in repairs doesn't make sense to keep dumping in money to something that gets light use. I tend to steer VERY clear of jasper i put a few of their motors in at work and they always seem to be problematic. I had a jeep motor come in once with about a gallon of rust water in it. And we ended up going with a crate motor for it (after multiple repairs to the jasper similar to yours). If the warranty is out id say let it go till it won't run anymore. Stop leak might be ok for your use of the truck but i don't like that stuff its basically glue so it will fill the holes that leak but these motors also have tiny oil passages in some places and it can stop those up to. (more collateral damage)

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New DD-2009 Mustang GT/CS candy apple red

(For Sale)2003 XLT 5speed swap, Hurst Shifter, STX valance SLP drop coils, thunderbolt hood scoop,Screamin demon coil, Flo-pro super v, 1.8:1 Morana rockers, Roush sway bars, SCT tuned by Fred at Rogue, Taurus E-fan, 15x8 Torque thrust wheels gunmetal on chrome, Led 06 tails and smoked HID projectors, mud flap delete, painted drums/calipers, Rear flip kit.

Thanks guys for the advice. It's actually the driver's side head gasket that's leaking, not the valve cover gasket or the oil sending unit, so it's a big $$ repair. I hate to let it go - it still looks pretty. But the estimate to fix it is over $2000 including machining and all. (The shop maybe is being a little cautious knowing the history of the engine.) I've heard lots of bad stories about Jasper, too. Wish I had heard them before I bought one of their engines!

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2001 Ranger XLT Supercab 3.0 L V6 2wd bone stock

So I thought I'd update in case anyone else stumbles across this post and has the same problem. I basically decided to go with pearlkid9988's advice and just top it up and keep driving. i got some other less expensive stuff fixed (ball joints) since that's a safety thing. Then I figured I had very little to lose by trying a stop leak and leaving it in for a while. I used a Bar's Leaks product (don't remember which one) and - it kind of worked. It seems like it slowed down the leak a lot. I left the truck in my garage over a long weekend, and instead of the puddle I expected, I had only a few drops. It's still leaking, just not as much. Don't know how long it'll last, but I'll take it.

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2001 Ranger XLT Supercab 3.0 L V6 2wd bone stock

Have you changed the oil and filter since using the stopleak ?