Hi,

New to site here but have visited a lot in the past to search.

99 3.0 Ranger with 115000 miles. Never had any oil or coolant leaks and have owned since 2001.

Over the summer I developed a miss on the driver side head, did comp check and had bad exhaust valve. Tore down, removed both heads, confirmed bad exh valve and same one on pass head on it's way (sucked into head).

I did a head exchange w/ a reputable rebuilder. I used rockauto gasket set and new bolts. I did everything very carefully and by the books. Truck runs perfect now, with 1500 since rebuild. A couple weeks ago it started leaking oil, pretty significant amount. I have used 3 quarts in last 500 miles.

I got to inspecting it and appears to be on driver side upper engine near firewall. It's too tight to even be sure where. Used mirrors and all else and best I can come up with is probably the valve cover but it also seems like it could actually be leaking out of the head gasket. Is that even possible?

I did a running test and noted only a couple drops in a half hour of run time. While I was under there, I also started getting coolant dripping from the back of driver side engine. Best I can see is it is dripping off the tab on the very back of the head.

I ran with no radiator cap and I get no bubbles. I have no coolant in oil.

I turned off truck and the oil started leaking, probably about one to two ounces total. My driveway is on a slight uphill incline. Coolant continued to leak until it cooled. I felt around at the rear of the intake and it's leaking in the corner where the head/block and lower intake meet up. I used Blue RTV on the assembly and did everything like the manual says.

Is there a way to verify that that this is just valve cover for oil leak and lower intake for coolant leak, and not the head gasket? I cant run the truck without the upper intake plenum, and I can't see or get to anything without removing it.

I am going to resign myself to taking it apart again, but any suggestions on how to make sure it does not leak again? I used what I thoyght was top quality gasket kit and put the RTV where I was instructed, torqued to proper specs. I am not sure what I could have done wrong.

Any help or advice appreciated. The heads are still warranty so I really want to make sure it's not that, but truck runs smooth and strong with no oil or coolant contamination.

Thanks all!
Drew

Kind of surprised nobody here had any ideas on this. I will throw you all a bone.

It was the lower intake gasket and one of the valve cover gaskets. They were properly installed but for whatever reason the rubber end seal on the rear lower intake, and the rubber gaskets on the valve covers failed. I am not sure if the company that provided me the heads and the head set is using pirated stuff or if rockauto gaskets are Chinese crap, but the 1 month old gaskets were hardened and had failed.

I put a fel-pro set on and the feel of the rubber/vinyl gaskets was much different. Problem solved. Unfortunately, it took about 10 hours to fix, but I really took my time with it as I DON'T want to have to do it again, again.

Watch out where you get your gaskets.

Thanks for the update on the fix. Just for future information there is no oil that flows through the head gasket so don't look there for an oil leak. It stinks to have the gaskets you buy fail and cause you to have to rework your "new" engine.
Also you may want to look at your PVC and make sure it is not stuck shut. Excess crankcase pressure could cause those gaskets to blow out.