I'm in fear of my truck needing head gaskets. I have brown oily coolant and a slight misfire. (Coolant does not burn) how hard is a head gasket job? What about cost. I am kind of mechanically inclined. The truck is my daily driver, and does have 220,000mi so I wouldn't b surprised at it needed a gask

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Also what about replacing the timing belt while I'm in there?

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2000 FORD RANGER XLT 4x4 Extended Cab 3.0L FFV
Flareside Bed
ACCESS Tonneau Cover-LEER Fiberglass Topper-Manik Brush Guard-Pro Series Hitch
Kenwood Amp and Sub-Sony Deck

Its a tough job if you do not know what your doing. It is a sensitive area to work in and requires patience and know how. To have some one do it is expensive. Anywhere between $1000 - $2000 easy.

----Ford Ranger Owner----

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1993 ford ranger 3.0 v6

I rebuilt and regasketed the 360 engine in my ram, had the motor completely out and stripped to the block tho. I am familiar and could probably do it, I just can't afford to mess up.

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2000 FORD RANGER XLT 4x4 Extended Cab 3.0L FFV
Flareside Bed
ACCESS Tonneau Cover-LEER Fiberglass Topper-Manik Brush Guard-Pro Series Hitch
Kenwood Amp and Sub-Sony Deck

If your looking to just replace the head gaskets without doing a head job it's not going to work out very well because the head is warped causing the blown gasket, it needs to be machined flat or you'll be doing it again very soon. Now that said, with your engine having a lot miles on it, if you do a head job your going to start burning oil because now the heads are going to seal the top end better,
You can just replace the gaskets and hope for the best ,but I'm telling you thats a lot of work just to do it again in a couple months or weeks!

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2011 Ranger XLT 2x4,4.0 SOHC, 5 Speed Auto, 3.55 Rear. Oxford White.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Torque it down till it breaks off, then back it off 1/4 turn.

I was faced with this same choice on my old Toyota 4-cylinder. It actually had a cracked head - right through the #2 spark plug hole. Anyway, after discussing it with the mechanic and getting the prices, to put a replacement cylinder head on it was not much less than putting in a rebuilt motor, and we decided that putting a new head on a bottom end that had 180,000 miles on it didn't make sense. Put in a rebuilt motor and never looked back.

So the moral of the story is: If it's just a blown gasket, then it probably makes sense to repair it. If it is a cracked head, then it's Jasper time.

Sometimes its just ugly gaskets. Not always is it because something warped or cracked. I did a head gasket job on my ram, one was blown bad. Went with a top of the line fel-pro racing reusable gasket and haven't had a problem since. 30,000 mi later. But if worse comes to worse I guess I could just throw a salvage yard head on it. Or would it just b worth it to bite the bullet and do a 302 swap out if an explorer?

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2000 FORD RANGER XLT 4x4 Extended Cab 3.0L FFV
Flareside Bed
ACCESS Tonneau Cover-LEER Fiberglass Topper-Manik Brush Guard-Pro Series Hitch
Kenwood Amp and Sub-Sony Deck