1995 with a blown 3.0

[Poor boy]

Hey guys.. recently was given a 95 ranger with the 3.0 v6. Automatic trans. Nice looking body. Heater core valve desenegrated while on hwy lost coolant and overheated. Quick trip to parts store for new valve and coolant and I was back on the hwy. This time headed back home. Well you guessed it, overheated again and died this time with a burst oil smell. I towed it home where it sat a week or two. I have no idea maintanance history and the only thing I had done to this truck was plugs and wires and oil change. Planning to do more later I was omw to a interview and a possible job.
Anyways... decided to do a radiator flush... truck won't start cause the boots on the plug wires are burt. Reservoir is filthy rustyish, and idk what the radiator was doing with the gallons of water I put in it but didn't seem to be draining much...
If I'm reading correctly I'm going down that happy trail of the common problem with the 3.0... but I'll let you guys tell me. Got numerous questions so just gonna listen to what you all suggest or think first. I do have one specific question
I happen to have a 2000 explorer but it's the 4.0 sohc and its 4 wheel drive engine and trans seem to be strong but the body is pure crap. Frame is about rusted out as if it sat in the pond several years suspension shot all to hell is this swap possible? I'm talking swapping engine and trans. So bell hosing matches. Could a mechanic worth his salt ( not me) do this sucessfully. Fairly smooth?

 

[franklin2]

If you are not a mechanic, you need to step away from this old stuff that needs work. Labor to work on cars is very high, and you will always be fiddling with something. You almost have to enjoy working on one of these old vehicles to make it worthwhile. If you have to pay someone to fix it each time something breaks, you will go broke. It's much better to make small payments on a good used car or truck rather than get into one that needs a lot of work that you can't do. And then most mechanics are not going to work on a vehicle where the engine has been swapped.

 

[RonD]

No, in my opinion it would not be a good swap, even if you did all the work yourself

If transmission in the 1995 seems OK then find a used 1995-2008 3.0l Vulcan engine and replace your burned up 1995 3.0l Vulcan engine

If you can find a 2001-2011 4.0l Ranger 4x4 with bad engine, and/or automatic transmission then use your explorer parts for that swap


When you swap engine sizes you need to swap computers and wiring harness's, there are also other bits and pieces that need to be dealt with, it just adds up, so a mechanic would have to quote you "cost plus materials" so open ended on final price, beause they can not know what they will run into

Paying someone to swap in another engine that's the same is straight forward, still not cheap but can be quoted as say a 10 hour job, so $850 at $85/hour