96 ford ranger 5 L oil quantity

[98v70dad]

The owners manual says 5 quarts and everything else I can find says 4.5 quarts. The dipstick doesn't lie and with 5 quarts its 1/2 inch over full. Honestly pisses me off. What good is the owners manual if the info is wrong? Ford seems to have a problem with this - that's why I quit buying shop manuals 25 years ago. Too many typos and wrong information.

Anyhow, my truck burns oil so in a month the level will be right. My question is this: Will the extra 1/2 quart whip itself into a froth or will it be OK overfilled? I'm guessing OK, but don't know. Seems OK so far.

 

[sgtsandman]

You should be ok. My OCD would make me take the half quart back out. They have syphon kits that fit in the dip stick tube.


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[adsm08]

I don't know which engine you have, but both my 2.9s, both my 4.0s, and my 2.3 have all always been spot on full with 5 qts.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It might be 4.5 qts, 5 if you change the filter.

If you haven't ran it yet and the filter is dry you may have the oil that is supposed to be in the filter still in the oil pan yet.

 

[adsm08]

It might be 4.5 qts, 5 if you change the filter.

If you haven't ran it yet and the filter is dry you may have the oil that is supposed to be in the filter still in the oil pan yet.

This is also possible. I never considered the notion that someone may change their oil, and not run the engine a bit before checking.

The FL-1A does hold about 1/2 a qt of oil. An FL-300S (3.0 filter) holds a little less, maybe 1/4 qt.

 

[sgtsandman]

It might be 4.5 qts, 5 if you change the filter.



If you haven't ran it yet and the filter is dry you may have the oil that is supposed to be in the filter still in the oil pan yet.

Good point. I am operating under the assumption the OP ran the engine before checking the oil. If they didn’t that would be where the discrepancy is.


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[adsm08]

Good point. I am operating under the assumption the OP ran the engine before checking the oil. If they didn’t that would be where the discrepancy is.


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Terrain can also play a part in it.

Years ago the place I worked had a regular customer who insisted that his oil be perfectly on the bottom mark of the "OK" zone. We caught on to this pretty quick, recognized the car, and made sure to basically leave his engine 1/2 a qt low so the oil was where he wanted it. While it was level.

He would go home, park the car facing down his sloped driveway, and then come back upset because his oil was 'over filled'.

 

[98v70dad]

I did the thread too fast and the title was supposed to say 3.0L (instead of 5 L) for the engine size so people would know that. Anyhow its a 3.0L 6 cylinder. The table on the last page of the owners manual says 5 quarts is the capacity when changing the filter (who doesn't change the filter?). I put a bucket under it and let it drain for half an hour while I did other stuff so it drained thoroughly.

I've already driven it about 5 miles and the oil seems fine but the level is 1/2 and inch above the full line. I also changed the filter. I have a fluid pump so I can suck a little out but since it burns oil it will drop on its own in about 3 weeks so I'd rather just leave it alone as long as it doesn't get whipped frothy.

 

[98v70dad]

This is also possible. I never considered the notion that someone may change their oil, and not run the engine a bit before checking.

The FL-1A does hold about 1/2 a qt of oil. An FL-300S (3.0 filter) holds a little less, maybe 1/4 qt.

Its been driven about 5 miles so the filter is full of oil.

 

[98v70dad]

You should be ok. My OCD would make me take the half quart back out. They have syphon kits that fit in the dip stick tube.


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I have a siphon kit and I might take some oil out. I thought I would get opinions before I did it since the last time I used it was to siphon trans fluid and I didn't want to contaminate the expensive synthetic oil I suck out. The car I had before the 96 ranger was a 98 volvo that held 7 quarts and you could easily put an extra quart in the volvo and it didn't matter.

 

[98v70dad]

I just downloaded a pdf of the manual and it says 4.5 quarts for my 96 3.0L. So I either read my paper copy in the glove box wrong or that edition had a typo. I'll check it tomorrow. I think it was probably a typo because I remember thinking when I was doing it that it was odd that all three engine sizes took 5 quarts of oil. Thanks for the comments

 

[98v70dad]

So, I took a half quart out and its now right on the full line. I also checked the paper copy of the owners manual and it clearly says 5.0 quarts with a filter changes which is WRONG! As we say in PA that's bull$hit.

 

[Shran]

Just leave it. Half a quart is not going to hurt anything.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

So, I took a half quart out and its now right on the full line. I also checked the paper copy of the owners manual and it clearly says 5.0 quarts with a filter changes which is WRONG! As we say in PA that's bull$hit.

You might hit the JY and grab a different dipstick out of a similar truck to compare and make sure your truck has the correct one.

I had a coworker once that bought a used truck, the PO had the wrong dipstick in it. It was off by a magnitude of quarts.

The book shouldn't be wrong, you are not the first guy in 23 years to consult the book for fluid capacities.

 

[Ranger850]

so anything between 4.5 and 5.0 quarts should do the job. In my old 83, I put 4.5 in and kept the half quart under the hood. ( just in case I had to add a little later )