Gasket the engine vs rebuild

[olranger]

i have a 91 ranger 2.3, the oil pan seeps but that is it. the engine runs good, it has almost 160k on it and is my dd. i am a mechanic, with a morgage,car payment,and 2 kids, if i play my cards right i can practice making the 3rd one ok enough of that, the guys at work say i should pull the motor and put all new gaskets in it, and new oil pump. they say just to see what you got and then you know for sure what the motor is like on the inside. I say if you go through all of that why not rebuild it. But i do think it would be cheaper than rebuilding it. on the other hand i dont want to mess with something that is not broke, then just to have nothing but problems cause i messed with the thing. So i want to here your opinions. if i had the money i am going to put a sbc in it.

 

[scotts90ranger]

if it's just a little leak, go around the engine and tighten the oil pan bolts, front cover bolts and valve cover bolts, those are the most likely suspects and just tightening works most of the time

 

[Bryan22]

+1 If you can get by a while longer without pulling the motor, it's worth a shot.i'd say if you're gonna pull the motor you might as well do a rebuild. these motors go for a long time, but at 160k it's worth peice of mind if you're gonna have the motor out anyways.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

At 160K I wouldn't spend the money on a rebuild...

 

[Earl43P]

Throw a pan gasket at it, clean the oil pump pickup while the pan is off and run it another 160k. Frankly, if it wasn't making a spot on my concrete driveway, I wouldn't even do THAT much. If it ain't broke, don't fix it....