Head Gasket

[East Coast $]

As of 2 weeks ago i am/was the proud owner of a 2000 ford ranger 3.0 liter
V6. As most ranger owners who have done any research or has also done any type of mechanical work knows that the vulcan 3.0 liter V6 is notorious for blowin head gaskets.The ranger i own was owned by a pest control company when i bought it. Needless to say they bought a bunch of new trucks and were gettin rid of the old ones so these trucks had been sittin for about a month and a half and the only ext. cab left was the one i bought.The truck now has 224,951 miles on it and when it was purchased had a little less. When i first cranked it there was a slight miss but i just figured it was from where it had been sittin, but apparently there was already a slight problem with the gasket cause the company had just pt a new radiator and hoses, oil change, tune-up, and transmission fluid and filter then parked it till i bought it. The reason i say the gasket may have already had a slight problem is i checked all the fluids on the purchase date, about 4 days ago im driving down the highway and it starts to over heat before i even pull over the check engine light comes on and the truck shuts off which seemed weird cause it didnt even get that close to the redline. So when i get stopped i popped the hood and steam rolls out so im lookin everywhere for a leak or crack in the radiator and possibly a busted hose, even thought there new I assume I found no leak. So i filled the radiator up with water and get it cranked and its white smokin so i knew what it was right away. Im almost positive i was losing a little bit of water at a time in the cylinder that its leaking into and when it lost enough water to over heat it got worst so now its still running alright but i need some ideas guys should i get a gasket kit and change out all the gaskets or at this point should i just buy a low mileage motor and swap it and if im gonna do the gaskets i need some help with the timming cause ive never messed with nethng except a four cylinder until now and that was a nissan 240sx i can do the swap or the gasket makeover but do the 3.0 V6 motor internals last long or is it one of them things where i change out the gaskets and a rod bearing goes out or something worst. I just need some help frome some real ranger owners is the motor reliable enough to change out the gaskets If so could someone post a step by step on how to set the timing as ur doin it.

 

[Rearanger]

was owned by a pest control company when i bought it....The truck now has 224,951 miles on it and when it was purchased had a little less.... is the motor reliable enough to change out the gaskets

Tough question to answer without knowing what the wear level is on the motor. Did the pest company keep maintenance records? Have you done a compression test, vacuum test? No way to tell how the employees drove the truck.

If so could someone post a step by step on how to set the timing as ur doin it.

Electrical timing, mechanical timing, cam sensor timing? Have you checked electrical timing?

 

[stmitch]

3.0 internals typically last a very long time. Personally, I'd invest in the new gaskets, and a new cam synchro instead of trying you luck with a used engine tha'ts been through God knows what. If you're really concerned about the head gaskets, Flatout offers copper head gaskets in different thicknesses for our motors that should outlast the standard gaskets, and ensure that you don't have to go back through this again.
Also, since you're not familiar with the 3.0, if you take the heads off, make sure you do not reuse the head bolts. They are one time use only, so you'll need replacements.

 

[East Coast $]

head gasket

oh yea no doubt if i do it im gettin a full gasket kit new head studs new thermostat and a bunch of other new small things that need to be replaced due too high miles if i do it imma go all in and just spend some money on it the body is immaculate so its worth puttin money into it to me...

i was reffering to the mechanical timing for the motor i dont want to get everythin back together and it run shitty cause i didnt get the timing right im not familiar with the timing on a v6 for the past few years the only cars ive worked on was a nissan 240sx stock and with and sr20det so not real familiar with something that has 2 heads