Just bought 99 v6 3.0 4x4...help w/fluids, no book

[RumpRanger98]

I just bought a 99 v6 3.0 4x4 5spd. Ill get some pics up when I get them for you guys...So I was wondering what oil do you guys reccomend? I was thinking 5w30 in winter and 10w30 in summer, castrol synthetic high mileage or something of the sort. How many quarts does it usually take? Also the oil filter? what brand you guys reccomend? I like wix, had no problems with them. I hear you guys use motorcraft stuff alot. do rangers go specific for stuff like this? This is my first truck/4x4/ford

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

if the oil filler cap say "oil" on it, your truck uses 5-30. if it says "5w-20" on it, it uses 5-20. brand is at your discretion.

wix filters are fine. motorcraft are good as well. stay away from poor quality filter brands such as fram.

welcome to the forums

 

[RumpRanger98]

if the oil filler cap say "oil" on it, your truck uses 5-30. if it says "5w-20" on it, it uses 5-20. brand is at your discretion.

wix filters are fine. motorcraft are good as well. stay away from poor quality filter brands such as fram.

welcome to the forums

thank you, im from WA as well, Tacoma,... synthetic or regular oil? im guessing it doesnt matter, just longer intervals with the synthetic? some motors do better with certain oil, some it dont matter, just curious.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i run conventional oil in my engine. i prefer to leave the synthetics to the gear boxes/axles.

 

[betomonroy]

I use regular oil but some times I use Motorcraft synthetic blend. No particular reason but when is on sale at our local Autozoo.
Oil filter I most use Motorcraft. Stay AWAY fro FRAM oil filters.
Synthetics in gear boxes / transmissions too.
Make sure you change the fuel filter as often as you feel prudent. It will help to keep your fuel pump alive longer. But for this I will take Wicked's advice as for how often. After all you don't want to overspend yourself changing fuel filters (specialy if you don't do it yourself).

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Ford recommends a fuel filter every 20000kms/12500 miles

 

[RumpRanger98]

Ford recommends a fuel filter every 20000kms/12500 miles

crazy, most cars let it go longer than that right?

 

[rurouni20xx]

not really if you look in the books they say around 10-15k miles. your engine holds 4.5 qts just to let you know since nobody else posted it yet. my 93 does, the tech page here in the tech section says 5 qts, they may have updated and your pan or something maybe a lil deeper. personally i forget on occasion to pull up b4 i dump the whole 5 qt bottle in sometimes and she gets 5..hasnt hurt the motor in any way. how many miles you got on your trk? the high mileage oil isnt any better than regular oil, ive run castrol gtx for yrs w/ no problems. my oil pump died at 280k, but a lot of 3.0s have lasted longer than 300k. currently in the process of rebuilding, slow to get money in these times...plus trying to fix my new ranger for a dd. looks like your an import tuner, i have done some of this as well, if your thinking of modding the ranger for more power the only real suggestions i have to help you out are 1.7 roller rockers and underdrive pulleys besides boosting. the cold air intake and exhaust only help if the whole engine in ported or your boosting, then again if you want a good exhaust note i say go for it. a lot of ppl on here have run flowmaster and magnaflow duals singles etc, check the exhaust forum if your interested in opinions. hope this helps you buddy and welcome to trs!

 

[rangertoy]

my 3.0 holds right at five quarts I use castrol sytec 10w40 its a little warmer here in the south my motor has right at 250,000 miles on it and still runnig strong

 

[RumpRanger98]

172,600 miles, going to clean it now

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

earlier 3.0's hold 4.5 quarts. newer ones hold 5. i dont remember what year the switch was (i thought it was over '00, but rangertoy says his '99 holds 5...so it must have been earlier than i remember).

my '93 takes 4.5 (plus oil cooler and lines), but i have always put 5 quarts in. no engine is going to make a fuss over 1/2 quart one way or the other.

fuel filter is at your descretion. it varies too much by location to put a solid mileage number on it (though ford is obligated to try). when i was living in alaska, the one fuel station we had in town had underground tanks that leaked. there was constantly water and sedement in the fuel. i changed my fuel filter every oil change. now that im in the lower 48 and live in an area with a little higher quality fuel, i change it about every 15k. my general rule of thumb is to blow backwards through the old filter. if you get a lot of brown/black fuel, you should change it more often.

 

[RumpRanger98]

Ok so since Ive been able to climb under and check every out thoroughly. I notice there is a very slight oil leak. It seems like maybe they didn't put the oil filter on tight maybe and when the truck is running, the pressure causes some seapage and it runs down to the bottom of where the engine/tranny meet? Monday ill investigate further

Also I noticed Im not sure what its called but Im guessing it has something to do with the steering. Ill take a picture tomorrow. But if your laying on the ground facing the front of the truck. there is abig metal thing with a small steel tube bolted to it. and on mine, the bolt is tight, i didnt try to pry it very hard, but hard enough, barely moved.

I would like to wash the engine bay somehow, but have never done so. how safe is this to do, and what reccomended method do you guys suggest? I want to clean it up so I can find any leaks are anything of the such, plus its nice to have it clean under the hood

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

your oil leak could be caused by whoever did the last oil change not cleaning up the mess afterwards. it could also be a loose filter (try tightening it), oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, or external head gasket leak.

a picture would help, but it does sound like your refering to the power steering rack. if its the pressure fitting thats leaking, you could try sealing it up with teflon tape.

most of the electrical connections under the hood are already very well sealed. i would cover the alternator, PCM (if its under the hood on that year truck), and coil packs. other then that, just try not to direct your spray at any electrical connections (its fine if they get wet, you just dont want to hit them directly with pressure). use a good heavy duty grease remover and flexible brush for heavy deposites.

 

[RumpRanger98]

your oil leak could be caused by whoever did the last oil change not cleaning up the mess afterwards. it could also be a loose filter (try tightening it), oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, or external head gasket leak.

a picture would help, but it does sound like your refering to the power steering rack. if its the pressure fitting thats leaking, you could try sealing it up with teflon tape.

most of the electrical connections under the hood are already very well sealed. i would cover the alternator, PCM (if its under the hood on that year truck), and coil packs. other then that, just try not to direct your spray at any electrical connections (its fine if they get wet, you just dont want to hit them directly with pressure). use a good heavy duty grease remover and flexible brush for heavy deposites.

hopefully its not raininy here in WA on monday so I can clean the engine bay. Going to change the oil and filter as well. It drips like 2 drops once I park it. only after driving.

Oh ya, they used the fram filter

So im assuming, with car off, I can remove that bolt that holds the metal tube into the steering rack, wrap some teflon tape, and re tighten? There is no washer/gasket like on the oil/ tranny drain bolts?



Thanks

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

if it is indeed the steering rack pressure fitting your talking about, then no there is no gasket. its a flared fitting (like brake lines). with the truck off, you can remove the line. fluid will run out, so have a drain pan ready and be fast so you dont waste all your power steering fluid. top the system off after your all done (it takes dextron III automatic transmission fluid).