It is common knowledge that the 3.0 Vulcan V6 is as tough as nails (and gutless), but I'd like to estimate how much longer my truck will last to see whether it is worth putting anymore money into it.

I currently have approximately 145,000 miles on my 2003 Ranger engine and 5-speed manual transmission. Use full synthetic pennzoil fluids and change my oil every 5,000 miles.

How many miles do you have on your Vulcan V6 and what is your oil of choice and change interval?

Many thanks.

 

I have an 2004 3.0 auto 2wd and i have roughly 95,000 miles on mine. I use royal purple or one of those high dollar fully syn oils and change it every 3000-5000 miles. No issues so far

 

I have 118k on mine. I use midrange price oil and filter (Right now I think I have Havoline 5w30 with a Purelator filter) and change it at 4000 miles.

 

Just went over 200k, I use Ford's semi syn oil and Motorcraft filter.

Hang on!!!! Truck has 200k, motor has 100k on it. Had to rebuild her after a Cam Sync problem...

Sorry about that..

 

My wife has a Ranger with a 3.0. Regular oil changes since she has owned it, water pump, shocks, just the normal stuff. 218,000 and still runs strong. If the rest of it was in as good of shape, LOL

 

60K Miles
Mobile 1, every 6k with a new filter at 3k.
Haven't gone to synth gear oil or tranny fluid YET !

Runs well enough.

 

226k on a 99 with only regular oil and filter every 5-6k.

 

170k with valvoline high milage syn blend. fram tg filter. just about every bolt on for the 3.0 minus an underdrive pully. i also swapped to the radiator out of a 98 explorer 5.0 with a 160 thermostat, so that takes the stress off the cooling system.

 

I have a 2005 Edge with 129,000 and she just died on the highway yesterday. Thank god I had my Buell XB12 in the back. I pulled off the side of Interstate 81 and unloaded the bike and abandoned the Ranger. Got AAA to pick it up 5 hours later. The crankshaft won't budge. It made no noises, smoke, steam of any indication she was on the down hill part of life. She was immaculate, just rebuilt the front end. Now she's resting til I can get off work next week and look at her.

 

Ouch. Sounds like quite a way to go.

 

I've got 169,000 miles on my 3.0l I just replaced my clutch at 160,000 and as for the oil I use motorcraft 10w 30 and change it about twice a year every 6 months or as needed. Which reminds me I need to change it lol

 

I just bought this Ranger last Thursday. It has 185000 miles on it but everything works and it drives good. Just changed oil and installed new spark plugs, starts and runs great.

 

I'm around 86,000 and change right now. I use whatever full synthetic is on sale at the time. Currently it's got Mobil 1 in it.

 

how far have y'all with 99's got on your stock head gaskets and rear main seals? i have 170k on mine. due soon?

 

192k hard miles on orig gaskets running mobil 1 full synthetic high mileage, changed every 5000 miles religiously

 

update to my post. I used mobil 1 religiously. camshaft position syncronizer went south. gear rounded off causing no oil pressure, had about a cup of metal flakes in the oil pan. main bearings looked good. rod bearings are a disaster. still debating on crate motor or rebuild the one in her.

 

a further update. I finished rebuilding the old girl. new crankshaft, main & rod bearings, oil pump, water pump timing chain set, camshaft synchronizer and gaskets all under 600.00. runs smooth and hopefully I get another 129,000 out of her. best prices for a new crankshaft (126.00) came from ford parts discount outlet .com

 

uh1mtp, Glad to hear you got her back on the road. Fortunately I changed out my camshaft position sensor a while back before it completely failed. I was lucky to have identified the problem thanks to the help of online forums.

An update on my truck: 148,000 miles and still going strong. Mileage has been better, but I'm not sure that the decrease can be contributed to the motor.

 

At about 152,500 miles my engine is still going strong, but has started leaking a little bit of oil onto my drive way. Was looking into changing out the rear main seal and oil pan gasket, but am not willing to pull the engine to do it. Instead I am going to try using some Liqui Moly Motor Oil Saver in my next oil change to try and bring back my seals.
Other than a few small leaks I have no complaints and I truly believe that I can get 250,000+ miles out of it. Also from the posts it doesn't seem as though this engine is too picky on the type of oil as long as it is changed regularly enough. Personally I think that I may switch from Pennzoil Platinum to the Conventional High-Mileage once my supply runs out.

 

186k miles, uses about 1/2 qt of oil every 5k miles. Use Motorcraft synthetic blend and wix oil filters, 5k mile intervals. Replaced cam sync at 170k, the gear was paper thin on 6 teeth--it was about ready to go. Expect to get 250-300k out of it.

 

98 3.0 stick 4x4 all stock... 197,000 still runs strong every thing works fine. not a dent or a scratch on it

 

1999 ford ranger 3.0 105000 when i got the truck back in june she had 95000 miles on her

 

update: 181,250 with a motor still running strong. swapped over to 5w20 motorcraft with a motorcraft filter. gonna use 5w30 in the summer.

 

2001 Edge 4x2 3.0L w/ approx. 293,000 km's (182060 miles) still going strong.

Engine is all stock.

 

You b@$tard you. How'd you pull that off.

2003, 138,000. Runs well. Using synthetic blend.

Replaced the heater core around 125k (pain in but with 2 screws left over). Recommend changing the dash lights at same time because a couple burned out shortly afterwards. Had the brakes done, the serpentine belt & clutch replaced around 130k. It shifted once or twice with difficulty & I thought, "I better have that looked at." 5 miles later it busted & I felt like I was riding a bull. The belt squeal or chirp has returned. Just replaced the cam synchronizer the other day, can't get my dang socket off the end of the crank shaft. It was also chirping but couldn't easily hear it because of the belt. Discovered this by luck. Still trying to quiet that belt.