Just bought my first ranger and am in love with it after a month of driving! It's a 98 standard 3.0 v6. It's in amazing shape! Also loving the stepside. Couple of problems have came up- after purchasing, found out that someone I'm the past had put oil in the brake fluid. Yikes! Is it true I have to replace all the rubber? Secondly, have a small rear main bearing oil seal leak. Any quick fixes or is the only option the high labour bill at the shop?
Thanks!

 

Congrats, although I'm not sure I can be much of a help on either of those issues. If it has synthetic oil currently, maybe switching to dino oil could help short term? Never had to replace a rear main seal myself.

Also, you got any pictures of the truck?

 

Are the brakes showing any signs of leaking? If not, simply bleed them (this should be done anyways every couple of years). A local shop can do this for you, and it should be less than one hours labor plus a half bottle of brake fluid if you're not equipped with a decent brake bleeder tool.

As to the engine rear seal, my newly purchased Ranger had a rear main seal leaking. The truck had 213K on it when I bought it; it now has 215K. I did an oil change,as the dealer had put in 5w-20 motorcraft; great oil, but I felt it was too thin for the mileage this engine had, and switched to valvoline high mileage oil; it has additives that help soften engine seals. The rear seal rubber will get hard over the years, and this can be one reason for it to leak. I also added one quart of Bars leak rear main seal conditioner. This stuff works!

I posted about it a few months ago. Some folks are not fans of the so called "miracle fix" stuff, but this is simply an oil; no pellets or melting goo. it helps to softens the seals. Within about 100 miles, the seal stopped leaking. I plan to continue using it on every oil change. A 6 dollar expense verses removing the driveshaft, transmission, transfer case (I have a 4x4), torque converter, and flex plate just to replace a 5 dollar seal is just not something I care to do right now.