Howdy all!

This is my ranger. I named him "Old Henry" He has been with me through thick and thin the last 10 years. He always got the job done and never broke down when I didnt have any money. It is the first and only car I have really worked on. I have replaced almost everything but the engine and transmission. I love this little truck and need advice on putting a new engine in it. I bought it off an old farmer back in 2015. He was the original owner and it only had 60k miles and a great maintenance log. Vehicle now has 175k miles. no major accidents just cosmetic damage from a guy that hit me in stop and go traffic going about 5mph.

It has been burning oil terribly for a year now. I have had to add about a quart every 1000-1500 miles. It appears my oil light failed me this time. it flickered on and off a few times this week when I went up or down hills and I was planning on doing an oil change this weekend. I woke up saturday and drove to town to get some parts and finish a small job for a client and the oil light and the check engine light come on at the same time right as the whole car started stuttering and making terrible clunking noises. I slammed in the clutch and shut it off while it was still moving and coasted it to a shoulder trying to stop as much damage as possible. I popped the hood and popped the oil cap and smoke was coming out. slight burning smell from engine. checked the oil dip stick it was bone dry not even a drop on the end of the stick.

I towed it back to my place and added 3 quarts of oil to try and stop things from siezing or fuzing as it cooled down. then hopped in the other car and to get some work done for 3-4 hours. Came back drained the oil and ran a magnet through it and got no metal shavings. I then ran the oil through some cheese cloth to see what non magnetic metals I could filter out. There are tons of small brass looking glitter size pieces of metal in the bottom of the oil pan and on the cheese cloth. It definitely took a beating but no big chunks anywhere.

I changed the oil filter and there was that brass glitter in there too. I found one shaving about 1mm wide and 2.5mm long super thin. only shaving I found. Tomorrow I plan to remove the spark plugs to release pressure and manually turn the crank shaft with the vehicle off to see how rough it feels.

Any Advice? I'd like to put a new engine in it since I have replaced everything else on here but the transmission. Recommendations on brands, mechanics in my area, anything at all would be awesome.


me and henry