Ford Ranger question - not Valk related

[godfire]

My son blew a head gasket of his 2001 Ford Ranger.
It has a 3.0-liter V6, a couple of people had said that the heads are aluminum and are probably shot.
Anyone have any experience with a beast like this?

[Tinman]

Well no experience with those but how many miles and does it use any oil between changes?
I will say that if it is high mileage that it would be almost as cheap to get a used low mileage and just swap.
I'm looking at doing something similar to my 97 tbird that has 213k on it.
Scared that the timing chain could go at anytime now and then it would get real expensive!
Kind of attatched to the old bird. The car not my wife...

[Dragon-6]

I have had a couple of the 3.0 V-6 engines and they served me well.  If the engine wasn't over heated for a long time you probably don't have an issue of warping.  The best thing to do is pull the head and take it to a machine shop and have them put a straight edge on it.  They can be milled if not badly warped and minor cracks if any can be repaired.  Might try this site for more info.  No, I do not endorse the sight, just one I know of.  Good luck.  BTW, where is the truck located?

http://www.justanswer.com/car/ford?r=ppc|ga|1|Cars|Ford&JCRN=Ford+Mechanics&JPKW=ford%20f150&JPDC=C&JPST=www.ford-trucks.com&JPAD=2018614953&JPAF=txt&JPCD=20090311-2&JPRC=1&JPOP=HL&gclid=CJGZubObx5sCFQIxxgodkDP8CQ

[godfire]

The truck has almost 145k miles, uses about 1/2 a quart of oil ever 5K. Was running great.

The radiator cracked and he kept putting off getting it fixed.

It is at my place in Sachse, TX (DFW area) Head gasket kit is $200 and heads are pretty high.
I found a used motor with 80K for $850.

I am really thinking about taking Dragon-6's advise and pulling heads and then go from there.

One thing that is nice, looks like there is pleny of room around the motor to work.

Thanks Tinman and Dragon for the input.

[NCGhostrider]

They are good engines, I would pull the heads and have them checked.  Sometimes its better to go with what you got, than what you don't know, even if it is a low mileage replacement.  A buddy of mine just went through this with his inlaws Ranger in NC.  It went back together and is running fine.  

See ya,

NCGhostrider
99 I/S
Gave the ranger to his daughter...

[B]

If it's high mileage & you decide to throw in the towel ...

check out "Accurate Engine(s)."  Up here they're about $2300 (installed) for a total rebuild / replacement ... that comes with a 100K warranty.