I'm selling my 95 F250 5.8L with plow, and down sizing. I'm going to look at a 2001 Sport Trac. My question is, With it being 4wd auto, has the 4.0 V6 with 171K on the clock, How much estimated time does the engine have left before it pukes? The guy said it needs a Passenger wheel bearing and said the CAT is rattling. He's asking $1800 for it. Are they any good on gas or are they a pig? Also I would need to occasionally pull a 6x12 dbl axle enclosed trailer. Would it be strong enough?

Thanks for any info.

 

If you want a project, buy that thing.

4.0 SOHC motors of that year have weak timing chain tensioners. Fixing the passenger side requires pulling the engine. That said, many of these go well over 200k.

They have sensitive transmissions that like the fluid changed every 30k or so, and then they still act up. But some go over 200k.

Price out the bearing.

As for the cat, this is an OBDII vehicle, so even if you don't have emissions testing and can cut the cat off, you will need to supply the computer with proper post-cat readings....it can be done but another pita.

Gas--I used to get 15.5 out of my '98 4 door. 16.3 if you took it easy, less if you didn't. Most people feel the V8 gets almost the same with the added bonus of not having the timing chain issues and the extra power.

$1800.....IF you can tolerate the fix-its it already has and can afford $3k for a transmission...go ahead.

ymmv

 

Having known too many people with the dreaded timing chain issues, I'd run like hell...........in the opposite direction.

 

Hey thanks for the info, I was kind of wondering why the seller was willing to go down even lower on the price. I think I'll look to stay in the F150 area, I'd even go for a little Ranger if I could find one with an I6.

 

No I 6 in Rangers. The 4.0 ohv motor is in a lot of them. Reliable but not a power house and gas mileage is so so.

 

When did they stop doing that? In 95 I bought an 87 Ranger 4x4 5 spd with an I6. It was a great little truck and had more than enough torque and speed to do just about anything I needed, Wish I wouldn't have traded it in, but family was expanding and needed to do the mini-van thing for a few years.

 

I don't know what you bought in '87, but the Ranger--the small truck, not the F100 Ranger of yesteryear, NEVER came with an in-line 6. They had 4 cylinder in-lines, and the 2.8, 2.9, 3.0 and 4.0 V6s.

 

Never really thought about it. It was a good running truck, never had any issues with it. I wonder if it could have been special ordered that way or if someone blew the original motor and did a swap?

I might have some paperwork on it still in my filing cabinet. Maybe if I find a VIN number I can get more info.

 

No chance of a special order. The smaller sixes were out of production and the larger ones won't fit without destructive modifications. Plus, powertrains need to be emissions certified and that just wouldn't happen in this case.

If it was a transplant, it must have been an pretty good job. The stock 2.9 put out more HP than the older sixes, so despite it's shortcomings, changing out to an older motor would be a bit of a head scratcher imo.....