The oil pan on my '99 Ranger has been disintergrating for about 2-years now. It has finally begun to leak oil. Who makes the better oil pans out there? I see two companies that supply to the big autoparts chains. There is Dorman and Spectra. Has anyone looked at one of these? Are they any good? What type of gasket is the most practical?

Also, should I do the oil pump while the pan is off? The truck has about 116k on it now and it's 12 years old.

Thanks!

Dave

 

Bump!

Oh, come on guys! I can't have the only 3.0 on the site that has had this trouble.

 

How much does the Ford dealer want for genuine FoMoCo?..........I would not scrimp and use red Chinese stuff (Dorman) except as a last resort.

 

Ford parts are not much better or it wouldn't have rusted out in the first place. My 98 ranger 3.0 is doing the same thing but its not leaking yet. I heard its a job to change the pan

 

In all fairness, the Ranger's pan was about 10 years old when it began to really get crusty and flake. If another Ford or Chinese pan gets installed and it leaks in 10-years, it won't be my problem.

I'm going to price all of them up and see where I am. Found a couple garages in town that will use the parts I supply or they'll buy them from Ford. They were quoting about a 5-6 hour job.

Found out most of the Vulcan motors will have this problem. Even the old Taurus/Sable line of cars have this happening all the time.

I'll keep you all posted!

 

I just replaced a sway bar for a 2000 Grand Prix about a week ago. The Dorman replacement said "made in USA" on it. It was a good deal heavier and better build than the stock bar.

 

I intend on doing the same job to my 98 3.0, when I replace the clutch. (I have 226,500 on it) It is my understanding that in order to get the oil pan off a 3.0 while leaving the engine in the truck, the transmission has to come out and the engine lifted a few inches. That allows the pan to be dropped and removed form the rear but in order for the pan to clear the oil pump sump, the pump has to be removed and allowed to drop into the pan. Installation is just reversed, put the pump in the new pan, put it up in place and then fish the pump out of the pan and bolt it in place. With the pump literally in my hands, I have no intentions on putting the old pump back in. A new pump and drive shaft is in the $120.00 range.

 

The best lubricated part of the engine, and you want to replace it? Why not check the pressure before throwing $120 into it? A mechanical gauge will tell you if the pump works or not. The only thing that happens to gear-type pumps is wear on the bottom plate that holds the gears in, and wear on the surface of the gears. If you have been semi-religious about oil changes, and haven't fed your engine a lot of dirt and sand, the pump will last the lifetime of the engine. I have 240K plus on a vulcan with no problems, and I was not a fanatic about changing the oil. It has ~6k intervals, and doesn't use oil very much yet, maybe a quart every 2k miles. The pan is not rusting out, BTW.
I have heard that the Ranger pan access has always been a problem, with the Lima or the Vulcan, both. The same process about dropping the pump into the pan and then sliding the pan up into place was common for the 390 V8. It is not real difficult, you just have to visualize where things are. There were only two bolts involved holding the pump in place, so it's not rocket surgery. Plus, the Vulcan only has one bolt.
I guess I'd better de-rust my 2.3 where the paint has started to come off before I need to replace it.
Added: When you replace the gasket, you want to have both the bottom of the block and the pan gasket surface as dry and clean as you can make them. The manual recommends .16-.23 bead of RTV in the corners where the rear main bearing cap contacts the block, and where the front cover meets the block. It also recommends using a torque wrench to tighten the pan bolts. There is a recommended tightening sequence also. They are serious about that.
The manual indicates that the flywheel or flexplate must be removed and the engine must be lifted 1.72 inches and blocks be put between the mounts and the bracket.
There's nothing about the oil pump needing to be dropped. Maybe the 1.72 inches clearance allows the pan to come out freely. They do direct the use of a three point lifting bracket to hold the engine from falling out if you only lifted at the front. To gain access to the flywheel the transmission must be removed. If I had a manual transmission, I'd be inspecting the clutch while the whole thing was disassembled.

tom

 

I have bought a lot of Dorman parts over the years, I think they are very good and very reasonably priced. I do not recall ever haveing an issue with any of them........I also do not always look and or notice where they say the parts are made..........I think they are pretty much lying about it anyways.

 

I recently had to replace cracked exhaust manifolds on the 350 Chevy in my class C motorhome, I replaced them with Dorman reproductions.........They clearly said "made in china" One of them cracked again shortly afterward.
I am certain Dorman has products brought in from all over the world, some good, some not so good, be watchful.

 

I agree with you , if I was buying a part like an exhaust manifold I would get the best one I could buy..........I have used Dorman hangers, shackles, coil pack, some front end parts, etc......