Bought 1999 ford ranger . How do I tell 3ol from 4ol engine ?

[264killer]

No stickers any where

 

[MacFromOK]

3.0 starter is on the passenger side.
4.0 starter is on the driver side.

https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/threads/3-0-vs-4-0-bolt-pattern.127919/


EDIT: well... maybe not. Reading further down, there's a disagreement.
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[Okie4570]

The eighth digit/letter in the vin will be an X for the 4.0l

 

[SoonerP226]

Here's a link to Ford's VIN decoder for 2001, which was the closest I could find to a '99. It should be close enough, I think.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/dam/aem_fleet/en_us/fleet/vin-guides/VIN2001.pdf

 

[Slim Deal]

One has 3 sparkplugs and the other has 4 sparkplugs.

 

[MacFromOK]

@264killer... did you figure it out which one it is yet?

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[joegrizzy]

auto or manual?

iirc mazda made those motors for ford, and the manual 5 spd. both were used in the "sport" version of the 5 speed, two door explorer. part of the reason they are so great; it was the evolution of the motors and trannies from the mazda b series trucks. ford also used mazda engines for the v6 taurus and probe gt's of that generation i think.

 

[264killer]

I called Diffee Ford with vin # . Parts dept. said 3OL.

 

[Shinneryfarmer]

Could have just popped the hood to see if there were 3 or 4 hamster's.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Actually the 4 L v-6 wasn't very common. The 3 v-6 L was the most common engine. I had a 99 explorer which had 3 engine options. A 4 l ohv v6, a 4 litera sohc v6 and a 5 liter v8. Mine had the 4.0 liter sohc. When I had to get parts many aftermarket providers like pep boys or auto zone were difficult to get parts at, the boxes quite frequently were mismarked. The ranger was similar, but had different options, the 2.3 liter i4, the 3.0 liter v6 and 4.0 liter overhead valve v6. I believe the 4 liter was a 90 degree v6, while the 3 liter was a 60 degree v6, making it more narrow. As suggested, the Vin number is the best way, assuming no one has swapped out the motor. Had a ranger, it had the 4 cylinder, not a bad vehicle and solidly built, got great gas mileage. I may be wrong, but I do not think you could get a manual transmission with the 4 liter v6.