1990 Blowing Blue smoke losing power

[campmaley]

I have a 1990 Ranger. It started out using a little oil about 6mths ago, no problem i just kept adding more. Now it is to the point of using a quart every 2 weeks, and I only drive 5 blks to work. It loses power going up hill so much I have to down shift. It vibrates something fierce at idle. I can hardly hold on to the shifter. recently I was sitting at a stop light and all the sudden it started shaking worse and died, it took me a few minutes to get it started. After I pumped the accelerator pedal. Anybody have any ideas what's going on?

[Creepyjon]

Oh boy, start looking for a motor. They are dime to a dozen for a ranger, I doubt it's anything else but ya never know for sure till you really get under the hood and check it out.

[campmaley]

I thought that was going to be the answer. Well in that case how hard is it to put a 6 cyl in instead of the 4 cyl? Thanks for helping, I think!

[TheRangerOfDanger]

you don't necessarily have to get a new engine--that is if you have the time or money to get your engine rebuilt, but you may not want to do that if you're tired of it. if you want to get a v6 in there, you can go to a junk yard or online to get the motor mounts, and i think you may just need to get a bracket to hook the tranny up to the new engine. the actual engine itself shouldn't be more that $1100 or so (for rebuilt), and if you catch a good deal you may find one for under a grand.