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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / May 200697 Ranger 2.3L - 4 CYL - 5 speed
I just bought a 97 Ranger to use for my commute to work to save some milage on my newer car (I have an 03 Taurus with 83000 miles). This is the second car I've gotten for the purpose, the last being a 90 mustang. I drive about 35000 a year. I got a very good deal on the price for this truck, $2995, with the extended cab, 145000 miles. The first night I had it, the tensioning pully for the serpentine belt let go, and I had to have it towed back to where I bought it. They fixed it first thing in the morning, with no charge. This past Saturday morning, it started making a pinging noise, so I drove it back down to the garage. It's about 8 miles from my house and the problem got really bad, real fast. I had to shut it off and coast down the hills most of the way, and by the time I got there, I had barely enough power to pull into the lot. After a full day of tearing it apart, they discovered the problem to be a warped head. It is currently at the machine shop awaiting diagnosis. They are also going to fix this problem at no cost to me, even though I technically have a 30 day 50/50 warranty. They're going to repair the truck, even if it means replacing the engine! I have no complains about the truck breaking down, as long as the garage is going to stand behind what they sold me, they are certainly more than holding up their part of the deal. My question is that I have noticed that the selecter switch for the heater is not working. No matter what position I put it in, the heat only comes out of the defroster, I get no vents, or floor. Since they are doing all this work for me, I don't want to bother them with something I can fix easily on my own. When the switch is off, the fan stops, it just won't blow from anything other than the defroster. I have done a couple of other little things with the truck already, like changing the dash lights... If this is something more complex, then I will ask them to fix it. I used to have an identical 95 ranger, and had very good luck with that one as well! Thank you for any advice! -Mike >I just bought a 97 Ranger to use for my commute to work to save some > milage on my newer car (I have an 03 Taurus with 83000 miles). This is [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > -Mike The default position for the ventilation system is defrost. Most likely, there's insufficient vacuum to move the vacuum motors on the dampers. Have them find the broken vacuum line and fix it. Sounds like you've bought a lot of problems. I have an identical truck that I bought from a private party a year ago with 97k miles, XLT trim, A/C, and fiberglass cap for $2700.00. Mine has been great, thankfully. The thing that bothers me about your truck is that warped head. I'd think it would take a lot of heat for that to happen, and I wonder how the engine is otherwise. CJB Thank you for your response, I will have them take a look at the vaccum lines. I actually just came from the garage on my way home from work today, and they told me that the machinist said that they could fix it, but there is a crack, and it would only be a matter of time before it starts burning oil. They are going to put a whole new engine in it this week, I was told it would be in on Thursday, and the truck will be ready by next week. I was hoping to have it for the holiday weekend, but I guess, I won't At least they aren't charging me anything. If they were going to charge me, I would probably tell them to keep the truck. Even the garage owner said that there is no way I could have done that much damage to it in a week. It must have been done by the previous owner, and any warning noises it might have made were probably just ignored as the usual truck noises. I don't know if it will actually be a NEW engine, but since I paid for a 9 year old one, I can't complain... I had a 95 ranger XLT before this one and never had a problem. My father has a 96 regular cab, stripped down version (I think they called it the work series, not even power steering) with over 250k on it and has also had very little trouble. I just ended up with the dud, at least they are making good on it! > Thank you for your response, > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > over 250k on it and has also had very little trouble. I just ended up > with the dud, at least they are making good on it! Yeah. The 2.3's are known to be very dependable engines, and will take a lot. That's why I was so concerned when you said the head is warped. I'm not surprised by the cracked block either. Someone got that engine really hot at some point. You should take a very close look at the radiator. It may be partially clogged or gunked up. Perhaps you could ask them to have it flushed at a radiator shop so you don't overheat the new engine. CJB Checking the radiator is a good idea... I think I will get that done. The owner of the garage didn't seem too surprised that it did not die right away. They only had it since March, and the weather has been unusually cold around here lately (I'm in CT), and as soon as they got it, they changed all the fluids, so conditions were ideal! Even through I drove it all week, it didn't start making a noise until Friday, after I drove it to Mystic and back, which is a 100 miles round trip, a long trip on the highway gave it a chance to loosen up. Now I know why the previous owner got rid of it! |
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