04 Ranger, any input before i buy it??

I've been around my fair share of rangers. Had a Mazda b4000 before my taco.

If you're looking for mpg the ranger isn't your best choice. Ive heard the 3.0 is kinda gutless and not that reliable comparative to 4 cylinders or the 4.0. Im not trying to imply its going to break immediately. I just remember while shopping for rangers locally that most of the 3.0 trucks I came across always had wayyy lower miles than the 4 cyl.

I do miss this truck someday. I hated the ford parts department though.

 

I still have a 2008 2wd auto. 3.0. 100,000miles. It was slow and thirsty. It's been moved out to the cabin for mostly yard work and garbage runs. The engine has given me absolutely no issues but the frame and bed are absolutely rusted out. Barely) probably not actually) road legal and not worth fixing. It did live most of it's life in salty Atlantic Canada on the ocean but the mileage doesn't reflect how bad the frame is.

I bought it for $3000cdn four years ago. The price at the one you're looking at is silly.

I still love that little bare-bones truck though but at this point it's only worth the price of scrap steel to anyone but me.

Other than the 6' bed vs the 5' on my Tacoma there was really no benefit of the Ranger over the Tacoma other than I can run it into trees in the back 40 and not worry about it.

 

This might be a better deal? https://panamacity.craigslist.org/cto/d/panama-city-2000-ford-ranger/7529757908.html

 

Bold statement on a Tacoma forum.

As for the Ranger, sounds way overpriced for what it is. Maybe if it was half the price, no way that thing is a $6k truck.

 

I had a 93 with the 3.0, lifted with a 5.5 superlift and 32" MTR's. Looked great, never broke down, and got better MPG than my Taco. Drove it til 07 and traded up to F150. Had 181000 when I sold to a dude at my shop and when I left in 15 he was still cruising it. Had 289000 at that time.

 

ok, thank you for the real input from real experience. your statement actually holds value

 

a little ramger is almost 1klbs lighter than my Tacoma.

what are you talking about?

 

Neighbor has a 2001 Edge 3.0 auto under 100k. Lives a pampered life, but he spends hundreds every couple of years on fuel system issues. Sometimes squirrel related, sometimes aging parts related.

For a beater can you do without a truck? Most people can. You'll have much better MPG results with any plebian econobox sedan.

 

On average I get about the same gas milage out of my DCLB v6 frontier as my 2000 reg cab taco. The nissan is ~1200 pounds heavier. Weight isn't everything.

 

thank you

since you are a tech, can you explain what the problem(s) are with old rangers?

what years/etc had what problems?

the one i was looking at was sold immediately (it was at a stealership) I'm looking for a daily driver 10mi trip ranger (or s10) 2wd preferably manual and single cab

Tacomas are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY OVERPRICED nowadays. the fkin fan boys have done this. i love my taco and probably will never get rid of it, but THEY DEFINITELY ARE NOT WORTH the price anymore.

what year(s) ranger had bad issues?

thanks again

 

no, i definitely need a truck.
i have a beat up old carolla, but putting tools, materials etc in it just doesn't work.

 

a tiny frontier is also an option for me, but for some reason, there just aren't very many in my area, unless they are hiding from me.

 

I also have a 88 nissan basic 2wd along with my 98 Ranger. It's got 300k and still keeps going. Cheaply made truck, except for drivetrain which runs great. It's my daily. Lol

 

I had 99 B2500. Base single cab 5spd manual. It was my first vehicle, I drove it for 9 years with no issues with basic maintenance that I could afford in my teens and early 20’s. Gave it to my dad as a ranch truck, he had it 8 years. He sold it to a neighbor and still sees it driving around.

I think ford owned Mazda at the time and shared a lot of the same parts.

It was a great little truck for me.

 

I think ford owned around 30% of Mazda at the time.

My memory is foggy. But im fairly sure aside from exterior fascias and the airbag on the steering wheel they're exact copies of each other. My Mazda dealer just sent me to ford for all parts

 

I had an 05 3.0 5MT XLT Extended Cab. I loved the truck other than it being 2WD with practically no traction out back. It was worse than a Honda Civic on construction job sites. I liked the truck though, I took it from 154k to 207k miles.

I did have to do a few repairs:
- New PCM due to a bad coil driver circuit (known problem 04-06 - causes horrible misfiring and can’t accelerate hardly at all in any gear)
-inertia valve corroded and started causing shutoffs due to cutting fuel pump power - highly recommend replacing that one prematurely and repair the wiring if there is any melting showing.
-good old cam synchronizer replacement - used Motorcraft. I firmly believe thicker 5W-30 oil would have fixed that issue from ever happening
-good ole 3.0 timing cover coolant leak. Started having coolant level drain super quick. Found the leak squeezing out of the timing cover to block. Not a fun repair but I got it done. Don’t mess up the oil pan gasket to timing cover junction or else you’ll be in for a world of hurt needing an oil pan gasket. Can’t take the pan off without lifting the engine up like a foot due to a crossmember under the oil pan.
-Did brakes and upper control arms (to replace ball joints) and replaced lower ball Joints in the stock lower arms.
-replaced the fuel pump, the stock one’s anti drain back valve failed and would let the fuel go back to the tank. Would start rough unless I primed the engine with cranking the key to run a few times.
-failed radiator at 180k, simply replaced and refilled coolant
-new belt once a year. My AC compressor would chirp the belt at every compressor cycle, and it wore them out fast. New compressor was probably the correct fix but I never got to it. Once it got cold humid out, it would squeal so I got another belt to last the next year.

I think that’s it. I did have a failed wheel cylinder also, so I rebuilt one drum. The other one was fine so I left it alone. I hate messing with drums if I can avoid it.

good luck! I’d love to get another ranger, but at this point my search is way narrowed down. I only want a 2010-2011 4.0 5MT 4x4 Extended Cab with the rear disc brakes.

 

I owned 2 early 2000s ranger the first one was a 4.0 "edge" didn't have any issues I cam remember but I had it only a short time. The 2nd one was a 3.0 with the bulletproof cockroach motor. The transmission took a shit at 40k miles and it got horrible gas mileage and was slow. They were handsome trucks but the truck I got after was a first gen tacoma and literally night and day difference

 

I'd sell em all and just buy a minivan.

 

Strange that a site called “Tacoma world” turned into a Tacoma fan boy site. Who would have thought.

 

I had a 2001 extended cab RWD Edge model (suspension) w/3.0 & 5 speed.

It was a used reliable hauler from Cape Cod area but rust issues from salt air. The rear end of frame started to eventually collapse from NY "salt life"...

Did the usual 100k motor maintenance due to long hours of operation in idling... But the serious problem was the slave cylinder (inside the housing) & didn't have enough downtime to replace it, so did the usual flush & bleed instead. Another thing I did was to do coolant flushes once a year.

Would buy again but a colonge motor 2.8 ~ 2.9 or 4 cylinder, we'll see.