Older Ford Rangers

[Hory]

My parents are looking for a vehicle for my younger brother (15) that will be fairly reliable, easy on insurance and gas, yet can haul a few things around the house and cabin. They came across 2 ford rangers. One is a 97, with the 3.0L V6, with under 60k miles. The other, is a 98 with the 2.5L and also around 60k miles. Both of these trucks are 2wd, which wouldn't be a major issue. I am wondering how reliable these 2 particular engines would be at this age and mileage. Both trucks seemed to have no rust and be in near mint condition. Would either of these vehicles be a complete "money hole?"

[Scott K]

The 3.0 is a very reliable engine, and you should get lower 20's with it, that would be my recommendation.

[ghostranger]

I had a 2wd Ranger with the 2.5L in it. I bought it new and sold it with 160,000 miles and never had any issues! It was nice to be able to haul stuff and yet get good mileage.

[fishing tech]

3.0L is pretty bullet proof. I have had 3 vehicles with that engine all of which made 160k. I have 180k on my Taurus that I drive now. The other 2 were totaled out by accidents.

[zamboni]

My 96 Sable has a 3.0 and I get very very close to 30 MPG.

[Cicada]

I bought a '95 Ranger new and now have 204,000 miles on it. It was a 4 cylinder, 2.5, I think, 2wd, and manual transmission. I still get around 24mpg and have had no major motor problems. In fact, until I hit 190,000 miles, I had not had any type of major repair to the pickup. I had the underside treated when I bought it and didn't see any rust until somewhere around 160,000 miles. Ford recommended oil changes every 5000 miles which I did until the last couple of years when it started to use oil. Now I do it every 3000 miles. Tune-ups are scheduled for every 100,000 miles which is good since they have to pull the engine to perform that task. The only stupid problem that these pickups had, mine included, is the dash lights go out. Acople of years ago they started to go out and shortly all of them were gone. You have to remove the entilre dash board to replace them and instead of paying several hundred dollars to replace them, I bought only of those $12.00 Energizer headlights you use for night fishing and stuck it to the steering console. Great pickups.

[fishing tech]

You don't have to pull the engine to do a tune up and only need to pull the cluster to do the bulbs.

[Cicada]

Curious, fishing tech, have you done this on a Ranger? My research came up with the dash had to be pulled to access the lights, starting with the screws under the steering wheel and working your way up. There are eight spark plugs in my four banger and I could not get to them myself.

[Scott K]

I know for a fact what fishingtech said is truth. You do need to remove the instument cluster, not the dash, 20 minute job. Also for the 8 spark plugs, the driver side ones suck, but not impossible to do. I can easily do them in an hour. Oh, and the 2.5 didnt come out until 1998, it was the 2.3, but pretty much the same thing.

[Cicada]

ok

[shizzy]

I have an 03 Ranger Edge 2WD with the 3.0L I get 19MPG. The edge sits high on the 4WD suspension and I have 31" tires on it and 4:10 gears behind a 5 speed so that is probably hurting my mileage a bit. I bought it at 2 years old with 15K on it and currently have 85K on it. The 3.0L is pretty much bullet proof. Give me an old cast iron push rod engine with a timing chain any day.

The only glaring issue I have ever had is the parking brake likes to stick/freeze during times of the year it is right at and also below freezing.

[Catfish46]

I would go for the 3.0. Those things can be given hell and still never miss a beat.