I have a 2005 Ford Ranger Edge 3.0 lt, lift kit, oversized tires and a manaual transmission. I am here to get advice on some minor repairs to my truck. I am a woman and I am not trying to make any statements or be miss thing. I just need some sound advice because it is guaranteed that when I walk into ANY shop, I am going to be over charged and/or given a bunch of Bull**** because I am not a dude.
A good example is that my truck broke down on a trip to northern cal and I'm at the mercy of a mechanic that went from, "your clutch went out" to "you need a new transmission". I have been driving stick longer then the mechanic had been walking and talking on the planet and I knew the clutch was fine. After he changed it he agreed with me that it had been fine because it did not fix the problem and ended up with a new rebuilt tranny. Now I have an oil leak looks like it is coming from my gasket at the oil drain but its spraying both sides of the rig, but there isn't any oil coming out of the tranny. And my stick shift is like some kind of a merry go round swinging back and forth and to get it into first the stick hits the dashboard and I can not bolt down my cup cover otherwise I can not get it into first gear. This guy actually told me that I should just get used to how the truck shifted now and figure it out because a lot of trucks are just like that and the gear shift is wabbly, no problem right lady? it runs. there was no way I was letting that dude touch it again and got the hell home.

This week I needed to get my truck smogged and I have a misfire code and was told that I could pay 200 dollars to replace my plugs. I said I think I will do it myself. This same mechanic had replaced them two years ago and told me he replaced the wires and i found out yesterday that the original factory wires are one the truck. He didn't like it that I was going to do it myself and he told me if I wanted to do it right that I had better change out the dist cap and rotor. Geez there is not one on my truck like that, other models have that but not mine. I did get a fuel filter tho thinking that it would make a difference and I am pertty certain that when I took it to this dude and he supposedly changed out my plugs wires and fuel filter and he really didn't change the wires that he just might not have really changed out that fuel filter.

To say the least I am pretty done with the whole scene of walking into a shop and paying for the mechanic's beers later because he has extra money that he charged me and I'm having my own beer because my truck still runs like sh**.

I am a whole lot of frustrated and just want to have my truck run well, shift with some ease and not have oil spewin. I would appreciate any suggestions or advice but not up for some of the bull**** responses I have heard from the above mentioned. I also saw a bogus response on this site and sure I will get them but hopefull there might be some honest people out there that know something about something and can really help me out. Thanks for your time. L

 

Some of the smaller stuff like plugs wires filters you can do yourself there is plenty of how to's online that its easy enough to learn and you won't have to worry about paying someone to do.

if anything ask around with friends(guys) about shops and or if they can help look at it.

 

Welcome to the forum Lora.
It's a shame there are so many so -called mechanics that are just crooks in coveralls , especially when they see a she walk in the door.
There is tons of good info on this site. The search button can be your best friend when one is in a hurry for info, but finding the right search term can be tricky sometimes.
On to your present grief .
Oil around the drain plug . First I would remove the oil filter and check if there is an old gasket stuck from a previous filter stuck there.
The shifter problem may be simple . The bolt at the base is loose or the bushing is worn , both simple fixes.
If you haven't done it already , get to an auto parts store , autozone ,NAPA, whatever is near and buy a Haynes manual for your rig. It's not great on everything but gives the basics and info with pics to point you in the right direction.

 

Welcome to Ranger-Forums.com watsonlora58.

Click here to check out the latest thread pictures.

Hope to see you around RF and enjoy your stay :)

 

Welcome to R-F Lora
I'm sorry to hear about your dealings with that rip-off wanna be mechanic. Those sorry a**es are everywhere. Next time you need some work done ask me or one of the other guys. And I'd also go to the BBB website before going to any garage.

Good Luck

Brian

 

Welcome to RF Lora.

Sorry to hear all of this is going on with your truck and these "mechanics". Thats why I do most of my work myself lol.
OTRtech gave some pretty good advice up a few post.

Hope that you can find what you need up here.

 

Hey guys, THANK YOU so much for each of your responses. Each of you gave me sound advice. I changed the spark plugs and wires today and I am still getting a 304 misfire code :( and changed the fuel filter, the truck is running better but I'm not going to be able to get a smog done unless I can get this computer to reboot without drama. I checked out the stick shift and the bolt that OTRtech suggested and when I pushed on it I could slide it up and down and there is a bolt into the side of the shaft but not thru it. I felt under the stick when I slide it up and it feels like a soft washer of some kind there, is that the busing? I do have a haynes book on the truck and today when I was replacing the wires, the diagram in the book for the coil?my terminology sucks, on top of the motor with 6 ports to plug the spark plug wires into, the numbers on the MotorCraft part did not match the numbers that are listed on the Motorcraft coil ?/ So, the top three are ports are 1 2 3 back to front and go onto the spark plugs 1 2 3 front to back. The bottom row is 6 5 4 back to front and they go to the other side of the motor 4 5 6 front to back. There was a blue dot on number three and a blue dot on #5, looked like it was trying to indicate that it was #3. wow, Im not sure I can even understand that ramble but I was certainly back asswards trying to figure that s*** out today. It might be a mircle that I have it running lol. but if any of you know what I am talking about I will try to keep up. Oh and the diag in the book is WAY different from how the wires were on it when i took them off. I took them off one at a time and Im not looking forward to doing it again but I will:) thanks again to all of you and I look forward to being on this site and learning a lot and thanks for each of you being so cool, . Gnite Lora

 

okay i reread that and I have to make a corrrection. The numbers on the Motorcragt part/coil (has 6 ports) and it did NOT match what the Haynes book indicated.

 

The Haynes manual is wrong on the coil layout.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...06-1-1-1-1.jpg

 

Welcome to R/F. Burn down his shop!