Howdy folks, 34 year old living in Illinois. Recently the wife and I decided we wanted to be self sufficient and buy a truck. We found a '96 XLT (165,000mi) for sale by owner. Bought it for $1,000. We brought it home and.. no brakes.. After 600 dollars getting two lines replaced we brought it home again. Few weeks later, its acting up again.

I am of the mind of trying to fix it, wife basically wants to sell it.

I just can't get my head around trying to sell a non working right vehicle.

Anyway, I signed up here in hopes of learning a few things as I would like to get it working. I enjoyed the few times I was able to drive it.

List of things to fix:
New Battery
Alignment
Figure out the possible gas leak
Horn issue
Headlights issue

 

Welcome to the forum

1996 is a good year for Rangers, but 21 year old vehicle will have it's problems, especially pickup trucks, they tend to get used a little rougher than cars
But pickup trucks also hold value longer than cars because of their usefulness, when running of course, lol.

If you are going to run older vehicles you will need to learn a bit about general auto mechanics, which is not all that hard.

The $600 for brake work, even running new lines, is a bit steep.

Battery's last 5 to 7 years, they use a chemical reaction to store and release electricity and the chemicals simply wear out and the plates inside can short out, causing self draining, so budget accordingly, because batteries, like tires and brakes DO wear out.

Oil and oil filter needs to be changed, every 5k miles
Coolant needs to be drained and replaced every 2 years

You will need a Volt/Ohm meter, doesn't have to be an expensive one, $20-$25

Don't let the electrical or electronics scare you, all the really hard work was done by the designers, testing for voltage or bad wires is the easy part

And do not replace sensors, they rarely fail but are often replaced by DIYers
The 1995 and up Rangers use a newer engine computer system, EEC-V, which is still used in 2017 Fords, it uses a standard communications language called OBD2(on board diagnostics version 2).
All vehicles sold in the US or Canada from 1996 and up were required by law to use OBD2
imports or domestic, if it had 4 or more wheels it HAD TO use OBD2

This is were "codes" come from, you can get Bluetooth OBD2 readers for under $40 that use your tablet or smartphone to display "codes" or Live Data
Handy tool to have and not vehicle specific, works with ANY vehicle, 1996 and up
"Codes" are binary and poorly translated into English, example:
P0174 = System too Lean (Bank 2)
This doesn't mean engine is running Lean, i.e. the poor translation, it means fuel injectors need to be open longer than calculated by the computer on Bank 2(drivers side)

So grain of salt when reading codes

What engine size in your Ranger?
Is it 2WD or 4x4?
Manual or automatic?

 

The best investment you can make when repairing your own vehicle is a factory service manual.

There are many knowledgeable and helpful people here willing to try and help you, yet it is best to have detailed instructions available only found in a manual that will make it easier for us to help you.

 

Thanks for the replies. I forgot about this site for awhile.. but.. since I made this post I have gotten the battery changed AND fixed the gas leak. Took buying a new hose and some hose clamps but I think I got it going again.

It is a 2WD Ranger, I forget the engine size.. I keep meaning to check that actually.

Oh and my headlight issue I fixed by pushing in the headlight ****. lol Something must be loose there I guess.

I love having a truck, I love being self sufficient. Now I just need to balance all the things in life and try and get an oil change and maybe then worry about the alignment getting done.

 

Glad your making progress

 

Welcome to RF, good luck with the Ranger build.