Just drive home my first Ranger. It's a 2002 2Dr Edge. Not the prettiest or most rust free thing on the planet, but got it for cheap and excited to join the Ranger community. It runs and drives well (3.0L V6), the interior is "Eh", it's missing a radio and has a tear in the cloth seats. My goal is to get 3-5 years of light duty out of it (it's a third car so will be minimally driven, just back and forth to school about a mile, and occasionally hauling something from Home Depot). I'm fairly handy but not super knowledgeable about cars, I know enough to change my own brake pads, thats about it. What are the major mechanical things I should get checked out to help my chances of getting the longest lifespan out of it? For it's age it's fairly low mileage (124k). As far as accessories all I'm thinking is a bed cover, and possibly looking into it getting wire wheeled to remove the rust and getting it undercoated, but I'm not sure if that is really worth it or not. I know the oil pressure sensor is starting to go, the needle spaz's out every once in a while. Other than that, I can't find anything glaringly wrong with it, although I've only owned it for a day.

Any other tips on things I should have checked out?

 

Plug, wires, fuel filter, air filter, Check the coolant and front suspension.

 

Checked plugs and wires they look good, engine jumps to life and runs well. Coolant looks OK although all I did was look at the resevoir, but there ar eno leaks. Suspension is decent, it has a fair amount of rust but it's 20 years old. I havent looked at the fuel filter

 

Fluids. Rear Diff, Tranny ( 80’s terminology for transmission, not todays definition)

Do a transmission filter & Fluid change.

Pull rear brake drums off, look for 80/90 gear oil, and/or brake fluid around the cylinders.
Rinse all that brake dust out with a garden hose, OR if you used compress air, put a high speed fan to blow the disturbed dust away, so u don’t breathe it.

I would pull the rear diff cover and drain the oil.
Stock calls for no gasket, just RVT. Buy the gasket. Refill with 80/90w. If you have Limited Slip, you need that additive .

i would pull the lower radiator hose and drain all the coolant. ( drain plug not very good way)
Replace anti freeze.

And of course, Oil & Filter.

 

One. Never use compressed air or a garden hose to clean off the brake dust......Please. Brake cleaner from your local parts store is used noting else.

 

Thats bs.

 

Yep...All the dealer ship and mechanics use a garden hose and compress air all day long.....

 

Why ?

There's no asbestos, and water won't hurt brakes.

 

Take for ever to dry....And do you really want to breath that stuff in? Come on really?

 

[QUOTE=sluggerb;2212320]Just drive home my first Ranger. It's a 2002 2Dr Edge. Not the prettiest or most rust free thing on the planet, but got it for cheap and excited to join the Ranger community. It runs and drives well (3.0L V6), the interior is "Eh", it's missing a radio and has a tear in the cloth seats. My goal is to get 3-5 years of light duty out of it (it's a third car so will be minimally driven, just back and forth to school about a mile, and occasionally hauling something from Home Depot). I'm fairly handy but not super knowledgeable about cars, I know enough to change my own brake pads, thats about it. What are the major mechanical things I should get checked out to help my chances of getting the longest lifespan out of it? For it's age it's fairly low mileage (124k). As far as accessories all I'm thinking is a bed cover, and possibly looking into it getting wire wheeled to remove the rust and getting it undercoated, but I'm not sure if that is really worth it or not. I know the oil pressure sensor is starting to go, the needle spaz's out every once in a while. Other than that, I can't find anything glaringly wrong with it, although I've only owned it for a day.

Any other tips on things I should have checked out?


How many miles on it? I like the color! 👍🏻

 

Been at it since 1980 cap.

 

[QUOTE=Patriot1;2212402]124k. The color is "Sonic Pearl Blue", I know because I had to pick up a can of touch up paint and do some painting today. The inside of the passer side door jamb has like a 3 foot long vertical jagged section where the paint was torn off and it was down to the primer. I put a little bondo on the edges of the paint, then lightly sanded and touched it up. It's not perfect, but looks a lot better than it did, and like I said it's an interior door jab, not even visible when the door is closed.

I've sewn up the tear in the seat, I am going t put a matching fabric patch over top but I wanted to seal the tear so it doesn't keep tearing under the patch, I also laced up a leather steering wheel cover, and gave the inside a really good scrub and clean.

A few hours after I took it home I took it out for a drive and the brake light came on, a little research told me it could be due to low brake fluid, I checked the reservoir and it was about 1/2 way to MAX so I picked up a bottle of brake fluid and brought it up to 3/4 of the way to MAX and the light is off and has not returned. So hopefully that was all it was

I got a lead on a spare stock radio someone had so I picked that up for cheap, and I bought a new radio bezel off eBay, mine has a mounting clip broken, is cracked on the bottom, has several deep scuff marks, and the clips that hold the cig lighter in are broken, so I will replace that when that shows up.

Jobs for next weekend are tightening up the shifter slack by tightening the T30 torx screws and then adjusting the shifter indicator

 

[QUOTE=sluggerb;2212421]Sounds like your making good progress. My wife and I were just gifted a 2004 Ranger Edge 4x4 V6 4.0 that I have been cleaning up and a little restoring, It was her Dads and he bought it new when he was 73. He is 91 now and no longer needs it. It runs great so far and we plan to hold on to it as he wanted to keep it in the family. Overall it’s in very good condition with only 54k on it. I have changed the oil and filter using Pennzoil full synthetic, air filter, new battery and new neg terminal clamp, new spare tire (as it still had the original spare) new running aluminum boards and top of the front bumper repainted. I most recently learned about and bought a used Leer topper on CL which is a perfect fit. So I am having it painted to match soon. I like keeping whatever I haul covered and dry and this topper just came along at the right time and the price was fair. Its a great truck for grocery getting and running local errands and it keeps miles down on our newer F350 which we use for towing our travel trailer.

I am new to this forum and have found a lot of useful help from the Mods and other members here willing to share their knowledge.👍🏻

Good luck with your restoration on your Ranger, it’s a great looking truck and I like the Sonic Blue color! 👍🏻


2004 Ford Ranger Edge V6 4.0 4x4

 

Hi, I got my fingers crossed for you that you don't see what I just saw. I have been a 2007 Mazda b2300 owner for about 10 days now

The fuel tank strap - the fittings closest to the outside - take a look at it and see how rusted it is - I'm amazed my tank didn't drop down ( I have done a tempory fix of re bar tie wire, and a ratchet strap) - with mine the strap itself wasnt great - but the part it attaches too was rusted all to hell - good luck

 

Thanks for the info. My FIL rarely if ever drove this truck in the winter. I took a really hard look at the frame and under carriage and was surprised for an 18 yr old truck it is in really good condition. Sorry to hear about your tank strap that’s serious, hopefully there is a permanent fix.

 

Latest jobs done:

Tightened up the shifter screws, one of them was a solid 1/4 inch out. What a job, you have to be a contortionist to get under the dash like that. Certainly not a job meant for a 6' 1" guy, but I managed to pull it off.

New antenna installed, which was a pain because the old one broke off and I have to get the old stem out, but eventually got a pair of needle nose on it and got my new bendy flex antenna on

Scored a stock radio for $20 (!!!) from a guy on another forum. Took off the radio bezel and hold cow was that thing beat to crap. Every air vent clip was busted off, the cig lighter clip was busted off, one of the mounting clips was bent 90 degree and not attached, and the screw holes for the screws that hold the bezel in had broken and were larger than the screw heads, so they weren't even holding anything on, I pulled the bezel off with the screws still in. Some light cleaning, copious amounts of crazy glue and hot glue, and some washers for the screw, and the everything on the bezel is now nice and tight, installed correctly, and I have a nice stock radio/CD player and it all works!



Next up, replacing the broken cruise control buttons, and the blower motor resistor is bad so that needs to get replaced as well. But, I am thankful to have the truck since 2 days ago my daily driver car died on me, fuel pump went, so I've been daily'ing the Ranger for a few days till I fix it, and I really enjoy it! I'm worried though I am taking it in for the full mechanic inspection on Tuesday and worried what they will find, hopefully nothing catastrophic

 

Hey Slugger, Thanks for the post,
Hey, I'm just curious - the company I work for has an automatic (I have a manual) the shifter is about three quarters of a position out, and it is an SOB to shift..

Would messing with the shifter screws fix that? Thanks again

 

It made mine shift WAYYYY tighter. The little pointer is still off, but thats a separate fix.

If you have access to a small child I would talk them through what to do and have them fix the shifter screws, it is such a pain to lay on your back and scoot under the dash and wrap your arm around the brake pedal to get a screwdriver up there. You need to be a contortionist. If you do try it, push your eBrake down first, in the up position it was digging right into my ribs.