So I've had a Chevy S10 for about 5 or 6 years now and I noticed what seems to be a very reasonably priced Ranger for sale.
Being Ford-ignorant, I'd like to get some opinions from you proud (or pissed) Ranger owners!

Here's what I need: Another small dependable vehicle with rear wheel drive, a standard transmission, and preferably a 4-cylinder motor. My girlfriend needs a reliable vehicle to get to work and back SAFELY so I'm buying me a second truck and letting her use it until she A)buys her own damn car, or B) just buys this truck from me.

Here's what it is: A 1998 Ford Ranger regular cab, short bed, 2 wheel drive, 2.5 L four cylinder. 5-speed manual. 243,150 miles!!! Damn! But here's the thing, it runs GREAT. No check engine light, no noises but the power steering pump, and shifts perfectly. It has mostly highway miles and it was a part of a fleet for a cable company that apparently took care of their maintenance. The a/c doesn't work and that's about it.
What do you guys think? He's asking $1,400. I want to offer 1,000.
And thankyou for reading or just skipping over all that nonsense I typed!

 

I'd offer him $1,000 and just see what he says.

 

welcome! offer $1000, worst thing they can say is no

 

yea thats defintiley a good deal for 1k ... go for it!

what kinda s10 you got? When i was looking for my truck i looked at s10s but heard the 4cyls had headgasket problems and didnt want a 6cyl due to gas mileage reasons

 

I'm going to offer him $900 in cash tomorrow I think. It really is a damn good truck. I don't know of any common problems with them besides Ford's having a noisy power steering pump

 

Great I'll definitely make an offer!
I have a '93 with the 4.3 V6. It's only got 160,000 miles and it runs like a scalded dog. I haven't heard that about the 4 cylinder S10s but if you got the 2.5 liter 4 cylinder, that thing is CAKE to replace a head gasket on. But I have a few friends with the 2.5 that haven't had any head gasket issues. However the 2.8 V6 is a terd, stay away unless you put some money into it to make it get out of it's own way!

 

haha my dad had an 85 s10 blazer that had the 2.8 ... blew up around 200k

as for the ranger ... the ps pump is really loud on the 2.3's ... on the 2.5;s its still noticeable but not quite as bad

 

i think all of fords p/s pumps in the 90s were loud...my 95 escort was like that and my grandpas 98 ranger 2.5 is loud and his windstar was pretty loud too

 

Yeah we took some apart in school and found some of the loud ford pumps all had some filthy valves inside of them. The pumps worked great though haha.

 

All ford p/s pumps make noise lol. Also i had an 83 ranger with the 2.0 same as the 2.5 just different bore and stroke it had over 500k miles when i sold it. As far as i know it's still running to this day! As long as you dont beat on the truck it will last for many more years man!

 

Every ford i've owned from the 90's had loud p/s pumps, a 92 Explorer, 93 Explorer, current 99 ranger, my fathers 96 mustang gt. My buddy's tempo (can't remember the year) was loud as hell, you knew when he pulled onto your street.

 

Good luck with the offer. As for the noisy pump, I've had good luck in the past by first flushing with this: Sea Foam | Trans Tune

Followed up with new fluid and a bottle of: Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak : Lucas Oil

 

It's funny you say that because I JUST brought the truck home and I'm taking it to my shop first thing tomorrow and sucking out the old fluid and replacing it with lucas until it shuts up a little!
I was nervous buying a truck with 143,xxx miles but it ran like a champ on the way home and the oil pressure was consistent and not too low so I'm thinking the internal bearings haven't worn out too too bad. Overdue for an oil change so I'm doing that and checking the timing belt asap.

 

Got any pic's of the truck :).

 

haha no sorry 87, in all this excitement I forgot to do a photo shoot. But I'll throw some pictures up here asap when I clean it up a little

 

yeah, two things. first, can they give you a complete maintenance record on the truck? has the tranny oil been changed any time (nasty surprises aren't pleasant), and how are the rear spring hangers? even if the rest of the truck has little or no rust, these hangers are known to rust out on the rangers. they are made of cheap metal. once they rust through, they are expensive to get replaced! the bolt through the end of the leaf spring is often impossible to remove at this point (frozen in), so the main leaf springs may need to be replaced too, even if they're not worn.

 

hey notpunk, no they cannot give me a complete maintenance record. It was a part of a fleet for some sort of cable company in georgia. The timing belt looks fairly new and the engine runs incredibly well so i'm wondering if someone has rebuilt the engine? I mean it runs unbelievably well for having 243,xxx something miles. I haven't noticed the leaf hangers but if they're rusted out I'll grab them from a junk yard or weld up something stouter. The truck also rides great but that doesn't mean there isn't a rust issue down there. And I also haven't checked the tranny oil, I'm driving it to the shop tomorrow since I got tags today and I plan on changing the motor oil and adding some marvel mystery oil and also inspecting the tranny oil and changing it. I'm guessing it takes ATF? Haven't encountered many rangers that ask for motor oil or gear oil for their manual gearboxes.

And I'll take some pictures tomorrow as well, it's in decent shape, just some scratches and a few dents!

 

You need automatic trans fluid for your 5-speed.

 

Well first off welcome to RF. You will find plenty of info up here on your new truck.

Nice find on the truck. Post some pics when you get the chance.

Oh and the solution to the steering pump, turn that little **** on your radio to the right. That helps lol

 

yeah, good luck welding up some new hangers. that's easier said than done. as for the tranny, I think the manual ones take some sort of heavy weight gear oil, but don't quote me on it.

 

Welding spring hangars? What are you talking about? They are bolted on. You will need to cut off the old ones though. When go get some new ones at autozone from Dorman for 15 a piece. Bolt them on. Good to go. The worst part is get the leaf spring bolt out.

How to change the spring shackle and hanger on your Ford Ranger

 

i use castrol high mileage atf thats formulated for ford mercon -v (and prior) and its been fine so far

 

So I changed the man. tranny fluid and I don't think it's ever been changed. Maybe once. But it was solid black funk. I filled it up with fresh mercon V and I've been driving it around so hopefully it'll clean some funk out. Is there any kind of detergents I could add to atf like Marvel Mystery Oil or seafoam? I'm sure when I drain it again next week it'll be dirty as hell again. Put some Marvel in my motor oil and it stopped that damn ticking. But I believe a syncronizer in the transmission is failing because it's a little tough getting it into second. I got good at it but you have to quickly jerk it. No complaints though, I'll rebuild it when I have a lot of time!!

 

might not be the trans...the slave cylinder in our trucks arent the greatest in the world

 

my truck doesn't want to shift to second when its cold. there is a TSB for it.