Ford ranger

[addjunkie]

Interesting and food for thought. I've always gone Toyota but the latest Hilux is overpriced and IMHO looks and feels dated for the money, plus I've been hearing about the chassis rust issues. I've been looking at the 2025> Isuzu DMax, which seems decent and much improved on the earlier Isuzu pick ups.

Now Rachel from accounts has fiddled with the commercial vehicle taxes I feel there will be over supply of posh double cab pickups. I too was set to go Toyota for the long warranty as we are low milage users, but I now know 3 folk waiting for Toyota to replace a chassis on pick ups not abused and only 7 or 8 years old, all with similar rust issue.

Vw for the 5 year warranty but prices are mental, I was emailed to say Mitsubishi were returning to the uk in summer 2026, but not sure what they will be selling.

 

[Bullet2012]

Had one if these as a hire car in Florida, awesome machine, wouldn't like shovelling unleaded into it in the UK though.

wasn't to bad, especially with the lpg conversion, averaged about 15 mpg , so with lpg then being about 50% of petro
price, equated to 30 ish, even more if you could obtain some gas from some non road use places .

The Dodge ram TRX was the worst, best i saw was 9 mpg, and only if you drove it like a granny.

 

[Bobupndown]

I too was set to go Toyota for the long warranty as we are low milage users, but I now know 3 folk waiting for Toyota to replace a chassis on pick ups not abused and only 7 or 8 years old, all with similar rust issue.

You shouldn't have to, but a treatment with dinitrol or similar before the rust takes hold would make its life expectancy better?

 

[fizzy]

Now Rachel from accounts has fiddled with the commercial vehicle taxes I feel there will be over supply of posh double cab pickups. I too was set to go Toyota for the long warranty as we are low milage users, but I now know 3 folk waiting for Toyota to replace a chassis on pick ups not abused and only 7 or 8 years old, all with similar rust issue.

Vw for the 5 year warranty but prices are mental, I was emailed to say Mitsubishi were returning to the uk in summer 2026, but not sure what they will be selling.

The Amarok is a Ford Ranger in drag. One thing I did prefer with the VW was a proper man sized tow hitch not the receiver type!
I still prefer Land Rovers! I remember all the cockle pickers and farmers switching to the Jap stuff as LR rusted too much. Funnily enough they all moved back to Land Rover

 

[addjunkie]

You shouldn't have to, but a treatment with dinitrol or similar before the rust takes hold would make its life expectancy better?

We have moved on from the 1970s and British Leyland. If its necessary I m not buying it!

 

[fizzy]

We have moved on from the 1970s and British Leyland. If its necessary I m not buying it!

Nissan Navarra just as bad - they were snapping in half!

 

[addjunkie]

Nissan Navarra just as bad - they were snapping in half!

Shame they were a good pick up

 

[Moose McAlpine]

The Amarok is a Ford Ranger in drag.

The second (current) generation is, the first one was all-VW.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

As a general rule if a new vehicle doesn't have at least a 5 year warranty then I'm inclined to avoid!

The VW transporter is also a ford too....I thought they'd at least put a VW engine in it but nope!

 

[anto44]

There's a lot of people fitting bmw m57 engines now, that's what I'd be doing if I had one with a bad engine.

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[fizzy]

As a general rule if a new vehicle doesn't have at least a 5 year warranty then I'm inclined to avoid!

The VW transporter is also a ford too....I thought they'd at least put a VW engine in it but nop

And what a piece of junk it is. I have one on hire - waiting for the Crafters to come back in.
Mine is the 110bhp version. Totally gutless. The 150bhp must be better.
I have to drop down to 4th on motorway hills to pass lorries. And I am empty! My crafter with a hefty load was much faster.
Fuel economy on the VW/Ford is 32.4mpg. I was getting 30mpg out of the Crafter which was driven much harder.
It drinks adblue as well.
The mirrors are rubbish - very hard to see the kerbs when reversing.
Any good points? Electric heated seats work well - yes that is all

 

[Dcal]

Looks a pig of a job, how long did it take?

Far far far longer than it should have.

Outside in winter, between the rain and snow, learning the foibles of another make, waiting on parts, waiting on special tools to arrive, making special tools, not knowing what I was doing etc.
All on all it was off the road a couple of months with me working at it sparodically in the evenings after work and at the weekend.

Because it is such a pig of a job, I pressure tested the head and had it skimmed and did the valves when it was off which were fine.
One of @pressbrake's straight edges was a handy tool for checking the head was flat before was after machining.

When it was mostly back together it started and ran no bother.

So I built everything up then it would start ok and immediately stop.
No relevant fault codes, fuel pressures ok, all sensors plugged in correctly and with plausible readings, no broken wires I could see etc.

I don't have a diesel compression gauge so I couldn't confirm, but compression seems good.

Much head scratching and doubting of what I had done (or not)
Was the cheap eBay timing tools out?
Had I left something off?

So clutching at straws I took the fuel suction control valve out and the gauze was black.
Cleaned it and it tested fine, so I put it back on but still the same.

Crap in a common rail injection pump is not what you want so I had the injectors tested and they were all good.
Even though Forscan was saying I was getting good fuel pressure I suspected a duff HP pump and as it needed cleaned in any case, I ordered the tools and took the pump off.

I was going to get it refurbished but decided to have a look my self.

The internals looked fine so I got a seal kit and put it back together.
Only thing I could see was some wear on the pump shaft where the front oil seal runs so I wondered if engine oil was getting past it?

An old brake disk was pressed into service to hold the pump while I was was working on it.
I was able to move the new oil seal a few mm so it ran on a good section of the shaft.

Put it together again, flushed the tank, low pressure and HP fuel system with 5 gal of brake cleaner. I didn't find much dirt and no glitter.

Put everything back together "again" and it wouldn't start at all.
Checked everything again to no avail.
Low pressure side seemed ok with plenty of flow and pressure on the feed and return side.

I started doubting the pressure readings on Forscan so I ordered a cheap common rail testing kit with a gauge that goes to 20,000 psi.
Plumbed it and in and it gave similar plausible readings to the Forsan. (15,000 psi)

Thought it might be a stuck injector (even thought the pressure readings would suggest otherwise) so blanked the injectors off and connected them one at a time.
After two injector were connected it tried to start.
Connected the rest and it started fine and has run perfectly since.

I hate not getting to the bottom of things but I'm totally flummoxed with this.
Nothing I did should have fixed it and I'll probably never know what the issue was unless it ****s itself again and if it does he can take to someone who knows what they are doing.
However not many people are interested in fault finding (or working) on Rangers over here.

I do like a challenge but sometimes it's better to know your limitations.
As they say there is no fool like an old fool, but I think trying to learn does help keep the old gray matter from turning into complete mush.

 

[Migmac]

Interesting and food for thought. I've always gone Toyota but the latest Hilux is overpriced and IMHO looks and feels dated for the money, plus I've been hearing about the chassis rust issues. I've been looking at the 2025> Isuzu DMax, which seems decent and much improved on the earlier Isuzu pick ups.

Yep you pay a lot for a Hilux but don’t get very much. Cramped passenger compartment, very plasticky interior. It got treated underneath before it saw tarmac, hopefully that helps with the rust issues.

 

[Nick DV]

However not many people are interested in fault finding (or working) on Rangers over here.

I'm not surprised given the trials and tribulations that you went through to fix it Great write up, and it's probably better than new now.

 

[Nick DV]

Yep you pay a lot for a Hilux but don’t get very much. Cramped passenger compartment, very plasticky interior. It got treated underneath before it saw tarmac, hopefully that helps with the rust issues.

Can't argue with that. I found the interior of the Isuzu was far superior to the Hilux.

 

[Bulldog_]

So if you had say £10k to spend on a pick up, not to be used as a daily, what pick up would you buy?

 

[Bornfree]

So if you had say £10k to spend on a pick up, not to be used as a daily, what pick up would you buy?

I've never heard any horror stories about Isuzu.

 

[Nick DV]

So if you had say £10k to spend on a pick up, not to be used as a daily, what pick up would you buy?

99% sure that I’d go Isuzu

 

[bricol]

So if you had say £10k to spend on a pick up, not to be used as a daily, what pick up would you buy?

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[fizzy]

So if you had say £10k to spend on a pick up, not to be used as a daily, what pick up would you buy?

Tbh I am.not a great fan of pickups. I find a van far more useful. Good for towing though. And a truck top would be a big improvement. I actually preferred driving a Crafter to a Ranger or Amarok