Faults:

Bought it from my brother. And he dogged it and drove it into the ground.

I had to change the oil (of course), all the hoses, and did a full tune up, and the big things; throw out bearing, clutch disk, pressure plate, u-joints, rear axle, and that's it.

My brother raced this thing every day, he didn't care about it. So that's why it had these problems.

General Comments:

I love the damn truck, it's been through hell and back, and is still going!!! It's a great truck. And everybody should get one if they want a perfect truck!

I'm not even a Ford fan, but I still love it haha.

If somebody wants a good Ranger, the 2.3 is the way to go! The 2.3 is not a power house, but it's as reliable as the 300 6cyl, if not better!

The reason I bought the truck was because I use to have a 94 Ranger, and I put over 400k miles on the thing and it wouldn't break! I sold it and bought a 92 Civic with 62k miles, and the Civic was not dogged. I bought it from a 83 year old man, and he was the original owner and he maintained the thing on time every time, and I did not dog it either, and it was still falling apart.

So if you do want a great truck, get a Ranger with a 2.3. They will keep going and going and going. My brother changed the oil every 8000-12000 miles, and he didn't care for it, and it still runs like a top!!! The 2.3 engine is a 10 out of 10!

Faults:

At 300,000 km the starter died. I replaced it myself for $180 and an hour of my time.

At 312,000 km the radiator started leaking - replaced with a new one for $140 and took half an hour to do myself.

At 315,000 km there was a clunking noise coming from the rear differential. Changed the fluid (came out pretty dark, so I don't think it had been changed in a while, if ever) and the noise went away and hasn't been a problem since.

At 325,000 km I replaced the U-joint for less than $100.

At 340,000 km the main thrust bearing on the crankshaft has deteriorated enough that the crankshaft moves front-to-back about 1/4". It's enough that it causes the clutch to slip once in a while since the flywheel moves with the crankshaft.

At some point before I purchased it, it has had a new clutch.

General Comments:

As I outlined above, most of the things that have gone wrong with this truck are wear items that one would expect on a high-mileage vehicle. The thrust bearing requires a full rebuild to fix, which is something I'm not prepared to do to this truck, so it looks like it may be headed to the scrap heap so I can cash in on a government incentive.

Having said that, this truck has been great to me. I've taken it on 2000km+ road trips, and felt I could rely on it. It left me stranded once, and that was because of the starter (my own fault as I ignored the warning signs). It doesn't burn oil at all, nor does it leak.

I have used this truck to tow a small 3000lb boat around, and it does it without complaint, even though that's over its rating. It was a little slow on the hills though...

It got great mileage for a V6, I consistently got 19-20 MPG mixed highway/city, and can get 23 MPG on the highway if I keep the speed reasonable.

It has bench seats without head rests, so your neck can get sore after a while, but the seats themselves are quite comfortable. After 20 years of service, they are still holding up well. The rear jump seats are useless for anything other than small children. Small stature adults will fit back there for short periods of time only. I found the back seat area to be a great dry-cargo storage area.

I should mention that I got this truck when I was 16, and I learned to drive a stick with it. IT HAS NOT HAD AN EASY LIFE. The fact that the transmission didn't blow up on me still surprises me to this day.

All in all, a fantastic truck. I'm currently in the market for another Ranger, except this time I think I'd like the 4L with 4x4.