2008 2.3 ranger.

[97fightingseebee]

I just bought a 2008 ranger with the 2.3 dohc engine in it. I used to have a 97 with a 2.3 but compared to my new one, its a dinosaur. But i still dont know hardly anything about my new one. Is it a "duratech" or what? What are my options as far a extra power? Im limited to what i can find...

[Kenneth S]

2001 was the first year for the duratech (2000 was the last year for the Lima) so you have a duratech, unfortunately I don't know much about the duratech, and I don't of anyone who does (it's still a "new" engine).

[Wicked_Sludge]

its the same as the 2.3 duratec used in the escapes, focus, and a few others. any performance engine parts that fit those models should be fairly easy to adapt to a ranger. i belive there is a turbo kit for the foci, but you may have to do some exhaust work to get it to work right.

dont overlook simple things like an OBDII tuner, regearing the axles, and an underdrive pulley if they make them.

[Bryan22]

How does the old lima motor stack up to your new ride? I'd like to hear someones opinion whos had both. As far as power goes, can you feel a huge differece in the seat or not so much?

[Wicked_Sludge]

ive driven both...the 30+ HP difference is very noticeable. the duratec also seems a lot smoother than the lima, especially at hgher revs.

[97fightingseebee]

you have no idea man. i put a intake, ignition system, chip, exhaust, and re-geared the rear end on my 97. it aint got shit on this new one stock. it surprised the hell outta me. its a lot peppier too. i just dont like the clutch on the new one too much...

and i preciate the info on the focus part.. ve found alot of stuff. the main thing im interested in is a bigger throttle body. i found one for the focus but is it gonna fit and work?

[jax4bangin]

yea i had a 95 and i loved it but it was really guttless in compairison.. it just feels like the duratec doesnt have to work nearly as hard to get movin.. u rarely have to lay into it more than a quarter throttle to get up to speed or even hold 80 mph on the freeway..
my good buddy bought the 95 off me and we goof off in em all the time.. we've raced a few times and by the time i slam second gear im a full truck length ahead..

both trucks were 5 speed manual, regular cab short bed, 2wd

[snakebit95]

I recently purchased an 09 model, and took a brief look under the hood. The first thing that stuck-out at me was the belt-driven fan. Changing to an electric fan will pick-up a few ponies for sure. This is a pretty standard performance upgrade for the Mustangs and I did the same on my old F150 and could definitely feel the difference. It also picked-up maybe 1 MPG or so.

[08RangerXLT]

the new trucks or at least my 08 have both a belt driven fan and an electric fan. I assume the electric driven fan is to help cool the engine during extreme temperatures with a/c use.

[Wicked_Sludge]

ive never seen a ranger with a factory electric fan, are you 100% sure on this?

replacing the thermostatic clutch fan with an electric fan will not gain you any power or mileage...and it very well might cause cooling problems later down the road.

[Bryan22]

If the stock fan clutch is stuck, you'd see performance gains. :) Otherwise +1 what wick said.

[Plum Ranger XLT]

I also have a 2008 model that has both the electric and clutch fan.

[Wicked_Sludge]

interesting. i might have to track down why for did that..

08RangerXLT and plum, do both of your trucks have A/C? if so, im willing the bet the electric fan is there solely to improve low speed a/c performance (134a sucks).

[jax4bangin]

i have a 2007.. no electric fan

[Plum Ranger XLT]

Mine does have A/C.

[aogden001]

My '08 XL 2.3l 5spd has only the clutch fan, no electric. Hell I just went out with the trouble light & checked, just to make sure. I dont have A/C either.

[jax4bangin]

have u drivin one with ac? and is urs faster? i wud think that not having that extra ac pully wud give ya a lil oomph?? jus curious

[aogden001]

have u drivin one with ac? and is urs faster? i wud think that not having that extra ac pully wud give ya a lil oomph?? jus curious
If you're asking me, .... No I've never driven 1 w/ A/C so I wouldn't know.

[Wicked_Sludge]

the amount of power the a/c draws at part throttle is negligable...and the a/c is disabled under full-throttle acceleration so there is no difference in peak power between a/c and non-a/c trucks.

[Ferris Bueller]

My 2004 has a.c. and 2 fans.

[08RangerXLT]

mine has a/c, two fans

[jax4bangin]

hmmm why do only some have the 2 fan set up?

[Wicked_Sludge]

so far only 2.3 trucks with a/c have an additional electric fan...which is leading me to believe the e-fans sole purpose is to improve a/c function at low-speeds.

[jax4bangin]

hmm makes sence.. maybe they send the twin fan 2.3's to the states with more extreme climates.. i live in huntington beach CA. it doesnt get all that crazy hot around here maybe thats y i never seen a twin fan 4 banger:icon_confused:

[97fightingseebee]

yeah, mine has both fans also... theres a company called "diablo programers" or something that claims to make a programmer for my 4-cylinder. i think you can get it on summit or maybe jcwhitney. i dont remember.. but do you think its legit and would it be worth the $300?

[GreatWhite]

I would try to get on the "programmer" manufactures website and see what advantages it has because I have found other websites offering programmers and you load different tuning from your computer they have a new tuning sequence every week or whatever good luck

[MikeInIdaho]

The whole dual-fan setup got me thinking. I'm going to run out and check my truck (in the middle of a snowstorm), '06 2wd 5sp 4-banger with A/C...no electric fan, just the engine-driven one.

I wasn't aware of the Diablosport programmer, but the JET module runs about $240 at Summit. That's what I'm planning on running on my truck. There have been numerous people running JET stuff on this forum with good results.

[GreatWhite]

yeah, mine has both fans also... theres a company called "diablo programers" or something that claims to make a programmer for my 4-cylinder. i think you can get it on summit or maybe jcwhitney. i dont remember.. but do you think its legit and would it be worth the $300?


I read up on the diablo-sport and I think I'am going to get one they seem pretty legit. Alot of peoples reviews say they are very satisfied with the programmer. GO ON THERE WEBSITE!

[97fightingseebee]

well i had a 97 ranger with the 2.3 in it and i bought one of those JET piggybacks and it sucked.. wasnt worth a damn.. even on premium fuel i couldnt tell any difference other then i might have been drinkin a little more fuel... but i think the diablo is the way to go. either that or the one they offer at bamachips.com... right now id like to find a cold air intake which seems almost impossible...

[GreatWhite]

if you havent been on the other forums I asked about the intake exhaust factor and no matter what you put on it intake/exhaust wise all you gain is noise you should just get the diablo chip and re-gear it or something....

[MikeInIdaho]

Just order a Dynomax "race bullet" muffler from summit. 2 1/4" in/out, 18 inch case, perforated steel core, no packing/matting material whatsoever...should sound sweet!

p.s: Think I'll check out the Diablo site here in a few. A programmer's next on the list.Thanx for the link

[GreatWhite]

I dont know how much the race bullet is but you could just put a cheap cherry bomb glasspack on, drive the truck around for an hour allow glasspack to get hot and then stuff a garden hose down into the glasspack turn it on and break the glass and then you have a hollow tube in which the pigs cant say anything about because it looks like a completely legal glasspack so in other words running it straight out of the cat

[GreatWhite]

p.s: Think I'll check out the Diablo site here in a few. A programmer's next on the list.Thanx for the link

http://www.diablosport.com/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=123

[Wicked_Sludge]

cops dont care what kind of muffler you have or even if you have a muffler. they are concerned with decibels. if your truck is too loud, you can get a ticket no matter what muffler you have. if your motor is very quite, you could run straight pipes and it wouldnt matter, as long as the decibels were below the specified level.

[MikeInIdaho]

Yeah I was going to go with a straight-through magnaflow but the size I wanted was only available w/ a 14" case length, so I went with the Dynomax hoping the longer case will help lower the tone a little bit. The race bullets aren't made with any sort of sound restrictions taken into consideration, so we'll see how stupid-loud the truck becomes with it on. Like wicked said, some vehicles aren't really that loud anyways, straight pipes or otherwise. A lot of the TurboDiesel Volkswagen guys run straight pipes all the way back, you can't really hear the exhaust over the compressor sucking in all the surrounding air.

I just checked out the Diablo predator, I like how you can have your software updated as you add mods to your rig. Seems like they do a good job of backing up their product. Thanks again

[97fightingseebee]

are you sure the intake wont help any? i put one on my old ranger and it seemed to help alot... of course it didnt have much power to begin with.. and this is one quiet ass truck.. i put a flowmaster 40 series on it and you can barely tell.. so im wonderin what straights would sound like.. and when you put a programmer on a truck, even if you set it back to "stock" can the dealership still tell its been flashed?

[Wicked_Sludge]

no an intake wont help. yes the dealership will be able to tell that you had a programmer even if you set it back to the stock tune...but they wont care.

[MikeInIdaho]

I'll be the first to admit that CAIs sound pretty sweet, especially at full chat. The argument as to whether they add any kind off significant performance gains to these trucks has been hashed out on these forums many, many times. I personally don't see any kind of improvement over the stock intake setup with them, at least not on the newer rangers. The stock air filter is in a hermetically sealed high density plastic box (which, as Wicked_Sludge has pointed out, is much more resistant to heat-soak than metal) that gets a nice, cold feed of air from behind the headlight. So far as I'm aware, there aren't any intake silencers or any other air restrictions inside the intake ducting, but I may be wrong on this point. I simply can't think of where any power would be lost on the stock intake setup. Besides, an engine can only "suck" a certain amount of air: you can't force an engine to take in more air by simply adding a bigger filter. Forced induction opens a whole new can of worms on this subject, but that's for another thread.

You raise a good question about the downloadable programmers. I'm pretty sure using one wouldn't void your warranty so long as you save to OE files and re-flash them before turning the truck in. Might want to check with the manufacturer of the programmer on that one. You could probably find that info on the Diablosport site as they have a ton of stuff on there

[GreatWhite]

I hope not, because I sure want one once I can afford it. Need some hp! I looked a little more on the diablosport site and I found out there are coming out with a programmer "Trinity" that has a screen so you can change driving stats while driving. $899.99 ! :thefinger:

[MikeInIdaho]

Yeah I saw that one, too. Nuts!

[97fightingseebee]

will sombody clarify this for me? say i was to put a couple of cams, or add some kind of charger to my truck, do i HAVE to take it to a dyno? or can the company i buy my programmer from just send me an update or somthin?

[GreatWhite]

will sombody clarify this for me? say i was to put a couple of cams, or add some kind of charger to my truck, do i HAVE to take it to a dyno? or can the company i buy my programmer from just send me an update or somthin?

your best bet would be to just contact the manufacture because they would probably know best

[Wicked_Sludge]

you could have a programmer guess and hope the tune is right, but in order to get the best power, reliability, and fuel economy out of the setup, your best bet would be to spend some time on the dyno.

[97fightingseebee]

and the dyno has the capability to completely rewrite my ecu to run with the mods right? are they gonna have to hack into it or somthin or can they just hook up and start programming?

[Wicked_Sludge]

most dyno shops have software for reflashing the PCM. its as simple as plugging into the dataport and building the tune.