Gotta love it when....

[LearjetMinako]

Gotta love it when you go work on your truck for one thing and find another thing wrong. In long terms. Got 4x new tires and Explorer's wheels. The Auto Tech at Sears said one of my front wheel bearing grease seal was going. Okay, thats no problem. I'll do the work myself and save me the $200 in labor. Got new wheel bearings, grease seals, and synthetic wheel bearing grease. All went pretty much okay. Had Sear's press the new wheel bearing races. And I did the rest. Only problem that I had, I almost snapped off the brake capiler bolt. Hayne's manual said 40ft-lbs, torque gauge never made it that. New bolts, re-try, excpet at 20ft-lbs. All is good and the bearings are done.

Now on to the other, other problem. While doing the wheel bearings. I noticed once again that the engine is starting to leak oil, again. Last time I went in and replaced the front main seal (and the timing belt). Now the oil leak is back and my oil pan is covered pretty good. So this time when I go back in, I'm gonna replace the oil pump seals, replace the water pump, replace the thermostat, replace the timing belt tensioner, and torque all the oil pan bolts. Luckily, I planned this ahead (a year later). So I already have all the seals and water pump. Just gotta go pick up a new timing belt tensioner and thermostat. And hopefully, after all this, I shouldn't need to repair anything else.

When it rains, it pours. But even thou my Ranger is starting to leak oil. It is still the better running vehicle in my family.

 

[martin]

This kind of thing happens to me all the time. I learned many years ago to just file it away in the s#*t appens file and not worry about it.

 

[Hopman]

How's that phrase go? "If it has a heartbeat or an engine, it's gonna give you trouble."

 

[wahlstrom1]

285km on my truck.....just did a belt tensioner. Aside from the infamous intake gasket, I've had no repairs other then regular maintenance but this -40*C is hard on shit....

 

[LearjetMinako]

Being as a mechanic. If I have to go through all the trouble of replacing just one thing. I'm gonna go ahead and replace other things before they break. Its just like a clutch. Really sucks if the slave cylinder goes just because you didn't want to replace it when you had the dang thing apart.

Also, I love turning wrenchs. It puts me in my happy place. So all this work is actually easy. Take apart front of engine. Find leak, replace seals. And then replace anything else that may go later.

 

[retep88]

turning wrenches helps me feel better too, I just don't like it when I HAVE to fix something because it's my dd and I have no other vehicle. But when I don't have to fix it right away and I can take my time... Man, does it releave stress.

 

[LearjetMinako]

Grrrr.

I just discovered yet another, unpredicted, problem. Just checking on my wheel bearing job to see if everything is holding up. When I noticed that my Ranger has a wet spot around the bottom of the raditor. The Ranger has now a coolant leak along with an oil leak. From the looks of thing, its coming from the drain peacock. I gave it a quick tightening, hoping that was all that it needed. If not, I'll be adding a new drain peacock and coolant to the list of things I will need to do.

 

[TheBeast]

It's a ford. It's a commitment.

Chasing grimlins is part of it. I've found if you don't like it, take it to a dealership, which is where I work, and you'll let someone else do it. Equally the same you'll most likely be paying for either alot more expensive/newer vehicle, as well as general repair when out of warranty. I enjoy working on stuff myself. And have had a bad streak when it came right down to it. Replaced the distributor, then the timing chain almost falls apart and the water pump was about to break in half on my 95 5.0 car. Live and learn, I figure once everythings fix though, you'll have another 100k miles to go before you have to worry about it again.

 

[Hopman]

It's a ford. It's a commitment.

Ford: Fix or Repair Daily.

The good news is that if you fix a problem, you not only save money, you also get to know your truck better.

 

[TheBeast]

Eh I don't really find it daily. Alot of fords go for 200-300k miles with really no main issues. Just small maintenance. One thing I will say about GM's and chevy pick up, they are FAHT. Falls Apart at Hundred Thousand. As soon as you roll over at 100k they just seem to fall apart. It's really weird.

 

[LearjetMinako]

Ford does not = fix or repair daily. It equals, found on road driving.

As for taking it to the dealer. NO WAY IN HELL. It would cost me both of my legs just to fix those little issues. Besides, I already have the parts. And I have taken the Ranger apart so many times that I pretty much know where everything should go. The condition of the repairs are not critical. So I have time to get it done. And since all the work is in the same area, it should only take a good day to complete everything.

One thing about Chevy's at the 100k mile mark. After that, the extended warranty runs out. And there was a safety recall for the S-10 Blazer for faulty ball joints. Well, because our warranty just ran out. The Chevy dealer didn't notify us about it. And then a suspension ball joint snapped and my mom nearly wrecked the Blazer. Thanks Chevy for not keeping your customers safe on the roads. Had to pay over $1200 to get the ball joints replaced by the dealer.

 

[adsm08]

The only problem with my truck that wasn't normal wear and tear was the trans giving out, and that was my fault for listening to Charlie and putting Merc in a FM145.

DOH!