Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and - Joined
- Jan 16, 2026
- Messages
- 1
- Points
- 1
- City
- Oaktown
- State - Country
- CA - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 2008
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 2WD
- Engine
- 2.3 (4 Cylinder)
- Transmission
- Automatic
Hi and thanks in advance for your help.
Total newbie here and this is my first Ranger so feel free to go easy on me. Been driving myself nuts the past few days trying to figure this out by endless internet searching and reading. No dice. I bow to your superior knowledge and humbly ask y'all to educate me.
VEHICLE:
2008 Ranger, 4 cyl., automatic trans
NEED:
I need a rock-solid way to evaluate the condition of motor and transmission without being able to test drive, get stored codes, or run any KOEO or KOER tests.
URGENCY:
High. Being pressured by insurance company to make very quick decision re whether or not we'll buy back the truck they've declared a total loss. (If we keep it we'll have to pay the insurance company whatever the truck's worth as salvage). Can't afford to end up with a salvage truck that needs a bunch of motor or transmission work.
THE BIG QUESTION:
Given that there are no stored codes and it's totally impossible to do a test drive, and given that, unless someone knows some cool trick(s), it's totally impossible to run KOEO and KOER tests (see below if reasons why are important to you)...
Is there a way, using a good off-the-shelf OBD2 scanner, to run some other tests that add up to being as good as, if not even better than, the KOEO and KOER tests as a way to size up the motor and transmission?
Like maybe using a bidirectional scanner to tell the truck to run whatever tests?
(but I'm not even sure if the 2008 ranger can do anything bidirectional, couldn't figure that out on the internet)
Or maybe by capturing the "right" or "best" real-time data?
Or by doing something else I'm currently unaware of?
MORE CONTEXT:
* Motor starts and runs
* Engine sounds and looks generally okay
* Everything under the truck looks intact and okay
* Transmission condition unknown, haven't tried it yet
* Keep alive memory was wiped (battery was removed), so no stored codes and can't run KOEO and KOER tests (DTC P1000 aka "OBD Systems Readiness Test Not Complete")
* Even if trans is ok, truck isn't drivable more than approx 20 feet either forward or reverse (making it impossible to do the drive cycle required before being allowed to run KOEO and KOER tests)
* Aside from the mechanical unknowns, damage is just cosmetic and we're not worried about being able to get that stuff fixed up
* If no big/expensive motor or trans work is needed, the truck is probably worth keeping (it's been well cared for and it's been good to us)
* I have a decent off-the-shelf scanner already and can get a better one if need be
* I have an okay basic set of mechanic tools and whatever tools I don't have, I can get
* I know a fair amount and have decent mechanical and technical skills - I was a teenage mutant motorhead and grownup junkyard dawg, but that was back in the caveman days when the machines were simpler and way less digital, and I swore it off a long time ago - nowadays I don't have the inclination or patience for good troubleshooting or wrenching. So even though we've had this truck for a good while, I've never done any of the work on it. So all things considered, getting into hands-on/wrenches-on/mulitmeters-on troubleshooting and diagnostics on this truck right now would be a big learning curve, and I don't have the time for that. And plus dammit I just plain don't like doing it anymore.
But, as we all know deep down inside, being a motorhead and junkyard dawg is like being a mafioso or a CIA agent: no matter what you think or do, and whatever you say to yourself or anyone else, you can never really quit the brotherhood. So I'm glad as hell y'all are here for me. I know that collectively you've got all the answers and knowledge and skills and talents and tricks we'll ever need. I know y'all can tell me exactly how to size this thing up proper so I'm not stuck with a dud.
Hit me with whatever you got, looking forward to hearing it. Ask questions, glad to answer. You rule.
Thanks again in advance.
KnuckleDragger
Total newbie here and this is my first Ranger so feel free to go easy on me. Been driving myself nuts the past few days trying to figure this out by endless internet searching and reading. No dice. I bow to your superior knowledge and humbly ask y'all to educate me.
VEHICLE:
2008 Ranger, 4 cyl., automatic trans
NEED:
I need a rock-solid way to evaluate the condition of motor and transmission without being able to test drive, get stored codes, or run any KOEO or KOER tests.
URGENCY:
High. Being pressured by insurance company to make very quick decision re whether or not we'll buy back the truck they've declared a total loss. (If we keep it we'll have to pay the insurance company whatever the truck's worth as salvage). Can't afford to end up with a salvage truck that needs a bunch of motor or transmission work.
THE BIG QUESTION:
Given that there are no stored codes and it's totally impossible to do a test drive, and given that, unless someone knows some cool trick(s), it's totally impossible to run KOEO and KOER tests (see below if reasons why are important to you)...
Is there a way, using a good off-the-shelf OBD2 scanner, to run some other tests that add up to being as good as, if not even better than, the KOEO and KOER tests as a way to size up the motor and transmission?
Like maybe using a bidirectional scanner to tell the truck to run whatever tests?
(but I'm not even sure if the 2008 ranger can do anything bidirectional, couldn't figure that out on the internet)
Or maybe by capturing the "right" or "best" real-time data?
Or by doing something else I'm currently unaware of?
MORE CONTEXT:
* Motor starts and runs
* Engine sounds and looks generally okay
* Everything under the truck looks intact and okay
* Transmission condition unknown, haven't tried it yet
* Keep alive memory was wiped (battery was removed), so no stored codes and can't run KOEO and KOER tests (DTC P1000 aka "OBD Systems Readiness Test Not Complete")
* Even if trans is ok, truck isn't drivable more than approx 20 feet either forward or reverse (making it impossible to do the drive cycle required before being allowed to run KOEO and KOER tests)
* Aside from the mechanical unknowns, damage is just cosmetic and we're not worried about being able to get that stuff fixed up
* If no big/expensive motor or trans work is needed, the truck is probably worth keeping (it's been well cared for and it's been good to us)
* I have a decent off-the-shelf scanner already and can get a better one if need be
* I have an okay basic set of mechanic tools and whatever tools I don't have, I can get
* I know a fair amount and have decent mechanical and technical skills - I was a teenage mutant motorhead and grownup junkyard dawg, but that was back in the caveman days when the machines were simpler and way less digital, and I swore it off a long time ago - nowadays I don't have the inclination or patience for good troubleshooting or wrenching. So even though we've had this truck for a good while, I've never done any of the work on it. So all things considered, getting into hands-on/wrenches-on/mulitmeters-on troubleshooting and diagnostics on this truck right now would be a big learning curve, and I don't have the time for that. And plus dammit I just plain don't like doing it anymore.
But, as we all know deep down inside, being a motorhead and junkyard dawg is like being a mafioso or a CIA agent: no matter what you think or do, and whatever you say to yourself or anyone else, you can never really quit the brotherhood. So I'm glad as hell y'all are here for me. I know that collectively you've got all the answers and knowledge and skills and talents and tricks we'll ever need. I know y'all can tell me exactly how to size this thing up proper so I'm not stuck with a dud.
Hit me with whatever you got, looking forward to hearing it. Ask questions, glad to answer. You rule.
Thanks again in advance.
KnuckleDragger
