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Hi!
I have a 2001 Ranger XL 2.3l 4cyl. I've had it since it had about 50k miles on it, and have in the last 5 years brought it up to 187k. I do all of the maintenance and repairs myself, with my trusty Hanes manual as backup. I've spent a lot of hours tooling around in the garage, and I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy around, but the truck purrs like a kitten and starts up without a hitch.
I've replaced the starter, alternator, and battery. I've also done the parking brake cable, my front brakes (rotors, pads, calipers, etc), wheel bearings, coolant resevoir, water pump and the fuel pump. Most of this within the first 20k miles that I put on the truck. The only repair I've had professionally completed was a plastic coolant manifold that was located on the backside of the engine because I didn't have a lift and couldn't figure out how I was going to get to it.
I do routine oil changes, tune-ups, and the like. I've learned almost everything I know about working on cars from tooling around on this truck, and I got to say I really love it.
Unfortunately, the truck has seen better days, not least because lately I've been broke as a joke, so repairs have been going into Triage in conjunction with someone running into my truck while it was parked.
This truck is a passion for me - my wife hates that I refuse to let go of something with no "value". I take a lot of crap for putting tires on it, for example, when the car is barely worth more than the new tires, but I can't stand to see it go. It's been there over a hundred thousand miles for me, and crossed the country north to south, east to west. I'd take it anywhere, even though it's showing it's age.
I'm here to learn and share my experiences with my ranger, especially since I'm getting back in the saddle. I'm still catching up on the minor, non-essential repairs, but with a state safety inspection coming up some items can't be ignored for long!
Any insights I can provide along the way can hopefully help others, and I look forward to learning from people who know a lot more about what they're doing than me.
I have a 2001 Ranger XL 2.3l 4cyl. I've had it since it had about 50k miles on it, and have in the last 5 years brought it up to 187k. I do all of the maintenance and repairs myself, with my trusty Hanes manual as backup. I've spent a lot of hours tooling around in the garage, and I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy around, but the truck purrs like a kitten and starts up without a hitch.
I've replaced the starter, alternator, and battery. I've also done the parking brake cable, my front brakes (rotors, pads, calipers, etc), wheel bearings, coolant resevoir, water pump and the fuel pump. Most of this within the first 20k miles that I put on the truck. The only repair I've had professionally completed was a plastic coolant manifold that was located on the backside of the engine because I didn't have a lift and couldn't figure out how I was going to get to it.
I do routine oil changes, tune-ups, and the like. I've learned almost everything I know about working on cars from tooling around on this truck, and I got to say I really love it.
Unfortunately, the truck has seen better days, not least because lately I've been broke as a joke, so repairs have been going into Triage in conjunction with someone running into my truck while it was parked.
This truck is a passion for me - my wife hates that I refuse to let go of something with no "value". I take a lot of crap for putting tires on it, for example, when the car is barely worth more than the new tires, but I can't stand to see it go. It's been there over a hundred thousand miles for me, and crossed the country north to south, east to west. I'd take it anywhere, even though it's showing it's age.
I'm here to learn and share my experiences with my ranger, especially since I'm getting back in the saddle. I'm still catching up on the minor, non-essential repairs, but with a state safety inspection coming up some items can't be ignored for long!
Any insights I can provide along the way can hopefully help others, and I look forward to learning from people who know a lot more about what they're doing than me.
