Hi everyone I'm new here and a owner of a 2003 Ford Ranger XLT 3.0. I am a diehard Ford fan and Ford blood runs through my veins. My dad retired from the Ford Stamping plant in Ford City Illinois back in 81 after 26 years being it's inspector.

My question is on the 3.0 engine, stock it say's it to be 154 horses and wonder if this is underated? From a dead stop if I floor the gas taking a right turn it will burn rubber at a great distance to my surprise and at speeds of 75 the power at the pedal is unreal as I blew pass a Chevy V-8 the other day that was trying to get out of my way as well tried to keep up with me. The odometer say's 120 and I know without a doubt it will do all of it.

Thanks for any comments on this and great forum.

Mackoo

 

It's probably more over rated than under rated. IMHO

 

The engine isn't the best truck engine but if you keep it above 3000rpms it has good power, it has great reliability.

 

I just have one question How much crack did you smoke to decide that a 3.0 would beat a chevy v8? Just kidding, but come on these things are not fast. I have modified my truck, and my best friend's stock 94 chevy 1/2 ton still kills my truck in acceleration. I wish I had the same experiences as you, but before the chip my truck was pathetic at 75 or above. I mean come on its a taurus motor in a truck. I don't mean to make anyone mad. I mean hey thats what I have in my truck , so I obviously don't hate it or anything.The motor will last forever, but built for performance it is not.

 

It won't win the Indy, but it sure runs my Ranger OK. Depends on what you want to do!

 

All I can say is I have the same engine in a 86 Sable and have a 3.8 in a 90 Thunderbird and it doesn't compare to the performance coming out of this truck's 3.0. I mean look I'm burning rubber for goodness sake! And it's STOCK and at freeway speeds I can accelerate from 75 miles an hour and be on 110 in no time before I let up because I don't need a ticket. I do this by clicking off the overdrive to up the RPM's and the pedal feels like raw power from there and it's a 5 speed automatic or as some say slowmatic duh.

As far as the outside I have a cover over the bed that helps wind resistance and going down the freeway is smoothville.

I'm serious here guys this truck kicks and you can feel it good as it jerks you back in the seat but it's not grandma thats for sure.

The first time my brother sat in the passenger sit I floored it from a dead stop and the words that came out of his mouth were DUDE! WHAT'S UNDER THE HOOD! And I said just a little ol' 3.0 V-6 and he said NO WAY! NO WAY! I'm thinking about building up the horses some more but don't want to mess up the warranty any suggestions?

Oh one more thing this truck's exhaust has 5 Calalic Converters running under there yes 5 and for what reason I have no clue.

Mackoo

 

Hmm... how did you get around the speed limiter?

 

Durning the break in period I was going down the freeway at 70 miles an hour the speed limit and accelerated and when it hit on 80 it seemed to buck or want to stall and my nephew said you might have a speed limiter on here so I didn't mess with it anymore. Since the break in 1000 miles there as been no stall's or bucks as I say but flat out speed beyond the 80 miles an hour mark that's all I know and don't know anything about a speed limiter except for the NASCAR'S that have them.

Mackoo

 

I don't know why people complain about the 3.0 liter so much. True, it is nothing compared to the 4.0, but just be friggin thankful you are not relying on the little 2.5L 4cyl. 120HP and it suits me just fine. And with the 5spd I spin the tires even when I don't want to. I've never been beat by a vehicle with an automatic transmission (I'm not dumb enough to go up against /real/ vehicles like Mach 1's and 'vettes) I guess I'm just saying you have more power than us less fortunate 4cyl owners. Be thankful for that. One other thing, step up parts are readily available for you. I challenge anyone to find more than a throttle body spacer for a 4cyl.

 

Being a 4.0 owner, I don't like the 3.0 too much, and if you have onew that feels fast, then you are very lucky. I'm guessing it's a 2wd, because I've driven a few 4x4's with the 3.0 and I have decided that I will never have less than a 4.0. Either that, or you don't know what real power is. J/K, top end is where the 3.0 is most comfortable, it gets its peak torque at 3900 RPM's and peak HP at 5200 RPM, so I'm guessing that at the higher speeds and keeping it reved, it will tend to show its power better. Over 4500 RPM's youre probably getting more torque than my OHV 4.0, which is much more comfortable under 4000 RPM. I'm just surprised to see a post of someone thinking the 3.0 is underrated, usually it's the other way around.

 

3.slow parts aren't exactly *that*common....plenty of good stuff for the 4 bangers if you look, especially since the SVO Mustang types have been fooling with the engine for AGES! (Racerwalsh, Esslinger, etc, if you want more than external bolt-on paperweight garbage)

My gripe with the 3.0 is the fact that mpg's aren't much better than a 4.0L. but I'm not a v6 fan as it is.....I6 or I-anything, really.

 

The 2003 model Ranger's have a 92 MPH speed limiter - I believe this is due to tire restrictions - the engine 'detunes' itself and feels like it is stalling. How did you get above 92MPH - you can't even do it down hill as the engine acts as a breaking device. PS any one can spin a tire making a turn - unless you have lockers....

 

I'm going to give this truck another run down the freeway and see how far I get without stalling if it stall's but the feel and power at the pedal at higher RPM'S with the overdrive OFF feels like it would do all the 120 on there though I haven't had it there but could sware I was at 110 when I let up but I will check again. Could it be possible the speed limiter on my truck if there is one is not working? Just a thought.

Now if I have the overdrive on there is less RPM'S and less RPM'S the less likely you will get to the peak horsepower is my understanding and the truck does feel like a grandma with the overdrive on compared to it off but still has impressive performance.

I know power I have been cruising around with a friend of mine who has a 2004 Mustang GT 4.6 SOHC V8 rated 260 horse's and I'm sure will dust me in my truck but a person can feel if a car or truck has some power I'm sure and even my friend say's this truck of mine is different so this was the reason of my orginal post not to brat or anything but to get answers to see what is up with this truck. I was even thinking about upgrading to a new Edge 4.0 BOY LOVE the Edge but decided to just wait.

But thanks for the replies I'm taking them all in and really appreciate ever one of them.

Mackoo

 

The 3.0 is fine for me, it's got plenty of pickup, but then again, I've been driving little 4 bangers for a long time now.

My family has a Dakota v6, stick, i'm pretty sure the dakota would win, but i'm happy with the power. Course, i didn't buy it to hotrod it. If I was going to do that, I would have gotten a Mustang GT. :P

 

My '99 4X4 3.0 is a little better than the '97 2.3 I used to have. But my '95 4X2 3.0 is quicker than both, but nothing like the results that Mackoo has.