Evening all...

My bro-in-law is shopping for a truck, and is looking at an 03 Ranger. Anybody have any input on its reliability? Anything I/we should look out for?

He's not that mechanically inclined, so I know if anything went wrong he'd end up taking it to a mechanic. Hate to see him go broke...

Any input is welcomed, even the bad stuff. Thanx!

 

I have an 03 4 wheel drive with the 4.0L and I can say that the engine has been great...no issues what so ever. Overall interior and exterior quality is decent...I've had the truck since new and now have about 75K on it...everything seems to be holding up as well as it can with the rough New England (salted road) winters. Couple of minor rust spots developing around chips and such..no big deal really.
Now for the bad news...I have the Level II off road edition and have had nothing but trouble with the rear end...have had it rebuilt 3 times now, all under my extended warranty thankfully.
In hind sight, I'm not sure I'd buy this truck again if I could go back in time...but overall the only real problem has been that rear end...which, depending on what model he is looking at may not even be the same as mine...I believe that only the FX4 LII got that larger Torsen rear end...so the other 95% of the rangers out there may not have any trouble at all...hopefully some others will ring in with their experiences as well.

 

There weren't any real issues with the 03's.

 

Some 02 and 03 FX4 Level II trucks had bad rear ends from Torsen, but beyond mid 03 to late 2007 the Level II trucks have been good. The Level II and FX-4 Level I are the same except interior color(black with level II usually, early ones were tan or black), rear axle (31 spline 8.8" with clutchless helical gear limited slip on level II, 28 spline 8.8" with clutch packs, a Ford limited slip with a lower bias ratio), chrome tow hooks on the level II, Rear tow hook optional on level II (defeats trailer tow package), silver guage surrounds on the 04+ level II, Alcoa aluminum forged wheels on level II (can order painted dark grey on 05+), BFG all terrain 31s on level II, Bilstein shocks on level II. The level II is a very good off road package, and so is the FX-4.
The FX-4 non level II has upgraded shocks, #1 torsion bars (although some configurations also came with #1 bars) they are the stiffest, most pre load, an 8.8" rear end which also came on other 4.0 V6 4x4 trucks, among other stuff.

-To answer the reliability question,
-Some 02/03 had torsen rear problems... look for this on the FX-4 non level II (has wheels with spokes and chrome front tow hooks) in 2002, and the FX-4 Level II in 2003. Before 2003 the FX-4 Level II was just the FX-4, but got is name changed in 2003.
-Some people have a clunk when they get back on the accelerator, which usually is due to the splines on the driveshaft needing to be greased
-Some have complained about auto transmission problems.
-Some have had manual transmission clutch problems, like weird noises

Thats all I know about... hope it helps

 

I bought my '03 FX4 new and it's been an excellent truck. It has almost 70k miles on it. It a 4.0-Automatic. Just perform regular maintenence on it.

 

My 03 Edge has been trouble free. It is 4WD has a standard transmission and the 3.0 engine. Oh, it has around 55000 miles on it.

 

No, there's no problems aia know of with an 03 that I know of, you should be good to go.