Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - 1983 - 2012 Ranger & B-Series

Recommend a Code Scanner;

Supercab — Tue, 12 May 2026 18:43:04 GMT

I'm looking for a code scanner to be able to read any codes that might come up on say a 2000-2011 Ranger, 2013-current Escapes and MAY BE 1999-2003 7.3 Power Stroke Diesels.
(I have a 7.3 truck but "most" small scale scanners can't read Diesel stuff...and I realize I may need to get a specialized one to handle that.
Thanks All!!

1989 Ranger 2.3 Help

817Taylor — Mon, 11 May 2026 13:55:10 GMT

1989 Ranger 2.3 5 speed manual steering no ac
So Ive been chasing this issue for a bit now.
I have random miss fires at idle, but it isnt like, horrible.
I changed plug wires, truck did good for a while. Then it started throwing codes again. Changed the ignition coils on both sides. Stopped throwing codes did good for a week. Now its throwing codes again and missfiring at idle once its warmed up. Typically Ill drive to work and as soon as I have to go to neutral to coast down to speed because traffic or coming to a red-light if city driving, CEL comes on and it'll randomly miss sometimes
codes I have
KOEO
81 and 88
KOER
18 and 98

Any help would be extremely helpful Im at a loss on this one.

2001 Ranger XLT Hard Shift

LFDavidson — Sun, 10 May 2026 22:22:32 GMT

82,000 miles on the truck and belongs to a friend of mine. A week ago when driving the truck for a few hours it started running rough and kept dying. It was also shifting hard. After babying it along and getting fresh gas and stp gas treatment it seems to be back to running good except it is still shifting hard into gears including reverse. This truck has been rarely driven for the last 20 years. When I checked the transmission fluid it appears to be way over full but it has apparently been that way since 2002. The fluid looks clean and is not burnt. Any ideas on the hard shifting and maybe if it was related to the dying a week ago.

Is it ok to use 75W-140 on a 1998 Ranger axle?

WhoKnew — Thu, 07 May 2026 14:04:59 GMT

Have daily driven this lil'capo since 69k miles, now @130k. Pulled the axle plug out and found still very clean oil. Question is should I let it be or change it due to the miles & age?
Has Ford ok'd 75W140 synthetic via a new bulletin? Can somebody confirm that that is good on the this truck?
Found a $9.89 deal at Tractor Supply here.

Speed limiter

Frozen_Joker — Sun, 03 May 2026 00:02:25 GMT

My stepson was bought a 2001 Ranger as a gift from a family member. I was against it, but that's neither here nor there.

He is essentially VERY irresponsible and obsessed with impressing the wrong people. This was his first day driving it back from the dealer it was bought through about 60 miles away. We have Life360 and I watched him speed 5-10mph over the speed limit, which equated to about 25 over in the 15 mile work zone he went through. So he clearly did not LEARN a thing from all of our conversations with him. Before I make him pay for his own insurance and stuff, I would like to maybe tune a speed limiter in the truck or limit the RPMs. He doesn't haul anything, so I am not concerned about that.

What program/tool/tuner would you all suggest to use for this purpose? I've only really messed with tunes on a couple cars and it was to increase things. Lol. The Ranger has the V6 4�4. TIA.

Ack! My idle speed just went nuts!

TopsailBeachBum — Fri, 01 May 2026 23:05:27 GMT

I've been having minor issues for some months now where my 2WD 2007 Ranger XLT with 3.0 liter engine and automatic transmission started not wanting to start once it was warm. The first start from cold would crank for a couple of seconds, then start right up. Completely normal. Drive it five miles or more and the second time I wanted it to start it would crank forever without starting. I'd turn it off all the way to where I would be able to remove the key, but instead immediately turn it back to start and it would crank and start within a few seconds... not as fast as the first time but within 5-7 seconds. I could live with that. I had taken it to my usual mechanic but naturally it would run perfectly anytime he was standing in front of it. So I decided to just use it as it was until it became something I couldn't live with.

Late this afternoon, it became something I couldn't live with. I cranked it for the first time of the day (I'm retired and don't have to work) and it started right up... but the idle was fast, like around 2800 rpm fast. I kicked the gas pedal, thinking it would drop down to a slower speed but it immediately started pulsating between full throttle and droping back towards idle ever few seconds. Fast/less fast/fast/less fast ad nauseum. I shut it off.

I waited a minute and cranked it again. Mind you, my foot has not been on the gas during any of the cranking, but it immediately started pulsing fast/less fast until I shut it down after about four cycles of that.

I got in my car and drove to my mechanic's place of business so I would catch him before he closed. I told his front desk guy what was happening and made arrangements for them to send a tow truck to my house on Monday.

When I got home, I tried starting the truck again. It immediately started but it was faster than normal. At least it wasn't pulsating anymore. I eased on the gas and it went up to around 3000 rpm. When I came off the gas it idled at 2500 rpm. If I stepped on the brake for a few seconds, it would slow down the idle to about 1300 rpm until I touched the gas again. Every time I stepped gently on the gas it would accelerate back to around 2800-3000. Now remember, it never ran long enough to come up to a normal temperature. And that pulsation! That was insane.

What is going on with my truck? Anyone have a clue?

Name That Part

Rusty Bucket Ohio — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:08:53 GMT

I have an �03 Ranger 2.3
� the part I�m pointing to is leaking power steering fluid � what part an i asking for to replace it ?

Glitter in Oil - 3.0L V6

Compact.Truck — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 21:58:26 GMT

Hello,
I recently did an oil change after 3,000 miles and noticed glitter in the oil. I use Full Synthetic Mobil 1 and am on top of all my maintenance. Something happened in the last 3k miles I am trying to figure out what. I did discover a small leak, not dripping on the driveway and noticed the oil was at the MIN level a few weeks prior to the oil change, I topped it off at rechecked prior to oil change and it was within an acceptable range.

I sent the oil off for an analysis, linked below. The material was not magnetic. The truck runs and sounds great; I have not run it since finding the glitter. The oil analysis company is suggesting I look at bronze bushings within the engine for wear. As noted in their recommendation, they want me to run it and send off a second sample after 5K, I am not comfortable doing this as I think it will further damage the engine. I was planning on feeding it rods, looking at the pickup tube and going from there. I would love the input of someone smarter than me. This is the Vulcan engine, 3.0L V6.

1999 Ford Ranger stolen catalytic converters

Hockeygoon — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:46:06 GMT

My son parked his 1999 Ford Ranger for a couple months while he was shipped to another part of the country. Naturally when he returned home he learned some crack head stole the cats off of his Ranger. This is a 1999 Ford Ranger 3.0 V6 with manual transmission. Shop cost to replace the cats is $1500 plus. Shop suggested just skipping them, repair the exhaust and drive it. Does the engine run rich without the cats? Can you get the "dummy sensors" that will feed back a "normal" signal to the computer to get the engine to run as it should and not have CEL?

Need some advice....

Donnphilpot — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:05:43 GMT

So Im rebuilding my fame and noticed so much rust and everything behind the coil tower. So to fix the future problem I removed the rivets... what bolts are best to replace with?? 95 ford ranger and also what is the best heat and noise insulation for inside the cab?