Problems with 2000 Ford Ranger ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

I took the truck to have muffler replaced and behind both front wheels the frame is rotten to the point it is no longer safe to drive. 3 years ago i had the tie rod end fall out in the driveway. the truck runs great, body is still shiny and in good shape but the frame is totally rotten. when the truck was about 4 years old the oil pan rotted out and to replace it the motor has to be pulled. i maintained the truck well only to find out it is junk at 78,000 miles and only worth junk price. seem i am not the only one with this happening. i have always bought ford trucks but not anymore. *tr

I was driving in my truck, which is a 2000 ford ranger, and the engine totally failed on me while merging onto the highway. upon further investigation, i noticed my cam synchro was almost entirely stripped of it's teeth. luckily, i was still in an exit lane, so pulling over to safety was not an issue (thank god, my power steering and brakes were gone at this point). i have heard of this incident happening in many other rangers as well. however, this incident has set me back on my daily driving vehicle, now i must make new travel arrangements to my 30-mile commute to work. i believe this is a faulty part, which has caused me to have a motor under seizure. it is locked up. now i must buy a new motor or vehicle.*tr

At 56,000 miles, this is the third time my truck has developed engine spontaneous racing even while in gear. this is a hazardous condition with potential injury/fatality. occurred at 22 k mi, 45 k mi, and now at 56 k mi. when it occurs vehicle wants to race ahead and crash unless taken out of gear when the engines races and sometimes won't stop unless i intentionally stall or turn off the engine while in traffic. it is not an incident, it is ongoing. i have used the dealer repair shop exclusively. they replaced the throttle position connector at 22k mi. they referred to technical service bulletin 00-3-5. i, of course, would like this fixed permanently as it gradually recurs more and more often to the point of several times a day. *tr

I bought a 2000 ford ranger. i have kept the all the upkeeps for this car and more according to the ford dealers instruction manual for the ford ranger truck. it has about 81000 miles on it. i recently had to pay $2300.00 to the kearny mesa ford to fix my car. i do have the cruise control on it. one day, i smelled antifreeze. my heat gadget did not go off. there was no indication that the truck was overheating, but i chose to bring it in. i thought it was probably a leak in a hose. it turned out the a heating element was "probably the culprit", but they found through their computers that the engine had to basically be rebuilt because the engine had overheated. my concern was that not once did my heating gauge tell me that the truck was overheating. that is dangerous. i do not know if this is connected to the cruise control problem, but for a heating gauge to not go off when there is sever heat going on in the engine is dangerous. i could have gotten stranded in a dangerous place or the engine may have exploded on the freeway with the enormous damage that took place. i thought this needed to be reported. ford couldn't tell me why the heating gauge did not work. they told me that now and then even trucks that are kept up go wrong. that is not a good answer when this could have caused a serious accident. *tr

I have a 2000 ford ranger xlt extended cab 4x4 i first started having trouble with the alternator it just stopped working, took to shop and the brushes on it was wore out had the replaced and it lasted 2 days and same problem so had to buy a new alternator at 300.00 it lasted 4 days took it back to parts store got a replacement and im still using it but it still isn't working as good as it should got stranded at 1230 am beside road with my daughter with me the first time, and when that happened that when my od light started flashing and the transmission wouldn't shift into the right gears had to manually shift it to get it to move took to shop noone could find the problem even putting it on the computer no codes was found ended up getting stranded again when train completely quit pulling had towed to shop and had to buy another train at 600.00 and that is 3 weeks pay for us but its the only vehicle we have so had to get it fixed looked to see if any recalls have been issued for this but none have but have seen many many complaints i think ford need to looking to this problem soon, it could cause an accident and someone could get seriously hurt. thanks have ready everyone's issues and have alot of the same with my truck. *tr

Ford 4.0l engine head gasket leakage, cause overheating of rings, cracked head, one new head, one rebuilt, without any over-temp indication. i could smell a slight odor of burned water for over 1 year, while never finding a leak. this expenditure of about $2k did not fix the problem, now i have relaxed rings, poor, but not bad compression, and use lots of oil, when i've babied this engine, done all my own work, and oil changes, and had less than 90,000 miles. this lack of power, then sudden decrease in compression caused the engine to buck severely, pointing me in all kinds of fuel and electrical areas of maintenance. at the same time, the check engine light came on, but would not allow me or anyone's code reader to read the problem... this lack of compression and engine demise came on unexpectedly, suddenly, and without notice over a one to two week period. a local autoshop owner of 35 years told me there was a service bulletin out on the head gasket, but as yet i have not found it. at present, after two heads were replaced, i can drive the vehicle, but cannot depend on low oil consumption... i never had any oil consumption problem before this event. *tr

Dt*: the contact stated the check engine light illuminated, even though the vehicle drove normally. the vehicle was taken to a dealer because it would not pass the state inspection. the dealer discovered the flexible fuel sensor deteriorated which may be due to the road salts used in the state of new york. it was taken to an independent repair shop for replacement of the flexible fuel sensor. this vehicle was manufactured by the california emission standards.*ak updated 01/25/06. *jb

Consumer stated: the serpentine belt went out twice and the pulley system had been replaced before the alternator went out, the abs light was on, then a warning light came on there were no brakes left, however, the car was still running. ford said it was normal for the brake to go out when alternator went out. *jb

Xlt 4x4 4.0l with only 38,500 sat for 2 days. when heading to work (1.7 miles away) noticed no heat out of blower..noticed temperature gauge near top. finsihed driving to work and temperature hit maximum, just before shutting off.found steam coming out of oil filler cap.dipstick was foamy. after tow to dealership, found out the intake manifold gasket had blown! the next day, dealership told me i need a new engine due to coolant in oil contamination. ford/dealership is paying for 75% and i have to pay 25% ($1000) out of my pocket. this is because the extended warranty (4 year/60,000) ran out in july. only 38,500 on odometer and this never should have happened! i cannot afford this! the loan was for 5 years ( july 2005). *ak

Driving on a semi rough road, stopped at a signal to make a left turn, light turned and i went. i pushed on the gas it would not go above idle speed. there was a strong smell of gas coming from the truck. i stopped and got out there was gas pouring out of the bottom of the truck. i decided to check the fuel filter out and the hose on the tank side had popped off. i reconnected it and it been fine since then. nothing was repaired or replaced. *ak

When coming to a stop or when making a turn in either direction vehicle stalled. vehicle only stalled when the fuel tank was half full.*ak

Tension spring on pully for serpintine belts has gone out twice in 38,000 miles, will cause car to stop or over heat in traffic.*ak

In november 2003 (or thereabouts) my ford 2000 ranger started making squealing sounds. the ford dealer from whom we purchased the truck (east bay ford in oakland) indicated that the serpentine belt needed to be replaced and did so. the belt failed again in december and we had it replaced. just two days after replacing it the second time it failed. at that time the truck had been driven to washington state. the belt still squeals. i am told by east bay ford that there is nothing they can do. that the part is defective. they promised to send me information on the part, but have failed to do so. do you have any information on this problem? east bay ford tells me there are no risks to having a defective serpentine belt, but i am very nervous driving around with a defective part in my vehicle -- plus is sounds awful!!*ak

Dealer had replaced three times the pulley of the serpentine belt. but noise problem still occurring.

At 50,000 miles, my ford ranger began experiencing a slipping transmission and failed to start. the problems were diagnosed as a failed gasket in the transmission, and a failed valve body part in the motor (which was fixed with an "update kit"). the dealer also indicated that the ball joints were beginning to fail, and a front pinion seal had begun to leak. *ak

Vehicle is exhibiting intermittent power loss and / or no throttle response from the position of one half thru full throttle at a ground speed of 28 to 70 mph. vehicle is also exhibiting intermittent problems of drive line clunking upon coast down of 30 to 5 mph as well as vibration felt thru the drivers seat and dashboard at 2000 rpm. *tt *nlm

There was a rattling noise coming from the engine, consumer was informed it was a characteristic of the vehicle.ts *jb

The engine is starting to make a "pinging" sound, the vehicle has been taken to the dealer but the noise was undetermined. the ford dealership reprogrammed the engine with a computer for calibration. while driving uphill the truck is sluggish, not responding to the accelerator pedal being pressed. the dealership is no longer performing any maintenance on the truck. owner would like you to reference his complaint to a complaint from the internet 761703. *nlm *dt

Oil is leaking from gasket while driving. dealer notified.*ak

Received this vehicle on -1/16/2000 every thing ran good for 6 mo. the engine started a to exhibit a engine spark knock (ping noise). i have had this vehicle in numus numerous times. each time that i had it in the dealership there was a failure to resolve the problem. i had several different service representatives telling different things about this problem. they concluded that i would have to run the vehicle with a more expensive fuel. without any compensation. this is in contradiction in of service manual which states these vehicles can be operated on a normal octane. this is an ongoing problem with this vehicle since i purchased new. the ping is more apparent in warm and dry climates. the dealership maintains that everything is in specs. ping from an engine is not a normal operating condition. i have wrote letters to the main customer service bureau for ford motor company. also to the lead service representative for the dealership. still after 2 1/2 years this problem still exists. in fact even with the higher octane fuels the 2.5 engine is still ping at highway speed. now they are stating to me, that this problem is beyond the scope of the warranty?*ak

I noticed a fairly large patch of oil beneath my truck when vehicle had been idle for a day or so. i crawled beneath vehicle and determined that a leak of some magnitude was occurring somewhere on the engine. notified dealership where vehicle serviced, but not purchased from. all service has been conducted at listed dealership. they determined that i had blown the rear main seal of the engine, and would require substantial repair. during the course of that repair, it was further detemined that the oil pan gasket was also in need of replacement. this more than doubled the repair cost to this vehicle. i am not particlulary mechanically inclined toward cars or trucks, but do consistantly maintain those that i am responsible for, and i have the documentation to verify that.. i drive my truck hard, but i don't abuse it. i feel that the amount of repair required for a vehicle that is less than three years old is way out of line. thank you.*ak

Engine is leaking oil, reoccurrences have caused consumer to take vehicle to dealer 7 times for the same problem, last repair was 1 year ago, vehicle is acting sluggish, the oil pan and rear mail oil seal was the cause of the oil leak.*ak. consumer also stated the the air conditioner was blowing out hot air, the dealer discovered that the compressor was leaking.*jb

Consumer had transmission replaced in november 2001. her husband found transmission fluid all over the garage. after checking carefully discovered that oil pan gasket was leaking. consumer complained that oil gasket kept popping out.*ak

The vehicle lost power while driving in third gear, the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem.ts *jb

There is a loud pinging noise coming from engine at all times, at any speed. dealer replaced computer module, and pinging noise was still there, just not as loud as before. consumer was told by mechanic this problem would ruin pistons. *ak

Engine was knocking at any speed, dealer said this was normal for this vehicle.*ak

While driving consumer noticed check engine light come on. when taken to dealer for service it was determined that #2 cylinder misfired. after taking vehicle from repairs check engine light came on again. when taken to dealer the second time it was determined to be the result of the same problem.*ak

While traveling 55mph or more steering wheel shakes and vibrates to point that driver's hands and arms go numb. dealer has replaced the motor mounts and transmission mounts, and problem still occurs. *ak

Vehicle not registering beyond 25mph. been to dealership in nc twice for problem. was repaired once, but problem reappeared after 600 miles.also, would not shift out of 1st or 2nd gears after coming to a stop. *ak

After driving 30 miles vehicle would intermittently commence to knock and stall. vehicle been in dealer shop on five occasions, and they are unable to locate problem. feel free to provide any further information on this matter.*ak

Both front shocks have leaked oil out, uneven tire wear, cracks inside bumper, headliner and other body joints shifting position, left radiator mount compressed badly. this is the second ranger i have seen this on today.*ak

Consumer was traveling about 15mph one street and she was making a turn, and she was smelling gas odor for a week. gasoline started pouring out onto the ground. vehicle was towed to the dealership. currently, vehicle has stalling problems. *ak

Took truck in at 5000 miles for engine problems-the said it was a carbon build up.took back in for engine a couple of months later for same problem -they replaced engine.that engine was bad took back in again and they replaced the engine again.then 1 1/2 months later took in for transmission problems-(not shifting into second gear) they fixed the tansmission.have hadtruck i 3 times for door ajar sensors going off.interior door handle falling off.tailgate doesn't operate propely.engine was making loud howling noise.many problems with this vehicle,totally undependable ford motor company says you bought it you're stuck with it.

I had a1999 ranger that was great, this truck has been a piece of truck since day 1. no safety defect mentioned in summary. *ak