Thread: Ford ranger 2 litre bi turbo

Maybe a 3.2l would be better suited for this application for towing long term. Not to say the 2.0l wouldn't be fine but I would be interested to see the longevity comparison of a relatively small engine with every ounce of power being squeezed out of it particularly when towing heavy loads.

Originally Posted by Maca49

@BRADS, go onto the Facebook Ford Ranger owners. Read it and weep. I have stop reading it as it’s very depressing, my 3.2 just flicked 271k, I’ve had a great run. I guess on numbers sold in NZ compared with any other Ute, it just looks worse.
If I was buying new again, I’d buy another 3.2 Ranger auto.
If you get a turbo’d 2litre, make sure it has COSWORTH on the head

Yeah, as far as I can tell it's the same - no worse or better than any other ute but they keep a lot of outfits in work just with the shear number of Rangers on the road. A lot of it I think is down to servicing - if a lot more outfits ran OBDII datalogging I'm sure a lot of the issues could be picked up before failure. I know with mine we have found a lot of stuff that wouldn't have been picked up at service time but could have taken something critical out.

Hilux

Yeah, but in reality they are no better. Different 'usual things' that keep cropping up, not a lot of coin in it when it comes to the expensive mechanical repairs and things like injector cost. Not as comfortable to drive, definitely no where near as much room in cab as the Ranger (very unimpressed with the mate's new hybrid hilux) and to top it off not quite in the same league as a tow vehicle. Appears a lot more thirsty too which is just another cost at the end of the day. On the plus side the hilux appears to have much more capable suspension fitted from the factory, this is one thing that Ford has not got right with the Ranger. Fine when the vehicle is brand new and unloaded, but take it to max axle weight and then expect it to handle nicely and not thump the bump stops and prepare to be sorely disappointed. Kudos to Toyota for this detail to be fair.

One of the most common engines our reconditioner sees, apparentley they do quite good grenade impersonations

A friend who works for a joinery factory does their deliveries. Towing a trailer around the north island. They sold their old 3.2 and replaced it with a bi turbo. Within 6 months both turbos had blown oil seals and needed replacement. Admittedly it's driven towing close to maximum load most of the time. Terry did say it went up the brenderwyns like they weren't there.

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

Hilux

Haha, when I looked at a new range, FX4? The guy gave me a Hilux for a couple of days, the things I remember, fuel consumption, horrible ride and a POWER button wtf!, was years behind the FX4. They may have caught up now.

Originally Posted by Maca49

Haha, when I looked at a new range, FX4? The guy gave me a Hilux for a couple of days, the things I remember, fuel consumption, horrible ride and a POWER button wtf!, was years behind the FX4. They may have caught up now.

No, you're about right - the new hilux does appear to simply be a tart up of the earlier chassis with a big battery added in and some safety and anti-collision 'driver frustration' devices bolted on. That being said, it still does what it says on the label which is a fairly no-frills work truck. It is a fair bit behind other options in the Toyota stable in terms of driving experience, but the Hilux always was in my experience of them.

As far as the 2L engine grenading, it's pretty much across the board for the heavily forced induction small engines not something that is exclusive to the Ranger. Nissan gets a big tick for internal bits ending up outside, and turbo's are pretty much on a rotating service time schedule as far as I can tell. A mate went through 5 on his Nissan before it got driven into and he negotiated to take the write off payout...

There was a similar thread a few moons ago when some one said... you can't beat displacement.

My 2.8 prado tows better and is faster on the road than my ranger 2L bi.

That you cannot. As far as towing, the more power you can get at low RPM (before the hair dryer can do anything) the better off you are. Otherwise, you're running to the limit of the design and materials spec'd internally and also the clearances for oils. In the old days, it was pretty standard to run basically 25thou clearances and the oils were spec'd to match. Now the clearances are much closer and the the oils much skinnier and relying on the tech and the additives to keep the metal bits apart. And stretching the service intervals right out which is OK in normal service, but as soon as you start towing 100% of the time you're in severe duty and not one of the sealers advises you to close your service times up in this case!

Originally Posted by Billbob

My 2.8 prado tows better and is faster on the road than my ranger 2L bi.

10speed or 6 speed man?

Well from what I'm seeing on the world wide web, the smaller Ford eco boost engines are quite a poor design especially when used in the bigger trucks.
They will not last and are hidesously expensive to fix when the do fail

I think one of the small engine designs relies on a 'wet belt' or a timing belt running through the crank case oil pan. Not something that appeals to me as a startlingly blindingly great idea coming from a place of brilliance...

Originally Posted by No.3

I think one of the small engine designs relies on a 'wet belt' or a timing belt running through the crank case oil pan. Not something that appeals to me as a startlingly blindingly great idea coming from a place of brilliance...

Yep some transhits have them