1997 Ford Ranger XLT Super Cab review from North America

All of these things needed to be fixed when I bought the truck.

Transmission had been worked on before and keepers were left out. This caused metal shavings which got into the bearings and tore up synchronizers.

Changed clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, and slave cylinder while tranny was out (these were not bad yet, but changed them anyway to save work later).

Bulbs were missing from dome light due to door latch switch. Put bulbs in and sprayed the switch, works fine now.

Gas tank leaked, fuel pump gasket was put in wrong.

Whoever changed the spark plugs last evidently didn't think the extra four plugs were necessary and didn't change them, The electrodes were burned completely out. I changed all eight and got a large increase in power.

Once in a while the wipers come on by themselves, not bad enough to work on yet. Just turn the switch on and back off and they behave for a while.

Heater control valve was stuck closed, easy and cheap to change.

There is a large hole cut in the bed above the fuel pump and covered with a bed liner (found it when I stepped in it).

Whoever had this truck before was either an idiot or had one for a mechanic because most of the problems were caused by stupid mistakes (tranny, gas leak, spark plugs, and hole in bed).

I live in the Ozark Mountains where the roads look like a roller coaster, the truck handles the hills and curves just fine and runs with the traffic on the interstate. Everyone complains about the lack of power from the four cylinder. If you want power, get a bigger engine. Personally I would rather saved gas at these prices.

I only gave $1800 and my old rusted out, oil dumping and knocking gas hog for this little truck. Not a bad deal even with the repairs considering the lower insurance and large difference in gas mileage and oil consumption. I used to get about 15 miles per gallon if I really babied the old truck, now I get about 25.

This truck uses no oil, which is extremely good considering the mileage (the old one used a quart every 200 miles).