1997 Ford Ranger XLT from North America - Comments

15,000 miles - Turn signal and windshield wiper electronics replaced (wipers would come on spontaneously)

30,000 miles - rear shocks leaking oil, worn out. Replaced by dealer as still under warranty.

55,000 miles - front brakes wear indicator making noise. Pads replaced, disks resurfaced. Not bad longevity on the brakes since I am a late and hard braker. Brakes were good after service.

60,000 miles - inside dome lights would stay on after doors closed, engine off.

Not under warranty, all troubleshooting failed, so took out the bulbs.

62,000 miles - battery died; replaced at my cost with new heavy-duty battery and no problems since.

64,000 miles - rear brake service due to wear indicator noise. Rear shoes replaced, and drums resurfaced. noticed braking was a little spongy, but I didn't think anything of it until I was adding window washer fluid 3 weeks later and noticed that the master cylinder cap was off (horrified). I went back to dealer, and they did not argue, flushed the brake system, added clean fluid, and replaced cap. Brakes worked fine after this. (morale of the story - ALWAYS look under the hood after every service to make sure everything is still there.)

65,000 miles - new tires put on due to OEM tires worn out - very good tread life so replaced them with the exact same Firestone tires - (unlike the tires that received all the attention for blowouts, these Firestone tires performed flawlessly)

At 78,000 miles, the check engine light came on. Oil pressure and engine temperature were fine, so I drove to the dealer. they said it was the mass airflow sensor, and/or oxygen sensor. they wanted $340 to replace (out of warranty) so I said I would do it myself. They then offered to cut the price in half, for parts and installation. I let them change the parts (both). Two weeks later, the light came on again. I took it back, and they said they had to do some "adjustments". The light went off for a month then came back on. I have ignored it since, the engine runs smoothly with problems.

80,000 miles - OEM rear shocks worn out again, leaking oil. (lasted well because I carry up to 1/4 ton of concrete in bed fairly frequently).

Overall a good value - I paid $10,500 new off the dealer's lot. So far no major issues. I do change my motor oil religiously every 3,000 miles.

PROS - Handles well, steers and tracks very well, fun to drive. Economical, up to 24 mpg on the highway with a light foot. Manual transmission works well with 4-cylinder engine. low maintenance.

CONS - 4 cylinder engine is underpowered with medium load or with A/C on (learned to live with it). Dealer service support mediocre.

Suspension occasionally misbehaves if you hit a series of large bumps at speed when rear is not loaded down, can be predicted.

Overall, I have learned to love this little truck's reliability especially since it has been worked very hard.

I would not buy another Ford (or American car) because of quality control issues, but I don't regret buying this Ranger, it has been a good truck so far.

I am overly enthusiastic about my '97 Ford Ranger XLT--> it's sort of like Americans made a vehicle which is totally reliable.

I have 125,000 miles onb it right now--I change oil and filter every 4,000 highway miles. I am hard on clutches and changed it once at 90,000 miles. It is easy on tires (balanced and rotated every 5,000 miles, never uses any oil, fairly easy to do-it-yourself spark plug change... easy on brakes (one change so far,,,) good mileage (about 23/gal.).

I messed up (I think) a vacuum hose or something on my last oil filter change, and therefore the slow idle almost dies--I trust there is an easy solution to this. I love my 97 Ranger XLT--best of the 15 cars I have ever owned!

Amazing. I've had most of the same problems (brakes/tires/batteries don't count)

29,800 miles - Turn signal and windshield wiper electronics replaced (wipers would come on spontaneously) - Fixed Under warranty. I got lucky.

60,000 miles - rear shocks leaking oil, worn out. Still have not fixed this.

100,000 miles - inside dome lights would stay on after doors closed, engine off. Only happened for a few weeks, then went away.

At 80,000 miles, the check engine light came on. Still comes on and goes off for weeks at a time. I've tried going to shop 3 times, and it always goes off the Friday or Saturday before I am supposed to go.

Ford check engine lights are VERY sensitive and come on for virtually no reason at all. Ours would come on if we went too long between oil changes. It can also be a stopped up vent in the gas cap (I had that happen, like to NEVER found what it was). We've driven Fords for decades, and the mileage champ in our family was one that went 320,000+ miles with virtually zero problems. I loved all my Rangers (I've had 3) and never had a problem with any of them.

05-26-07

I had some of the problems listed above, specifically the dome light problem (I pulled the fuse, but lost 4WD capability) and that "check engine light". Every time I changed the oil or battery, it would go out for about a week. A friend said that it could be the octane rating that was the problem. I originally bought the Ranger in PA. I returned from an overseas assignment (Iceland, USAF), decided to buy a Ranger (brand new and then drove it to New Mexico (Kirtland AFB). The octane ratings back east were 87,89,91 respectfully and out in NM they are 86,88,90. I tried changing octanes to be above the 87 recommended octane, it worked for about a day and then came back on.

For everyones problem with their dome lights, I know most have pulled their bulbs, but there is a better way. Take off the cover, there are three (3) screws that hold up the asembly, remove the back one (the one closest to the back window), put your bulbs back in, and the cover back on. This won't give you courtesy lights, but it will give you reading lights (the black switch). When the switch (on the light itself) is in the center position the (dome) lights are off, and when pushed to either side it lights that side. If yours is the type with no switch on it (some XL models) I guess you'll have to settle for the "no bulbs" solution.

For those with dome lights that won't turn off..

Easy fix! The switch in the door is stuck. Spray some wd-40 in the door latch mechanism in the door (both)

Work the door a few times and the switch will free itelf and work fine.

Going on 2 years since I did that and it has fixed the problem.