Ford Ranger Engine Problems

This could be caused by something inside the engine bay rattling or vibrating, but could also be linked to the exhaust system or its heat-shielding doing the same thing. When you hit the accelerator up a hill, the engine and driveline (and exhaust) are suddenly put under a lot of stress which can be passed along any mechanical link or fixture, making things flex or vibrate that don’t normally do so when they aren’t subjected to the same stresses and loads.

When the engine is cold, have a feel around the engine bay to find anything loose or poorly mounted that could contribute to such vibrations. It could be as simple as a poorly located clamp of a loose piece of trunking or internal panelling vibrating against another part. Often these noises will be conveyed into the cabin via the fresh air vents, making them sound even louder.

Just be sure not to confuse a rattle with the normal cacophony of noises a modern turbo-diesel produces as part of operating under load.

I can see why the internet cohort might be confused by this question (and why your mate at the pub may or may not know what he’s talking about) because it’s a bit of a weird one. For reasons of friction reduction (efficiency) and reliability, the camshafts in the Ford Bi-turbo are driven by a rubber toothed belt. But – and here’s the strange bit – the belt is partially submerged in the oil in the engine’s sump, so it’s a 'wet' timing belt. While the vast majority of other rubber, toothed timing belts run in a 'dry' environment.

Ford reckons this gives the engine the low noise of a conventional rubber timing belt, combined with the low friction running of a conventional `wet’ timing chain. But the high-strength cords and the oil-resistant rubber the belt is made from, says Ford, also mean that it should last a lot longer than a conventional timing belt. While conventional belts should be changed between 80,000 and 120,000km (roughly speaking) the Ford belt is said to be good for 230,000km.

For the record, the Bi-turbo’s oil pump is driven by a second belt of the same construction.

Noisy tappets (also known as hydraulic lifters) are relatively common on engines that have done their fair share of work. By using oil pressure generated from the engine’s oil pump, the hydraulic lifter can adjust to maintain the perfect gap between itself and the engine’s intake and exhaust valves. This improves efficiency and reduces engine wear, so it’s an important job.

Over time, the lifters may become a bit lazy (or weak) and may not be able to maintain that correct gap. At which point the extra clearance causes the tapping sound we associate with worn lifters. Replacement is the solution, and best practice says replace them all at once on the basis that if one lifter is already weak, the rest won’t be too clever either.

However, there’s one thing you can try before that, and that is to give the engine an oil change with a high-detergent (as most diesel engine oils are) content oil and a clean filter. Sometimes, fresh oil will clear out a small piece of grit or rubbish that is blocking the oil flow to a lifter and restore it to full health.

This is one of those questions where there are no hard and fast answers. The lifespan of pretty much any automotive engine will be determined far more by the way it’s been used and maintained than any rule of thumb being tossed around the industry.

Vehicles that do mainly highway kilometres tend to last longer since the engine is under less stress than one idling in traffic and then accelerating from every traffic light. The same goes for vehicles that have never had a tow-bar fitted versus one that has hauled a three-tonne trailer every day of its life.

Servicing plays a huge part, too, and a well maintained engine will always outlast one that has had skipped oil changes and other preventative maintenance. Overall, diesels used to live longer than their petrol equivalents, but the extent to which modern turbo-diesels are tuned to deliver power and torque means that’s not always the case these days.

Over the years, we’ve seen these Ranger engines fail at mileages as low as 100,000km, while others make it to 300,000 or even 400,000km while still in good health. Common engine problems to watch out for with this model Ranger engines include failed EGR coolers, contaminated and even blocked inlet tracts, worn turbochargers, DPF problems and failures, leaking and faulty fuel injectors and coolant leaks.

Your Ranger was sold with a factory warranty that should cover it for the first five years and with no limit on the kilometres covered. Provided you’ve maintained and serviced the vehicle properly (with the paperwork to prove it) then the warranty should definitely be intact.

But whether that warranty applies to an EGR valve is the real question. Ultimately, it will depend on why the valve has failed. That’s because most warranties don’t cover wear and tear, so a build-up of carbon and soot inside the EGR system may not be covered. But if the valve has failed due to a materials or manufacturing fault, then it should, on the surface, be Ford’s responsibility to replace the unit.

If there’s any form of dispute between Ford and yourself on this matter, the best advice is to have the vehicle (and EGR) independently tested (motoring clubs are a good place to start). That way the facts should determine the outcome, rather than opinions.

As an aside, don’t be tempted to drive the vehicle any farther with a coolant leak within the EGR system. Eventually enough coolant will be lost that the engine could overheat. And even before that happens, a leaking EGR valve can allow coolant inside the combustion chamber and the turbocharger with equally devastating results.

Start with the basics. Is the coolant level correct (and the radiator overflow tank intact)? Are the fan belts that drive the water pump tight and not slipping? Is the electric fan turning on? Is the second electric fan turning on with the air conditioning? Are the radiator hoses in good condition and not collapsing when you rev the engine? Are the car’s brakes dragging and causing the engine to work harder than it should? Is the radiator clean and flowing properly? Is the radiator cap holding the correct pressure? Is there a build-up of mud, bugs and grass on the radiator’s surface? All these things can lead to overheating.

If all that checks out, you might have to dig a bit deeper, including a check of whether the water pump is pulling its weight (and not worn internally) whether the thermostat is operating correctly and even a test to see whether the head gasket has failed. Ford’s Ranger engines have also ben known to experience failures of the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve’s cooler which is part of the overall cooling system. The 2.2-litre and 3.2-litre Ranger engines seem more susceptible to this, but it shouldn’t be automatically ruled out on the 2.0-litre engine.

It’s very likely that the two lights remaining on inside the car are enough to drain the battery over time. The real question is why a couple of random lights would stay on even when the vehicle is locked up overnight. Initial suspicions would involve the car’s body computer which controls many functions, including interior lighting.

An auto electrician is probably your best bet at this stage. But in the meantime, you can perform an electronic reset by disconnecting the car’s battery overnight. Sometimes this is enough to give the body computer a reality check and will return things to normal. But if it has happened once, it can happen again.

Good news. Instead of a rubber toother timing belt, the engine in your Ranger has a timing chain. While the rubber belt type generally requires periodic replacement, the timing chain in your car should last the life of the engine.

A modern car like the Ranger has a heap of sensors that warn the on-board computer of something that’s getting too hot, causing the car to enter limp home mode to avoid further damaging itself. That means you could be looking at a problem as varied as the condition of the radiator and its plumbing, the intercooler, coolant pump, the EGR valve and more. Perhaps it’s a simple case of low coolant triggering the limp home. Certainly, these engines can lose coolant if the EGR valve is damaged or leaking.

But then you can also move along to the driveline, because a too-hot transmission will also trigger a limp-home situation. Is the transmission cooler working properly? Does the transmission have the correct quantity of fluid in it?

Start with the basics and don’t be afraid to give the car an electronic scan as the fault codes it has logged could be a big clue in what component is causing the grief.

The original vane-type oil pump fitted to the 2.2 and 3.2-litre PX Ranger engines was a source of great misery for some owners with failures and a peculiar oil-changing regime forced upon owners. If the gear-driven style pump you've replaced it with is a good quality item, it should last the remainder of the vehicle's service life.