Broke my Ranger yesterday

[lobsta11]

The people at Ford support are really friendly. However nobody EVER calls you back to give a status report. Opened my case on Fri. Dec 6th. Was told I would get a call from the case manager after 1 business day. No call, so on Wed. Dec 11 I started support. I have spoken to Marisol, Anna, Quincy & Kenny. All promised a call back or would have my case manager Sebastian call me back. I have still not spoken to Sebastian! I gave them my current cell # and I have had the same house # since 1973. Found out that Sebastian did try ONCE to call me. He used my work # from when I bought my last Ranger in 1999. I retired in 2003.

Finally found out yesterday that the dealer would give me a loaner for 4 days & Ford would pick up an additional 10 days. The service manager told me support had escalated the part request on Dec. 10th. He also said it appeared that there isn't a front differential available anywhere in the system & that Ford probably would have to go back to the manufacturer.
Al

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[ch47dmechanic]

They could always pull one from the assembly line...but it’s pretty clear they don’t want to do that.

 

[Gerder]

Your English is fine, it's much farther along than my own second language. A lot will depend on the design process. One thought I had is that the ECU is also a complex electronic module. While they must sometimes fail, I don't often hear about ECU's failing nearly as often as sound systems, cruise control, and things like that.

One possibility is that because the ECU is related to safety, emissions, and the vehicle's basic ability to move, it might go through a much more robust design, testing, and manufacturing process. It's possible that electronic modules that aren't as critical to basic function, like sound systems for example, don't go through as much of a robust process due to cost reasons. I don't really know. I hope that as the the tech becomes closer to being part of the basic functioning of the truck, the manufacturers will pay more attention to this so that we don't end up having lots of very expensive tech failing long before the mechanical systems.

yes i am with you in this case as long as the car is „young“... but do you think they „let“ you drive forever? we know that „modern“ electronic parts are designed to work for a period. VW for example says (internal) a car has to be over after 8 years maximum. They want to sell new ones and they never want to make the same mistake again they made in this case with the rabbit mk2 or the beetle. If electronic for a vew thousand € $ £ ¥ dies you are at the point very quick to dumb the car and buy a new one. But I love to drive oldies and youngtimer and I‘m afraid this wouldn‘t be possible anymore in 2 decades...

we will see. I hope I am wrong!

 

[Mokume]

Very informative video, but Ford left out some key features when they 'federalized' the Ranger. Things like a dampened tailgate, LED bed lights and a wireless phone charger. These items could have been made available with certain packages, or standard on the Lariat series.
You know for a fact that Toyota and GM salespeople are pointing out these omissions when showing their mid-size offerings.

 

[VAMike]

Very informative video, but Ford left out some key features when they 'federalized' the Ranger. Things like a dampened tailgate, LED bed lights and a wireless phone charger. These items could have been made available with certain packages, or standard on the Lariat series.
You know for a fact that Toyota and GM salespeople are pointing out these omissions when showing their mid-size offerings.

Well, that's the kind of bs you need to focus on when you don't want to talk about the drivetrain, the head room, the standard safety features, etc. Whether that works depends on the buyer.

 

[DavidR]

yes i am with you in this case as long as the car is „young“... but do you think they „let“ you drive forever? we know that „modern“ electronic parts are designed to work for a period. VW for example says (internal) a car has to be over after 8 years maximum. They want to sell new ones and they never want to make the same mistake again they made in this case with the rabbit mk2 or the beetle. If electronic for a vew thousand € $ £ ¥ dies you are at the point very quick to dumb the car and buy a new one. But I love to drive oldies and youngtimer and I‘m afraid this wouldn‘t be possible anymore in 2 decades...
we will see. I hope I am wrong!

8 years sounds very short for the design lifetime. If that's true I probably won't buy a VW! For these trucks, based on statements from Ford engineers, the design lifetime is around 240,000 km (150,000 mi). This is based on a certain percentage of failures by that point, though the failure rate is proprietary information. From past experience (with Ford and Honda mostly), I feel confident that the mechanical driveline should last that long if you maintain it properly. The interesting part is whether all of the tech will still work at that point. Like you, I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise.

EDIT: For oldies, we have had two Hondas and two Fords (a Ranger and an Aerostar) that each had ~400,000 km (250,000 mi). In all cases the driveline was fine, but in three of them some of the tech had failed, either the sound system or the cruise control.

 

[Mokume]

Well, that's the kind of bs you need to focus on when you don't want to talk about the drivetrain, the head room, the standard safety features, etc. Whether that works depends on the buyer.

Exactly true sir!
Sales marketing people will jump on any chance to point these things out...never mind that the product they are attempting to sell is a POS.
Case in point, the absurd seating position and engine/transmission combination that constantly bicker with each other on the Taco.
Remember Ford's sales pitch on the Pinto to justify it's heavier weight?
"More road-hugging weight"

 

[Indy650]

While I think @Gerder 's statement is a bit too strong, I do think the tech/electronics issue is real. We have a '93 Ranger with 260,000 miles. The transmission needed to be overhauled at 220,000 miles, but the two things that failed far earlier were the only real "tech" that it had - the sound system and the cruise control. Back then, sound systems were all drop-in replacements into an industry-standard-size hole, and the cruise control ended up being a fairly simple-to-replace module, but I kinda fear that in these newer vehicles, there is so much more tech to break and it is buried far deeper and will be considerably more expensive to repair than popping in a new sound system in the old days.

Will it make sense to keep these vehicles for 260,000 miles? It's impossible to tell yet. They may last it out, or there may end up being a "tech apocalypse" that makes keeping them a long time a lot more expensive than in the old days even if the mechanics hold out. Or people may end up keeping them that long but with a lot of non or partially functioning tech.

Regarding @Gerder 's comment about the basic truck itself being a poor design mechanically, I don't think you can draw that conclusion from these handful of cases. You need the full statistics of how many are having problems like this, which you can't get from just reading forum posts. Any really bad things might eventually become widely known, like if front differentials start failing by the thousands, but probably not until the truck has been out a few years.

Well i know of quite a few f 150 ecoboosts with over 200,000 still going just fine. really depends on the conditions the vehicle is in. Often times I find electronic problems are from corrosion or rats.

 

[Mokume]

Well i know of quite a few f 150 ecoboosts with over 200,000 still going just fine. really depends on the conditions the vehicle is in. Often times I find electronic problems are from corrosion or rats.

Indeed, there is a particular ant here in Hawaii which has an affinity for certain circuit board and control relay sealing compounds which is wreaking havoc in some Ford's and certain brands of split AC systems.

 

[Indy650]

Indeed, there is a particular ant here in Hawaii which has an affinity for certain circuit board and control relay sealing compounds which is wreaking havoc in some Ford's and certain brands of split AC systems.

wow that's crazy never heard of ants being a problem. I know BMW and some other vehicles with German wiring had issues because they used a type of vegetable oil in the wire coating and rodents would chew the hell out of the harnesses. I had a car come in that sat a few yrs and didn't have any electrics and there was a 2 inch harness with like 50 wires chewed right through.

 

[DavidR]

Well i know of quite a few f 150 ecoboosts with over 200,000 still going just fine. really depends on the conditions the vehicle is in. Often times I find electronic problems are from corrosion or rats.

I saw the one of the most insane rodent infestations you could imagine in our neighbor's Ram 1500 a year ago or so. It's mostly below freezing here in the winter so rodents will sometimes find their way into cars that are used a lot but I'd never seen anything like this one so, yeah, that can definitely happen! In the past, with our older cars, the problems were more mundane. The only ones I can say with full confidence were electronic were several sound systems that failed (with no signs of infestation). A cruise control failed in one case, but the module that needed to be replaced contained electrical as well as vacuum-mechanical and electromechanical parts, so I'm not sure the problem was 100% electronic. Keeping fingers crossed. I'm hoping that once I pass 10,000 miles I'll at least be past the infant-mortality window.

 

[Mokume]

wow that's crazy never heard of ants being a problem. I know BMW and some other vehicles with German wiring had issues because they used a type of vegetable oil in the wire coating and rodents would chew the hell out of the harnesses. I had a car come in that sat a few yrs and didn't have any electrics and there was a 2 inch harness with like 50 wires chewed right through.

Supposedly this compound is like filet mignon to this particular insect, and supposedly rodents also have an affinity to soybean-based wire insulation as well.
As for other critters, ever had to work on a car in which a cat nestled itself under the hood? I did, it was an early 80's Lincoln where tabby evidently slept soundly near the water pump. The owner fired up the motor and poor kitty was reduced to hamburger, this through all the drive belts and literally resulted in a bloody, furry mess...oh, and the smell, the smell...
Not as bad as decomposing human flesh, but darn close, I used to carry a small jar of Vicks Vapo-Rub in my medical turnout pants just for those situations.

 

[Gerder]

8 years sounds very short for the design lifetime. If that's true I probably won't buy a VW! For these trucks, based on statements from Ford engineers, the design lifetime is around 240,000 km (150,000 mi). This is based on a certain percentage of failures by that point, though the failure rate is proprietary information. From past experience (with Ford and Honda mostly), I feel confident that the mechanical driveline should last that long if you maintain it properly. The interesting part is whether all of the tech will still work at that point. Like you, I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise.

EDIT: For oldies, we have had two Hondas and two Fords (a Ranger and an Aerostar) that each had ~400,000 km (250,000 mi). In all cases the driveline was fine, but in three of them some of the tech had failed, either the sound system or the cruise control.

I am shure the economists of ford, gm, toyota or fiat/chrysler FCA (hahaha, nice name. Remember the ferengie in star trek Ds9... and thats what they are! Ferengie) calculate very similar to keep the money train rollin.
I think the mechanical part wasn‘t a problem since the 70ies. But the electronics nowerdays...! I didn‘t care about soundsystems anymore. Lenny Kilmister, Jello Biafra, Jonny Rotten and their Fellows made me kind of deaf so I am very happy with silence in the car in the meanwhile. But without the soundsystem/navigation system you can‘t do the cooling and other important things of the ranger anymore as an example... And I want to have the simpel manual xl but they didn‘t made one just for me with the 3.2 engine
I complain about problems like these guys deal with
https://boingboing.net/2020/01/06/new-demand-for-very-old-farm-t.html

Edit. Remember we didn‘t have the milage you have here in europe. The great distances over 100 miles we do not very often by car. Me for example as an selfmade gardener drove only about 8000Km last year. The wires and the computer parts went older neverless. The complexity is the main problem I see coming.

 

[Indy650]

Supposedly this compound is like filet mignon to this particular insect, and supposedly rodents also have an affinity to soybean-based wire insulation as well.
As for other critters, ever had to work on a car in which a cat nestled itself under the hood? I did, it was an early 80's Lincoln where tabby evidently slept soundly near the water pump. The owner fired up the motor and poor kitty was reduced to hamburger, this through all the drive belts and literally resulted in a bloody, furry mess...oh, and the smell, the smell...
Not as bad as decomposing human flesh, but darn close, I used to carry a small jar of Vicks Vapo-Rub in my medical turnout pants just for those situations.

Ah yes soybean based wire insulation is what I was thinking of in the BMW's. Ya that cat must have been nasty! I bet it made a hell of a racket when it happened too! I love cats but that's a pretty good story haha. I once bought an old ford f250 that had a Possum living under the hood. He had a big ass nest and would poke his head out and snarl at me. had to run wood smoke through a hose and smoke him out as I didn't want to kill him because we dont have many around where I live. And is it possum or O'Possum? haha

 

[lobsta11]

While pulling my broken down garden tractor out of the way, I got stuck in the deep wet snow next to my driveway. 4 lo & 4 hi couldn't get me out as the side of the ruts just pushed me back. Tried rocking, still no go. While doing this started getting a strong chattering. Even my friends plow truck couldn't get me out. Friend observed while trying to back out, rear wheels were not turning & at the same time right front wheel (I think) was giving off a sound like an impact wrench going full speed.After shoveling we were able to finally get out. Truck does not have E locker.

Tried to drive today & I get a speed dependent rapping sound. This is with traction control on or off & in all drive modes. A couple of times backing down my driveway I got a few (driveline?) thumps & the truck gave a little jump.

I'm getting AAA to give me a tow to the nearest dealer tomorrow for them to look at it Friday. If it's the tranny or front differential, what do you think of the dealer getting the parts in a reasonable time?
Thanks
Al

P.S. In 20 years my old Ranger never got stuck.

Updated 2/7/2020..... Completed the buyback yesterday. Could not locate a 2019 supercab FX4 & even the 2020's are very rare. Finally located one at a dealer about 50 miles away. Couldn't find silver, so settled for magnetic. I'm the type that washes my truck every 10 years, whether it need it or not. That is why I wanted the silver. Dark colors show to much. I'll have to do it annually now.
Al

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