A Milestone

[LuckyDan]

Shoot, I missed a big milestone. Back in November 2019, I had been a member of Wander the West for 10 years. It’s actually the first forum I ever joined, and I credit it with helping me with my fears of the internet.

And my Ranger had about 230K on it when I hit the 10 year mark.

 

[ski3pin]

Here's an additional update. I sent in an engine oil sample to blackstone labs. I was curious what their report would show. Here is their summary -


MONTE: Wear metals look great in this first sample from your Ranger. They match up nicely with universal
averages, which show the typical wear levels from the 4.0L V-6 after about 5,100 miles of oil use, meaning
your engine is wearing well for the type. Other elements are higher than average, like molybdenum and
magnesium, but don't worry about that, because they're just additives in this Mobil 1 oil, nothing harmful.
The viscosity is correct for 5W/30, and there's no fuel, coolant, or other contaminants to make note of.
205,000 miles and still going strong!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

That's a nice Doc check up.
Frank

 

[Foy]

Here's an additional update. I sent in an engine oil sample to blackstone labs. I was curious what their report would show. Here is their summary -


MONTE: Wear metals look great in this first sample from your Ranger. They match up nicely with universal
averages, which show the typical wear levels from the 4.0L V-6 after about 5,100 miles of oil use, meaning
your engine is wearing well for the type. Other elements are higher than average, like molybdenum and
magnesium, but don't worry about that, because they're just additives in this Mobil 1 oil, nothing harmful.
The viscosity is correct for 5W/30, and there's no fuel, coolant, or other contaminants to make note of.
205,000 miles and still going strong!

Nice work, Ski! I've been getting the Blackstone Labs reports for many years, starting soon after acquiring the venerable F350 diesel. They do a great job of explaining the chemistry to an old geologist-turned-CPA like me. Mine's an 02 and yours is an 03 (?), so are we seeing the likelihood that yours may stay on the Fixed Asset schedule for a while yet to come?

Foy

 

[ski3pin]

Nice work, Ski! I've been getting the Blackstone Labs reports for many years, starting soon after acquiring the venerable F350 diesel. They do a great job of explaining the chemistry to an old geologist-turned-CPA like me. Mine's an 02 and yours is an 03 (?), so are we seeing the likelihood that yours may stay on the Fixed Asset schedule for a while yet to come?

Foy

Thanks Foy, and yes, I expect the '03 to be carrying our little home down the road for a while longer.

In the last year we've looked at the GM products. Those didn't interest us enough to even drive. We've looked at the new Ranger several times and have driven it. It did not excite either of us enough to spend money right away. Maybe, but I'm watching for how the technology/drive train hold up.

Our favorite is the Nissan Frontier. It's strong, closest to the same size as our ranger, and a bit old school. With the brand new engine/trans in the 2020 and the "redesign" coming in 2021, I figure real deals will be had on the 2019's.

But, the old Ranger is in great shape. It will get us easily another 50,000 (three years of travel) worry free. And I don't doubt another 100,000 the way we care and use it. It goes places larger trucks - friends - won't follow. It's already set up for the camper. We know the truck inside and out. I can fix most everything. On long trips it averages 17.5 mpg.

And, of course, new trucks are expensive. We haven't made a payment on the ranger since June 2009, the day we bought it. It does not hurt to put money into it when needed. Yeah, we could afford a new truck, but why?

Years ago I put a little money into an account, I don't even remember where it came from. The last few years we've looked at the statement and said, "We could buy a truck with this." That helped prompt the tire kicking and such. Well those days have passed for awhile.

 

[Vic Harder]

Yeah, we could afford a new truck, but why?

Years ago I put a little money into an account, I don't even remember where it came from. The last few years we've looked at the statement and said, "We could buy a truck with this." That helped prompt the tire kicking and such. Well those days have passed for awhile.

I'm totally in agreement. Especially since you and The Lady do the mechanical work and know your truck. If I wanted a smaller truck/camper, I would not hesitate to go out and find a low mileage early 2000's Ranger and run that for another decade. Parts are out there, mechanics know the truck and there is nothing basically wrong with the design.

Which is why when I was looking for a "new" truck I targeted '99-2003 Ford 7.3L and 2005-2007 Chev, diesels. Reliable, run forever trucks.

Now, if you are the kind of person who has no mechanical know how and needs a warranty, then your practical choices are very different.

 

[teledork]

The '96 T-100 crossed 200K sometime late in 2019. I bought the truck in 2004 with 100k. I've been told that I must not drive that much.

Now, if you are the kind of person who has no mechanical know how and needs a warranty, then your practical choices are very different.

That would be me. Yes. the new truck was expensive. I inherited some money and I already own a home.

 

[ski3pin]

Just so I can have this information in one spot, I'm adding a couple duplicate posts here.


On a little different subject, the Lady and I took advantage of this extended break from travel with maintenance on the old truck.

We turned over 200,000 miles on Christmas Day. I have the recommended and my own maintenance schedule we keep. And, we do the majority of the work. After all, the old truck is our partner out in the backcouuntry. We should be aware of what makes it tick.

Changing out the spark plugs, I noticed a minor oil seep from the right valve cover gasket. Everything needs to come off the top of the engine to accomplish this task. This makes it good time to get to other parts too, since they're exposed. New valve cover gaskets on both sides along with intake manifold gaskets. Cleaned the throttle body and idle control valves. New gaskets for them, also. Replaced the fuel injectors and found the insert seats in the heads for the injectors hard and brittle. Those were removed and replaced.

Had to wait over two weeks for the new OEM Bosch injectors. It was nice not to be in a hurry. Most all the other parts were easy to get.

Finished up end of last week. Yup, remembered where everything went. Julie is getting to be a great mechanic's helper. She wouldn't let me start it up until she did her own under the hood inventory to see that everything was correct.

The old truck purrs like a kitten.

I discovered an oil seep from the pan gasket. We'll take care of replacing that next oil change. Yup, even with 4x4 drive, we can pull the pan with the engine in the truck.

I had this information at the end of one of my blog posts during the trip where we rolled over 200,000 miles -

[SIZE=large]We packed up camp, dropped the top, and I backed off the leveling rocks. I took the truck out of 4x4 low. We had the morning to continue our search and would save time by driving the mile the road continued up canyon. With a short rocky climb ahead, I turned the switch to 4x4 high. Nothing. No indicator light on the instrument panel. No click from the 4x4 module tucked behind the passenger side kick panel. 4x4 was inoperative. I climbed under the truck to examine the wires and connectors to the 4x4 switch motor on the transfer case. Everything was intact. Without four wheel drive, would we be able to climb back up that awful, steep section to exit the wash on our way out?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=large]Concerning the 4x4 issue. Julie pulled out the owner's manual for the truck when we stopped for gas in Henderson, Nevada. She found what fuse covers the 4x4 circuit. I pulled the fuse. It was not blown. I cleaned the prongs with my fingernail before reinserting. 4x4 now worked, but only intermittently. On testing, sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. Back at home, we replaced every fuse and cleaned all the contacts in the fuse panel. We also found and cleaned every grounding point, including those hidden deep in the dash and behind kick panels. I also cleaned every connection point in the wiring. Thus far, everything is working fine. I have also reacquainted myself with the procedure necessary to manually engage and disengage four wheel drive.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=large]Another addition. The limit switch inside the transfer case motor was also intermittent. We installed a new motor on the transfer case and all works well now. [/SIZE]

Here is a Wander the West thread on rebuilding the front end -

Front End Rebuild On Our Ford Ranger

 

[ski3pin]

Here's and update on the odometer as we returned from a recent three week trip wandering the west.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Palindromic in a numerical sense

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Keep on trucking.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

........and the latest from Blackstone Lab engine oil analysis

MONTE: It's nice to see you're going longer between oil changes than the last time we saw a sample from
your Ranger's 4.0L. Engine wear looks good after 7,000 miles, so your V-6 is clearly handling the longer oil
runs well. Wear metals are the same or a little higher than last time, but the increases aren't worrisome.
Iron is actually lower on a per-mile basis than last time, and the other metals only increased by 1 ppm -- a
good wear profile on the whole. No contamination is present, and the oil itself is in physically good shape.
Looking good at 252,252 miles!