My 2000 Ranger

[4pointslow]

I have a 2000 ranger 4wd as a back up vehicle.
It has a 4.0 ohv (no power) and auto trans.
About 172,000 miles on it with original engine and transmission.
The only upgrades are 31 inch Goodyear Wrangler Authorities and a Kenwood double din head unit with an Alpine amp driving one 12 inch sub.
I started this thread to document what goes wrong with it.

 

[4pointslow]

Water and Fuel leak

I developed a water leak on the drivers side. The front carpet is wet and it is coming from under the dash all the way to the left.
I went to check it out this weekend but it would not start. I got out and my neighbors were walking by and said something was dripping from under my truck.
Then I smelled fuel. Insert 4 letter word of your choice here(****).
Turns out a mouse chewed a fuel fitting on top of my fuel pump.
I fixed it with something I found at a local parts store. it was not the exact one for my truck so I had to modify it a little. I had to trim a little plastic off the retaining clip but it worked. Just a note for anyone that may have to repair a plastic line like this, the instructions say to soak the lines in hot water but that did not work for me even after 20 minutes of fighting with it.
I put the metal union in a small pair of needle nose vise grips and installed that into a vice. I then heated the lines with a cheap Harbor Freight heat gun and it worked in seconds.

 

[4pointslow]

Water

I still don't know where the water is coming in.

 

[CDW6212R]

Check your headliner at the "A" pillar, especially any time it rains. I have a small leak that I now think is from my sunroof drain there. You could have the leak there or from the windshield, or something at the firewall which isn't sealed well.

 

[4pointslow]

Water Leak

I may have found the leak. I found this crack in the calk under the D/S dash up over the parking brake pedal assembly.
I sealed it up with Goop. I guess I will know for sure when it rains next.

 

[4pointslow]

No more leak

No more leak, it is pouring down rain outside and I just got home from work.
I checked the carpet and it is dry!
Unbelievable how much water a little crack in some calk can let in.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well done, now come and find mine, which I'm still thinking the drain is the culprit.

 

[Countryguymike]

I had a leak from my sun roof and i thought it as the drain but it turned out to be the corner of the seal was cracked do to it not being installed correctly and couldn't tell ti it was pulled out. And that was after every time it rained i had to run out and park it where it would stay dry or the hole inside of it would be like a pond its totally amazing how a crack that can hardly be seen with the naked eye can flood out and destroy so much stuff in side a vehicle

 

[4pointslow]

More water leaks

Now my Ranger has developed a water leak on the passenger side.
I am not impressed with the quality of the build of this truck. The seems look like crap and the sealant or calk they used seems to crack.
I can not see where it is coming from and will probably have to remove the entire dashboard.
I think I might just pull the carpet out for now.

 

[4pointslow]

Shifter Stiff

The shifter has been stiff for a while now. I guess for too long since the shifter bracket on the steering column came loose like many other's have. I tightened up the two screws and will be replacing the MLP (manual Lever Position switch) which is also referred to as the neutral safety switch.
I am working on a friends 2001 explorer which had the same symptoms but worse, his would not go in park and to top it off his E brake don't work. lol.
To find the reason for the stiff shifter movement I unhooked the shifter cable from the transmission. the shifter moved easy. The transmission lever where the cable hooks up was real hard to move. I next unbolted the MLP and the lever became easy to move proving the MLP was binding.

 

[4pointslow]

Video

Here is a video of my friends 2001 Explorer with the same loose shifter bolts.

 

[CDW6212R]

I found mine just a bit loose in my 99, when I replaced the shift shaft pieces in 2006. I have that set of parts again now, new, for my Mercury. They cost about $50 still from Ford, the two aluminum parts and the two bushings.

Everyone should check those parts for looseness or wear.

 

[4pointslow]

parts

What are the two aluminum parts and the two bushings?

 

[4pointslow]

Pictures

The Old MLP sensor was fun to get off of my Ranger. The shift shaft had rusted underneath the MLP. I got the bolts out, cable disconnected etc and had to pry on it working it back and forth. It finally came off. I had to wire wheel the shaft, and scrape it with a screw driver. After cleaning it thoroughly I applied some anitseize. I think some ended up on my ear, stuff gets every where as soon as you open it. lol.
I did not have to adjust the cable but if needed, the adjustment is done at the bottom of the cable where it attaches to the bracket on the transmission. You pull the white/yellow part out to unlock it and push it back in when you have it set correctly.
I had noticed the shifter was a little stiff but did not realize how bad it was until after fixing it. It is so much easier to shift through the gears now.

Pics
1. old part, new box with BWD part number.
2. Helpful tools
3. New MLP installed
4. Shifter Cable adjustment location.

 

[CDW6212R]

What are the two aluminum parts and the two bushings?

These are the main wear parts of the column shifter assembly. I couldn't find the receipt, but here are the three part #'s;

(1) Plunger F7DZ-7R264-AA
(1) Tube F57Z-7212-A
(2) bushings F3TZ-7L278-A

They aren't expensive with some hunting, Amazon and eBay were higher than my local Ford dealer, about $50 or so with my discount.

Here's a link to a vender thread here selling the Dorman version, with a useful picture. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293527

The column has to be dropped some to replace them.

 

[4pointslow]

looseness

I found mine just a bit loose in my 99, when I replaced the shift shaft pieces in 2006. I have that set of parts again now, new, for my Mercury. They cost about $50 still from Ford, the two aluminum parts and the two bushings.

Everyone should check those parts for looseness or wear.

Thanks for the info, I did not even know this part wore out.
How would we check it to see if it is loose? Is this the part, that the loose bolts I posted the video of, bolt to?
After tightening the two bolts could we try moving the bracket again to check for looseness in the shaft and bushings?

 

[CDW6212R]

Those two bolts go into the back end of the shifter assembly. Given how those bolts seem to become loose, everyone should check them of course.

With those bolts tight, the shifter arm shouldn't feel to loose, have too much play in it. My Mercury has had a sloppy feel for a while now. I did deliver mail with this so I expect that accelerated it. I had found the wear with my 99 before delivering with it, before ever driving it(it was wrecked when I bought it). That wear wasn't too bad, and those two bolts were a hair loose. I'll bet that if I had tightened those first, I might not have replaced the shifter parts. My parts man back then told me that they were selling a lot of those(2006).

 

[4pointslow]

Shift

Oh, Thanks for the clarification.
Yeah, I imagine when delivering mail you have to put it in and out of gear a lot. That must cause some wear and tear in places that don't usually show it.

 

[CDW6212R]

The parts are cast and the tube piece is aluminum, so they are prone to wear and fragile. A drive who is very easy on the shifter will never hurt them, but most of us aren't that easy with it.

 

[4pointslow]

Ranger

Aprox 175,800 miles.
Yesterday I did some maintenance on my Ranger.
Air Filter,Fuel Filter,oil change to start.
Then it was on to the brakes. I got the same brake pads I always get from PepBoys, they were stamped with FE (friction rating). I also got the high carbon rotors. I checked the rear drum brakes and they were fine so I adjusted them and bolted the tires back on.