Posted on 03/26/2024 3:00:04 AM PDT by Leaning Right
I drive a ford, my wife drives a buick. What’s a scion?
Probably best that TWA is no more. A modern trans airline just wouldn’t be the same.
My first brand new vehicle was a 1987 Ford Ranger XLT, 2 wheel drive, six cylinder, and a 5 speed I leaned how to drive on the way from the dealer. Great looking truck in two tone blue metallic, a total blast to drive.
Couldn’t kill that thing. Have owned a lot of Fords over the years among other brands too. The only ones that gave me any expensive repairs were a Lincoln LS and a Lincoln Navigator.
If you don’t have good computer software and an OBD-II cable you can’t work on a modern car. Or an OBD-II dongle I guess, and a smartphone or better yet a tablet. Lots of folks going that route. I bought a Bluedriver one recently.
And vehicles last for so many more years and miles now.
Lots of stuff that shade-tree mechanics can’t do anymore. But YouTube and other on-line resources can often help those with determination and limited funds.
Sad to see how far a great American company has fallen.
Yes imports from China does take a toll on quality.
GM is just as bad as most are.
Ahhh ... the mating call of the Chevrolet groupie ...
Also totally irrelevant to any of the Ford or Mercury cars/trucks that I have ever owned or used. My 1999 Ranger flips its middle finger at you.
I have a 2015 Ford Focus I bought used in 2016, with 29,000 miles on it.
About a year later I got a letter from Ford stating that they were recalling Ford Focus and Fiesta models, and mine was one of them. Why? Faulty transmissions. Some peoples cars were breaking down on the highway, and it happened to so many that a class action lawsuit was filed. That ended up with Ford recalling and REPLACING the bad transmissions. Mine was one of them. I really hadn’t noticed anything amiss, but other than that, it’s been a great little car.
I bough two 79 custom ordered vans . Drove them to 225,000 . no complaints. They just got too many rust holes.
I’m holding out for the rainbow-colored Pride Rump Ranger.
The OBD-II BlueTooth dongle I posted about upthread is only $100, affordable for anyone serious about maintaining vehicles.
And yes, YouTube is a godsend for many DIY efforts, automotive and otherwise.
For companies - stay woke and die.
It isn’t that at all. I’ve managed a Ford dealership since 2010 and GM store for 20 years before that.
The new Bronco is built on a Ranger chassis in the same plant. The first year they took 260,000 sold orders, covid hit and they produced in the vicinity of 36000. Lots of people had to wait 2 years to get one, so Ford has been thrashing to get the sold Broncos out at the expense of Ranger production. Nobody has Rangers in inventory.
That was what we said in the 70’s...!! LOL!!
Thanks for the explanation.
I have three vehicles now....A 1961 VW 2 door truck...A 1998 Ford Explorer Sport...and a 1999 Honda 2 door Civic. Don't plan on buying anything else....
The VW is for sale..fwiw-
There may be some truth to what your mechanic said, however my opinion is different.
My opinion is better fuels and oils.
The leaded fuels of yesteryear really made hard carbon deposits in the cylinder, of which numerous particles made it past the rings and into the oil. These very hard particles acted like microscopic sand paper that constantly wore down the rings, cylinder walls and bearings.
Lead free gas leaves a black sooty deposit in the combustion chamber and is practically non-abrasive.
By removing that “sand paper” along with modern oils, I think the engine life is about 3 times that of a few decades ago.
I did not know that. Fascinating.
Yes, as a mechanic of yesteryear specializing in Chevy small blocks, I recall removing that carbon from the combustion chambers on cylinder heads. One practically had to use a hammer and chisel for some of it whereas a rotary wire brush just seemed to polish it. Engine oils got dirty quite fast and seemed to thicken after a couple thousand miles.
When unleaded fuels came out I was amazed at how easy cylinder heads and piston tops were to clean.
We have a 97 Chevy Silverado with almost 200,000 miles on it. It uses no oil at all and the oil stays clean.
yesterday, Ford said they are moving 2/3 of the Lightning production workers to other plants, so there are 700 employees instead of 2100!
They are moving 700 to the Ranger/Bronco production and the rest either take a retirement settlement or move to another Michigan plant.
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