Ford Ranger Lemon?

When you go to spend thousands of dollars on a new vehicle its best to put emotion aside, look at the facts, and do your homework.
A good start is to listern to John Cardogan at autoexpert.com. Love him or hate him, he has been in the business a long time and does know what he is talking about. Go to his web site and quite clearly there in Step 1 is eliminate certain brands because their customer service is sxxt. Needless to say Ford is one of them.
The ute that scores the highest for customer satisfaction is Izusu Ute. Since they started in Oz in 2008 their sales have increased by over 10% every year. This was a very significant factor as to why I brought a D-Max and now 18 months later I could not be happier.
We should have lemon laws to hold these car companies to account, but until we do, just don't deal with the companies that don't support their products.

Genny

Sounds more like you have Lemon Dealers with Lemon service staff rather than a Lemon car as it appears there is only one fault with the car that could easily be fixed if in the right hands ! I have nearly done 200,000 trouble free k's in my PX1 Ranger in four and a half years and couldn't be happier !

Hope you get the issue sorted and good luck !!

Cheers

Gazz

He didn't say if there was something different wrong with it each time, or if it was a recurring issue.

With all the electrickery in these, having a battery that isn't 100% can be enough to cause issues and erroneous sensor readings.

Having a dealer service department that aren't good at fault finding or trying to replicate issues can also be a problem.

I had an issue with my BT50, dealer gave me a top of the line BT50 demo for a week while they awaited parts. Taking the time to sort the issue properly (a 3km road test is probably not enough) and helping the customer out by throwing them a set of car keys could have changed so much of this customers perception.

There is a local Ranger thats seems to be having the same issue but I think they now have got on top of the problem. Haven't seen it on a tow truck for a while.

Yep, there are lemons in all the vehicle ranges. My 5 year old ranger must have been a golden plum. Not one issue.

When it comes to a warranty issue they are all the same , Isuzu are no better than the rest .

Genny, I have known Gary for 40 years or so, we used to work for the same company.
I remember talking to him not that long ago when he was looking for a new vehicle, something that would take him into his retirement and beyond.

I just hope he can get these problems sorted out quickly and painlessly.

Cheers

I bought a new colorado in 2012, what a bomb, all speed sensors replaced, oil leak out the auto yoke, all bushes replaced in the front end within 2 years, they literally fell to bits, and other things I've forgotten about, it went in yesterday for the 4th time trying to fix a water leak in the head!

I loved it when i bought it but i really hate it now, it took the joy out of it, id love to see it burn to the ground!!

What annoyed me more so is i had to pinpoint the leaks because they couldn't even find them, bloody clowns.

I see plenty of other happy colorado owners though, i just got a junker!

My PX Wildtrak now at 155000km with a lot of very hard work . Few niggles that Ford fixed under warranty . Will keep it for 10 more years. Love it.
Having seen what my Ranger survived my son got a Xlt Ranger in 2015 and he has had no faults in 100000km. Maybe we are lucky no lemons.

And this is exactly why I'm keeping my old faithful Patrol. No electronics to cause problems. Call me a Luddite but I just don't want the all too frequent electronic hassles that new cars give. Please note, I'm not taking a swipe at new car owners, just my 2 bobs worth.

We had a Iverco concrete truck with similar problems turn out it was the brake sensor on the front left wheel,it had ABS brakes the problem was there from new took some finding ounce replaced never had another problem.

All brands have lemons. The Ranger is my first Ford and I only got good service from the 3 dealers I used . My friends experiences with their Prados and Cruisers with rejected in warranty claims convinced me to never buy a Yota.
If you have a good agent and dealer it makes your life easier with any brand.

Garrycol
I agree with you that the electronics rarely fail. But I don't think the electronics "just because they can" is necessary.
Some of the stuff that runs via computer in the Bt50/ rangers could be left a lot simpler.
Cheers

I spent about 6 months in a Queensland government department purchasing utes and trucks and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. The utes were predominantly Mitsubishi and Toyota and some Nissans and Mazdas. The best company to deal with was easily Mitsubishi and the most difficult and inflexible was Toyota. This was just one of several reasons why, when I came to buy my new 4wd, I didn't go to Toyota. As a mechanic for over 25 years I can say, Toyota don't make better vehicles than anyone else, they're just better at brainwashing the public.

Genny, does your friend Gary have any mech aptitude ?
Reading his Facebook he never mentions what the CEL code was, or what fault Ford said there was.

It would be really interesting to know this.

As mentioned, all manufacturers put out lemon (Friday arvo) vehicles occasionally, and often codes / problems iccyr when mods are carried out by owners etc.
Especially so with wiring etc, lighting, 2nd batteries, other accessories.

Hope they get some satisfaction from the fair trading investigation.

gooday : cant get link to open now but did have a quick look the other day ....
I dont know if this is relevant but had my ranger serviced last week , my mechanic who has a ranger was telling me that when draining oil you cant leave it without oil for too long as oil will drain from pump & can have problems with oil being pick up by pump , starving motor of oil ??? aswel they run a very fine oil ......

Looks like Ford have decided to do the right thing. Will post more when it is all resolved. Thanks to all those who shared the FB posts.

Any updates on what the issue was ?

I suspect we'll never know. I understand Ford is on the way to assisting Gary with a satisfactory outcome. Like the girl from Missouri, I've got to be shown first ....