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Ford RangerMore than two decades ago, the Ford Ranger debuted as an answer to various compact pickup trucks being made available by Japanese automakers. The Ranger was cleanly styled and offered with a choice of a 6-foot or 7-foot bed. Ford boasted that the Ranger had more interior room than the best-selling imports and that 4-by-8-foot construction material could be carried in the bed.
Hi guys. I am a new member here. I will reluctantly admit that I am not a "car guy". I can change my oil, but that's about all. First, a little about my truck. It's a 1999 Ford Ranger XLT, 3.0 L, V6. It has 105,000 miles and was driven its whole life through rough Ohio winters. I do know there is salt/rust damage that may eventually come into play.
Now here is my dilemma. For about the last 3-4 months I have had a belt that squeaked intermittently. I knew this was not good but avoided the problem. Today I was told by a mechanic that my problem is with the tensioner and pulleys that are out of alignment and causing the belt to squeak and wear improperly. They estimated about $280 to fix this.
First, this seems like a rip off when I looked at the price of the parts online. Of course, I don't think I could fix it myself. Secondly, my biggest fear is that I do put the money in to fix it, and my truck starts having more and more problems. It does seem like it is near the end of it's life, but I was hoping to get 1 to 2 more years. If I need to invest alot of money though, I'd rather just sell and get something else. What would you guys do? Any advice? I just wish I knew how much more life my Ranger had in it! I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!
I might be wrong... it wouldn't be the first time, but looking at how the tensioner and idler pullies are attached it would seem to me that one would have to pull the engine out and drop it on its head to knock them out of allignment.
Since you asked... I would do the work myself and invest the money saved in buying a starter set of tools. If you learn to do the work yourself, you'd be surprised how long you can keep an old car/truck running for a small amount of money in parts. Especially when compared to the downpayment and monthy payments of a new car.
How long will your truck last... IF I had the answer to that, I'd retire and be a winner at the track!
__________________
BroncoJoe19
2006 Alt Fuel Jeep (electric)
'98 windstar 3.8L
'99 Crown Vic 4.6L
'90 Full Size Bronco 5.0L
I'm not a professional mechanic, take my suggestions with a grain of salt, or a cup of coffee
Thanks for the advice. I think I've definitely decided on keeping my Ranger and getting it fixed. Now the hard part is dishing out $300 to fix it. I've got a nice mechanics set, but have no way of knowing how I would go about fixing it. I've located the tensioner on my truck, but how can I be sure it is just the tensioner that needs replaced and not any other of the pulleys? Besides the fact that I have no knowledge on car maintenance, I live in an apartment and have no garage or lift.
As much as I would love to be able to do this job myself and learn from it, the circumstances seem against me. On top of that, I've just moved so I don't have any friends in the area that could help. Am I an idiot if I try to teach myself to fix my truck via the Internet?
dyzir13, no you wouldn't be an idiot for trying to learn from the internet or any other method. Lots of people learn stuff that way every day! Check out some of the threads on this forum to see what you can find about changing the parts you want. You can also punch in some of the key words or the phrase on Google or Yahoo to see what they find. You could also go to a book store and find a repair manual like Chilton or Haynes for the vehicle you have. If you can change your own oil and filter then you can change a belt and tensioner.
Your lucky you have a RWD vehicle ! You can actually SEE the tensioner (as opposed to FWD vehicles where it is almost all by feel).
You might want to start at your auto parts store. Most counter people will give you advice.
I got this picture from AutoZone online
If this looks correct, I think all you to do is put a socket on the bolt on the idler pulley and tighten. Tightening will "wind up" the tensioner spring and then you can remove the belt (remember how it is thread around the other pulleys; make a picture if you have to). If you can't get enough leverage on the arm (it is a very strong spring) buy a short length of galvanized steel water pipe (12-18") that will slip over the handle of your ratchet.
You probably only need to replace the pulley which is only about $20. This would take an expert about 10-15 minute, so you should be able to get it done in less than an hour even in an apartment car port.
As for "How do I know this is the right one ?", Well you'll have to trust us. Besides if it is not, the other things are a lot more difficult. (While the belt is off, try to wiggle the other pulleys; if they do, you have more problems)
If this is still more than you want to tackle it, contact your local school district and ask about auto shop classes. If you contact the instructor, maybe you can get the high school kids to do it for you for the cost of the parts. Or better yet, you can find an adult ed car maintenance class.
Last edited by theoldwizard; 10-01-2008 at 11:25 AM.
If it's anything like my 2.3 the tensioner bracket has a sqaure hole in it to apply a 3/8 ratchet you apply force to the ratchet and it will release the tension so you can pop your belt off. When you buy a new tensioner it will probably not have the square hole, and just like the wizard said you'll have to put socket on it and force the tensioner over to slip the belt on. There should be a small slot on the back of the tensioner that slips onto a small raised area on the bracket.. it's highly unlikely your pulleys are out of alignment, more than likely one of the idlers is a plastic pulley that's causing your problem, replace it with a steel one.
Dyzir, I bought myself a haynes manual, changed out the idler pulley myself, (didn't fix the problem) now will do the tensioner pulley, the manual has great instructions if a girl can do it you can too.
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Do I fix my tensioner/belt or sell my Ranger? 
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