In 1985, Ford had released the Ranger with a new engine option that could only be special ordered. What made this engine different was that it was a diesel. From 1983 to early 1985, Ford had already offered a 2.2 liter Perkins diesel engine, which was carbureted and very underpowered. The positive of the 2.2 liter was that it could reach over 40 miles per gallon. But due to its lack of power, it was very unpopular and gave diesel rangers a bad reputation. In 1985, Ford changed the diesel motor to a slightly larger 2.3 liter Mitsubishi turbo diesel engine. This motor was far more advanced than the 2.2. It created nearly three times the power of the 2.2 and still averaged around 30 miles per gallon. Despite the engine change for the ranger diesels, the damage was already done and very few were sold. The last diesel ranger was produced in 1988 due to the redesign of the ranger.
There were other options that were changed along with the new engine in 1985. The diesel ranger was now available in four wheel drive, and was no longer backed by a limiting 4-speed manual transmission. It now came standard with a manual 5-speed overdrive transmission, which greatly improved the top speed. The biggest improvement with the engine was the fact it was turbo charged. This means that the engine uses the force of the exhaust to spin a spool, that in turn pressurizes and forces more air into the engine. More air in the engine means more power. In order to turbo the engine, it required a fuel injection system. Fuel injection eliminated any idle problems along with many performance issues due to change in elevation that caburated engines struggled with before. Over all, the 1985 Ford Ranger Diesel was a far improvement over many small pickups of the time, and is a very rare pickup today.
8 comments:
I really dont like fords that much...
Older Ford trucks like that are built like tanks its hard to kill them, but now ford sucks. I wouldent trust a ford at all, its all about GMC or Chevy
bout that tick tick corn, up on the ranch yehaw old bessie! ford are by far my favorite pick-ups though.
The new GM pickups have a way worse dependablity issue than the Fords, especially the gas motors. Almost every Vortec engine produced by GM since 1999 experiences extreme power loss with the more miles that are put on it. By the time they're at 150,000 miles most of them are close to wothless for power.
I agree. Ford are really good.. but they seem to break a lot??
They only break if you don't maintain them... Its the same with every vehicle.
I can't believe the differences between the 2.2 and the 2.3. It's too bad they weren't made sooner before the reputations was crushed. My first car was a Ranger, though, and I loved it.
Interesting argument that the underpowered 2.2 cause a disfavour for the later 2.3 Mitsubishi rubberband engine.
There is quite a community surrounding the maintenance and operation of the earlier ranger diesel. It was offered in the Mazda counterpart for a longer period with a 5 spd standard equipment (I understand that the Ranger also offered the 2.2/5spd combo for a period before its demise).
Both these rangers are rarities today, however, there is a good number of the diesels still on the road - especially the 2.2 a normally aspirated gear driven bosch ve fuel injection pump.
A million mile engine.
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