[Vwdiesel] Ford Ranger Diesel

[William J Toensing]

I wasn't aware that Ford offered a diesel option in the Ranger but they did in the Ford Escort & Tempo as well as their Mercury counterparts, the Tracer & Tempo.
They used the Mazda 2 liter diesel which was also used in the Mazda 626 LX sedan, in the USA market. I know because I bought a new Mazda 626 diesel in Oct.1985. I couldn't make a deal with any Ford dealer then  but a Mazda dealer was selling them for $9,985 as a "bait & switch" car listing a long list of standard options & burying the word "dsl" 2/3s thru the long option list. I spotted that & when they couldn't switch me to a gas engine 626 with an automatic, they told me they had two, one silver & one dark gray metallic. I chose the dark gray. I had some trouble with that car. At 50,000 miles the head gasket blew, but then they had to cover it under the 10 year 100,000 Calif. emissions warranty, as the engine still ran but smoked badly.  A year later, while returning on a trip from Minn. to LA, 80 miles east of Las Vegas, the engine  stopped when it got so hot from another blown head gasket, that the valve springs lost their temper. The engine didn't seize because I was using Amsoil synthetic oil. After complaining to Mazda because this happened only 20,000 miles from the last warranty repair, they agreed to cover half the repair cost. I asked why they didn't re-torque the head bolts after the first repair. They said it was because they used stretch head bolts that didn't require a re-torque. After the second episode, I had the dealer re-torque the head although they didn't want to. This time, the engine lasted another 100,000 miles when it overheated again, this time  from a thermostat bi-pass hose that I didn't know existed. None of the Mazda dealers seemed to know anything about this engine, as so few were sold. I replaced all the other belts & hoses as PM & asked the dealer for all the hoses I needed. The thermostat bypass hose was hidden where I didn't see it & the temperature gage showed the engine was running warmer than normal but was not overheating.
I am sharing this info so that if you buy the Ranger, which I think has the same Mazda diesel that you don't make the same mistake I did. If Internet blogs such as this existed back then & if I had a computer then, I wouldn't have lost that Mazda.