Customer Reviews

Ford Ranger Pick-Ups,1993-2005 (Haynes Repair Manual)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I ordered this one from Amazon because I felt it was better than the other manual ( from Chilton ) that I previewed ( at the local auto parts store !). Haynes has better step by step instructions and illustrations.
There is is a better manual sold by Helm Inc 1-800-782-4356. I was told this is the one that was prepared by Ford and used at the dealerships. For my 1997 Ranger, the cost for Helm Shop Manual, Eletrical Manual, and Emmisions Manual is $306.95 plus tax & shipping. And if your want to save a few bucks, they have all the above on a CD for $175.00 plus tax & shipping.
I'll try to get by with my Haynes Manual !

For most cases you will find this book really helpful. Now for more of the high end, rebuilding a tranny. It's not gonna help. I would get it again just for reference if anything. It has torque values in it, alot of helpful tips on figuring something out, if you dont own the $3,000 snap-on scanner. Put it this way, if i lost this book, for the money i wouuld with out a doubt buy it again

This Haynes Ranger manual is one of the worst I've ever used. Instead of following a troubleshoot sequence and then studying the repair diagrams I spend a lot of time studying the car and figuring out for myself what is wrong because the book is so useless. Once I figure out part of what I need to do, I give the Hayne book another try before searching the internet. So far, in three substantive repair actions the Haynes has scored 0 (Zero) on usable information for me.

If you think you know what part or information you're looking for get ready to be frustrated as Haynes seems to take a perverse delight in not using the common or Ford accepted terms. Want to test this? Next time you're in the auto store, pick up ths book and try looking up OBDII, codes, fuses and many more you can think of. I'll give you a hint, they're not there. Nor are the chassis wiring diagrams for the later Ranger years. I need to know the wire bundle and colors for the back up light. Sorry, can't do it without the diagram.

OK, I hooked up a scanner to my truck and got a code P1537 plus some more information from the scanner about it being an intake manifold vacuum problem. I troll through the book and finally find a few pages with codes. Only the book, apparently doesn't admit to any codes existing above 999. Nor can I find any information on the intake vacuum plumbing.

What gives? If you ask any mechanic today about a problem with your car, the first question most of them ask is, "did you get a code?". Instead of recognizing and incorporating OBDII scan daignostic information, Haynes goes out of their way to ignore and avoid scan code diagnostics.

Once upon a time evey car manual had fairly good troubleshooting section. Got a problem with tires, there would be several pages of tire wear patterns and pictures along with likely causes. The same for spark plugs, pistons, oil, bearings, tie rods, ball joints and other parts. This Haynes book mostly does not. I had peculiar wear on my tires, sorry, basically all this book told me was that I had a problem. After crawling under the truck for a couple of days I decided it must be the lower ball joints because the boots were torn. The book basically said the ball joints were not replaceable and that I needed to replace the entire lower arm. The local Ford repair center told me the Haynes book was wrong. Instead of $200 in parts I was looking at $60. The information I needed about replacing the ball joints I got from the internet because Haynes had nothing. Oh, yeah, after all that, it turned out to be the wheel bearings causing the wear pattern. Once the front wheel off, you could feel the bearing was gritty.

Basically this book comes down to; when you don't really need a car manual you can get by with this Haynes manual, when you really need a good car repair manual this book will let you down, every time.

I have a 2005 Ford Ranger and have found this Hayne's manual lacking even for routine maintenance. It does not have the torque spec. for the transmission filler or drain bolts nor for even the spark plugs for my model and year. It does not have any under the hood diagram for my vehicle year (or one that resembles it), and no picture of the location of the PCV valve (although it does have pictures of how to "shake" a PCV valve to see if it is stuck,5 pictures of how to check the battery fluid level and clean the terminals, and several pictures of dipsticks!). The fact that the Hayne's listed spark plug gap is significantly different from the owner's manual is unacceptable.

Insightful? Are you kidding. Insightful instructions would mention that a spark plug boot puller is likely to be needed due to restricted space, that a 12 inch extension will be needed to change the plugs, or that only an end cap oil filter wrench will work due to the oil filter placement.

Organization: aside from having a mish-mash of information, looking for it is like looking in a large bucket of mixed up bolts. The alphabetic index is not detailed, and beside skipping thru 12 years and 3 models of the Ford Ranger, one has to look, for example, at 3 different sections for full information on the radiator. Incomprehensible to me that the people whose full time job is to make these books have not figured out that it might be better to put all information regarding the cooling system in 1 chapter, and have a routine maintenance chapter that gives a maintenance schedule only and then refers to the chapter on cooling system. Also, why not have a single table with all bolt torque specifications?

The fact is this type of book is obsolete in an age of computers, digital cameras and the internet. Online repair searches and data services show a specific vehicle and year and detailed information on a repair. These manuals don't even make a half-hearted attempt to update or make a good product -- which is why you see stacks of dusty ones at the local auto parts store.

Good product, in excellent shape. There would be some more imformation to be written in that book; it just so happens that I needed to locate the heater's resitance in a 1997 Mazda b2300 and they just don't say no nutinn about this specific part. The person who sent me the book does not have anything to do with that of course. The book was very clean and in excellent order when arrived at my home.

I have a 2002 Ford Ranger Edge, extended cab, V6. This book allowed me to trouble shoot the problems with my truck. I found out what my problem was, now i have to find a mechanic that wont charge me an arm and a leg.

Covers many items omitted by Haynes. Easy to follow, very thorough coverage. This one is like the great Chilton manuals of many years ago. Highly recommended.

The manual covers mostly everything from engine rebuilds, bodywork, main wiring harness. The items I was looking for were not to be found and had to resort to knowlegdeable folks on the intenet to help me out.

The manual does not include and fuse block or/or main fuse block diagrams. The underdash/instrument wiring diagram was not included. All and all a good manual to have, but if you need the above mentioned items look elsewhere

I have used Hayne's manuals before for a Honda Civic and Peugot 306 and was very happy with the detailed information it provided... however, this was not the case for me this time! I am an international customer with a Mazda B2500 turbo diesel and this was the only Hayne's manual that covered it. Sad to say info was lacking, and eventually I resorted to Mazda's owners manual (at the back there were maintenance instructions).

Nothwithstanding this, there was useful information at the back showing the electrical schematics for the different models, but not enough info on my model to justify the purchase. Hope this helps other potential buyers.

havent had to use it yet... but i am ready to fix it if it happens