HELP. Looking at buying a 1989 Ford Ranger

An 89 Ranger should have a hydraulic clutch, so I'm not sure that there's an adjustment of a spring you can make.

As to the check engine light, on an 89, you can pull the codes without even a code reader. If you buy a code reader, it's less than $30 and comes with the book of instructions and codes so you know why the light is coming on.

The 2.3 is a durable engine, but no engine is bullet (or idiot) proof. A compression test would tell you a lot about it.

Those are solid little trucks, and if you don't find anything outstandingly wrong with it, I'd go for it.

CJB

Buy the truck. I got my '91 Ranger XLT 2 years ago and I have the same problem with a heavy clutch which I am going to look into this month as it is getting hard to shift when it gets in the summer months. Otherwise it has worked fine. Check engine light, you can get an idea of what the problem might be by getting a copy of the Haynes or chilton manuals. They will have a procedure for you to follow to extract the codes without need of pricey tools. From there you can get another good manual from Bentleys that goes over the injection system pretty well and if you want to tackle it you may very well be able to fix that light.

FRedzo

Look, when a truck is used and with a lot of miles, its actually more important how well it was taken care of than what make it is. Find out who the previous owner was and find out if he knew how to take care of it. So many people buy stuff from used car dealers and never even ask to talk to the previous owner about how well it was or wasn't cared for. It is really crap shoot every time they do this.

To replace any clutch, and also the slave cylinder in your case, requires dropping the transmission. Whoever told you that it was hard isn't much of a mechanic though. A shadetree mechanic with pretty basic tools can replace the clutch and slave cylinder. Even taking the thing to a shop shouldn't set you back more than 6 or 8 hundred bucks. Doing it yourself will make it more like 300, maybe less.

That's assuming that there's something wrong with it to begin with. You are buying a Ford truck, and the clutch on the Ranger is considerably stiffer than any Japanese truck I've used.

CJB

6 or 8 hundred bucks is NOT a small amount. Spending $800 for a clutch repair on a truck you just bought for $800 is not a good way to start.

I guess you have a point. However, if you're buying a truck that's worth

1500 to 2000 and you're only paying 800 bucks, then you'd still be ahead.

CJB

That's easily TWICE what a clutch job should run (unless you're bolting in some hot-shit race unit and parts will run you that alone) A stock clutch has never cost me more than $400 with my mech doing the work.

I've replaced probably a half dozen clutches on small pickups and even one Honda Accord (What a PITA that one was) and my out of pocket cost was around $300 for al of 'em (including all new bearings, resurfacing the flywheel and the clutch pilot tool)

Like was said before. A shadetree mechanic with a Clymer's manual and

1/2 a brain can do a clutch job...