I have a bad habit of referring to vehicles as being box-checkers, as in having just about every feature or option that I’d ever want in a vehicle, usually a truck, since I’m heavily into pickups lately. This 1987 Ford Ranger XLT 4×4 Turbo-Diesel 5-Speed pickup is a major box-checker for me. The seller has it listed here on eBay in Stevenson, Washington, and the current bid is $6,700.
The dusty barn-find’y opening photo doesn’t show how nice this little Ranger really is. This truck is far from perfect, with some rust starting to show up on the floorboards, as seen in the underside photos that the seller has provided. Great job on providing a wide range of good photos, seller! Light Chestnut Clearcoat Metallic over Dark Walnut Clearcoat Metallic is the two-tone paint scheme. Here’s a brochure of the ’87 Rangers.
The first-generation Ranger was made from 1982 for the 1983 model year until the end of 1992 in regular cab models and SuperCab models. This truck appears in nice condition, other than some pesky rust starting to show up underneath. Also, the rear gas tank strap broke a couple of years ago, and the seller put a strap on it. You’ll want to replace that asap. Here’s what it looks like inside the box/bed. I’m guessing it had a full liner to match the one on the inside of the tailgate, but it must have gone away at some point.
The red seat stands out a bit, but there’s no mention of it. I believe it should be Chestnut. I’d want to source a correct seat and detail the heck out of this Ranger before tackling that floor rust, just to see how nice it would look. The five-speed manual and two-speed transfer case shifters are seen here.
We’ve seen a couple of Mazda-sourced Perkins diesel engines in Rangers, but this one is a Mitsubishi 4D55 2.3-liter OHC turbocharged diesel with around 86 horsepower and 134 lb-ft of torque when new. Passing through the transfer case and five-speed manual to all four wheels as needed, the seller says it starts, runs, drives, and stops. That’s rarely a glowing recommendation in my world, but at least it works. The injector pump and timing belt were replaced around 8,000 miles ago. Have any of you owned a diesel Ford Ranger?
I knew about Diesel Rangers. But not a Turbo Diesel. Thats neat. And its a Mitsubishi built one, another kind of surprise with their ties to Chrysler Corp. The Perkins Diesel is a good engine. I have been told that they were popular for sailboat engines ( if anyone can chime in on that one I’d love to know more.) This Ranger looks pretty solid to me, and I think would be great to get it on the road again. This is a nice find Scotty. Thanks!!!
The Perkins in these is bog slow however. At least the Mitsu gives a vague whiff of performance since it’s coupled to a 5-speed. It’ll get out of its own way between stop lights.
“…chime in…”
“Yes!”
the Perkins 4.236 is ledgenary in all fields (tractor/ag, forklift, loader, marine, auto, truck; aux: reffer truck’s chiller, portable power, etc, etc). Its a shame they dissapeared (availability new) as durable, quiet, easy maintenance’n common fi rail). Just too hard to get in ’82 to re-power my 2.8 ‘early bronk’ oe gas.
Perkins diesels popular with trawlers too Dave. Economy and reliability a priority.
Agreed. I had two in my Golden Star Trawler. The only thing I ever did to those engines in 15 years of heavy use was oil changes. It was remarkable how reliable they were.
According to AI embedded in a browser, the 1987 Ranger with the Mitsu diesel shouldn’t even exist, having been discontinued after 1986. Yet other sources say it did exist in 1987. Bottom line, this truck’s rarity is probably somewhere between a female chicken with dentures and the proverbial unicorn.It’s an interesting vehicle to be sure, but would I buy it? No, simply because I prefer gas rigs, especially when they’re smaller trucks like this.
There were a few of these out in the Chinook Belt. In the Ranger category, the turbocharged version was far more popular.
Lots came through our shop. Nippondenso VE pump with a wax-pellet cold engine advance mechanism. KSB for short. It essentially was a device that was attached to the side of the injection pump that would force the roller plate to advance to help the engine warm up faster. Coolant was run through the device; the object of the game was once the engine hit that magic 120 degrees the pellet would melt and take the device out of the system. Unfortunately it could get cold enough in the winter that the air passing around the KSB would nullify the operation of it. We fashioned a piece of sheet metal to act as a deflector to allow the device to do its job. It was also mandatory to run a 195 (minimum) thermostat to keep the temperature up.
So many little tricks and tweaks to keep those “Emissions Compliant” engines Emissions Compliant, and able to actually Run…
I owned an ’86 4×2 equipped with Fairmont hyrail gear. Superb setup – lots of power, I even towed utility trailers. Twenty seven mpg repeatedly. Leased it to a railroad and they overheated it; I could not get the right parts circa 1995, either from Ford or Mitsubishi. Wish I had never done that lease.
I sometimes wonder what was going on with Ford back then. Lots of quirky stuff going on with the engines. I remember one—brand new—that stalled while unloading off the carrier. First thing they blamed was the injection pump, which they pulled and sent to our place. Tested and returned with no fault found.
They re-installed the pump and it started but stalled within less than a minute. Let it sit overnight and it would start but quit right away.
Of course they phoned me and I told them that the problem was NOT the pump but maybe we had some back leakage in an injector.
Well, the mechanic removed the high pressure lines then the retaining nuts that held the leak-off manifold to the injectors, plus the manifold itself.
And there was the problem.
The copper sealing washers that sealed off the manifold to the outside are supposed to have a hole drilled in them to allow leak-off fuel into the manifold and thus into the fuel return circuit. No hole caused the injectors to hydraulic lock; the nozzle needle couldn’t lift to allow fuel to be injected. How it didn’t cause the hydraulic head to seize is beyond me.
Easy fix but a person cannot help but wonder HOW the guys at Mitsubishi missed it during startup at the factory, then the guys on the Ford assembly line who installed it, then the dealership. Further, where the hell did those blank washers come from?
The joys of working on diesel engines…
My brother had one. It was pretty peppy actually in such a small truck. He broke the rear end doing a brakestand with a camper on and it was totalled when a windstorm blew a barn down on top of it. But a very good truck until then. I am tempted to buy this one.
The seat is brown- it matches the dash pad.
I think you could be mistaken, Bunky. Here’s another photo of the red seat. Plus, the seller lists the interior color as red.
Now I see why: this truck appears to have been red originally?! The missing paint on the front of the bed on the right side shows red underneath, and the door striker is painted. Hmm… what’s going on there?
Thanks Terry. I just sat down after dinner enjoying my cup of Coffee got to the female chicken with dentures and spit my coffee on my laptop from laughing so hard.
Lovely looking truck. It’s unforgivable that the turbo diesel engine wasn’t offered for very long.
I actually owned a Ranger with the mitsubishi diesel it did have a recall for an oil leak that they fixed. That truck averaged 45 mpg and even pulled a 24′ pontoon boat 50 miles each way to the lake and back. ( granted you could not see anything around it but hey that was their problem, outta sight outta mind!)