Opinions Solicited......Another Head Scratching Mid Size Truck Choice Thread

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
That said, I also don't like when manufacturers put aluminum heads on iron blocks, and that's what I just plunked down $50K on, so.... Who am I to judge?
This was what everyone said 20 and 30 years ago when Toyota started putting aluminum heads on iron blocks, like the 20R and 22R, 1FZ, 3VZ, etc. There is a legitimate concern with different rates of expansion and the head gaskets on those early engines did wear faster than iron heads on iron blocks like the F engines. But there was no way those low revving boat anchor weight engines could continue into the modern era and still meet all the requirements so it was inevitable. Engines now benefit from what was learned early on about how to keep from blowing head gaskets.
 

spectre6000

Observer
My '04 Dakota has just started letting go of its second set of head gaskets (a big part of the decision to buy a new truck), so they (manufacturers collectively) were still having issues at least 15 years ago.
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
My '04 Dakota has just started letting go of its second set of head gaskets (a big part of the decision to buy a new truck), so they (manufacturers collectively) were still having issues at least 15 years ago.

That in no way means that manufacturers as a whole were having issues then. There are literally tens of millions of motors with aluminum heads and iron blocks that have had zero problems.
 

04Ram2500Hemi

Observer
My '04 Dakota has just started letting go of its second set of head gaskets (a big part of the decision to buy a new truck), so they (manufacturers collectively) were still having issues at least 15 years ago.

How many miles are on your truck? How many miles on the first set of head gaskets?
 

spectre6000

Observer
04Ram2500Hemi, my truck has 188K. I don't know when the first set started going (I got it with them on their way out), but this set only lasted about ~15K.

Jnich77, I agree. I bought my Dakota as the final stop in my tour of the Big 3. I wanted a Dakota with the V8 that was otherwise mechanically sound. There were 6 on the market at the time in the Denver/Boulder area, and I looked at all of them. Every single one was in some stage of head gasket failure, including the one I bought. I wouldn't dare suggest Chrysler building a Mercedes engine design is exactly the best example of the state of the industry as a whole, but those engines clearly have head gasket issues.

"Manufacturers collectively" includes Chrysler, who clearly still hadn't figured it out by '04. That's not the same as "manufacturers severally", which would imply they're all equally culpable. They clearly were not per the example(s) cited and any number of others that could be named.

I agree that it's not the issue it used to be, and to illustrate that I pointed out that I just bought a diesel Colorado with an iron block and aluminum head. I'm not worried about it on something in this era. It seems like a pretty silly diversion from the topic at hand since the only reason I brought it up was as an example of why the previous opinion (engines in vehicles they weren't designed for create problems) was just an opinion that doesn't really mean much to anyone but me... Let's move on.
 

AbleGuy

Officious Intermeddler
Well, here’s why I may not wind up buying the Ranger....if the engineers who designed it and the assembly line folks who built it relied on any information or instructions written by these language challenged guys below, the Ranger is sadly destined to be a complete disaster. I think this review below indicates that they’re now building and testing these Rangers in ? Uzbekistan ? these days.

Seriously, if you want to enjoy a few moments of pure humor, take a few moments to read and try to understand some of this unbelievably wacky translated Ranger review:

F497CA09-9EE7-4281-A4B1-F89AB68B3E6B.png

from: https://www.fordcarsl.com/2019-ford-ranger-wildtrak-specs-and-price/
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
"Azure Oblong" sounds way more sophisticated than "blue oval." :LOL:

I'm guessing this is a double-translation, i.e. translated from English to some other language and then translated back to English.
 

85_Ranger4x4

Well-known member
"Azure Oblong" sounds way more sophisticated than "blue oval." :LOL:

I'm guessing this is a double-translation, i.e. translated from English to some other language and then translated back to English.

Something is goofy, there is no Wildtrack in NA.

I met the Ranger NA team when they launched the Ranger, they seemed pretty normal.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Well, here’s why I may not wind up buying the Ranger....if the engineers who designed it and the assembly line folks who built it relied on any information or instructions written by these language challenged guys below, the Ranger is sadly destined to be a complete disaster. I think this review below indicates that they’re now building and testing these Rangers in ? Uzbekistan ? these days.

Seriously, if you want to enjoy a few moments of pure humor, take a few moments to read and try to understand some of this unbelievably wacky translated Ranger review:

View attachment 556430

from: https://www.fordcarsl.com/2019-ford-ranger-wildtrak-specs-and-price/
LOL, the webmaster's email is "blazofister-at-gmail.com" so I'm not sure about its automotive journalism legitimacy.
 

spectre6000

Observer
That's a dead ringer for a poor AI-generated article. Essentially just clickbait for ad revenue. It's meaningless crap that's essentially pulled together from a bunch of articles about Rangers, lightly sifted through a thesaurus, then shoved together using a statistical algorithm. The program looks like it was written for a different language based on the syntax, but they tried to feed it English samples.
 

spectre6000

Observer
Now that I have the Colorado in hand, I can report 2 days' ownership experience.

First point of note: that suspension... Ho-lee-wow! We have an issue with our well requiring us to drink bottled water until I get it fixed (super close, lots of code to write...), and I fill 1 gallon jugs at the grocery store twice a week as an excuse to get out of the house and run errands. In my Dakota, I fold up the rear bench seat bottom and put them in the rear foot wells; six to a side, down low so they stay put. They never stay put. Every time, I get to the store and I have to fish the empties from all over the place. When full, if I have a full compliment, it's no big deal, but any less than that and they'll slide around (twisty mountain roads). The Colorado's rear seat folding situation is less than ideal... The seat folds up, but there's a big bin/support thing there preventing the floor from being very usable. The seat back also folds down, and that's pretty flat, but really high. I ended up putting the jugs between the other 40 seat back and the c-pillar. That was good for five jugs, but the other five weren't really held in place by anything other than the friction of the carpeted seat back. Now, I'm still breaking the thing in, so I wasn't exactly flogging it, but I used to DD a '62 VW bus, and drive like I still do, so it's not like I ever flog anything that isn't really asking for it... When I got to the store, all of them were still in place... For some reason it didn't impress upon me at the time, but when I got home and was unloading, the full jugs were also all still in place despite nothing really holding them there. Wow! I noticed that it corners really flat, but this calls for some experimentation once things have broken in... So I guess that's two notes really... The rear seat system sorta sucks, but that suspension is living up to the hype.

Third point: Got my first QC issue on only day 2. When I took it home from the dealership, it was dark. I didn't really get a chance to look at it. The next morning, I took it down to the flats to have the snows mounted, and I noticed the DEF tank had leaked all over the fender from the fill neck. I cleaned it up, and figured they just spilled some when they topped it off at the dealership, and it took some time to dry up and crystalize. When I got to the grocery store this morning, I noticed the side of the bed was covered in DEF fluid crystals again! When I got home, I did a few minutes of internet sleuthing, called the dealer service department, and in short order discovered the existence of a TSB for the rubber grommet not being fully seated around the filler neck causing the cap to not fully seat. Pushed the grommet down, and done. I poured a gallon or two of warm water from the sink down the drain tube and wiped the fender down again just to make sure there are no corrosion problems later. .01 bananas. Not the greatest note in the world, but it beats having to POR15 the spots on the frame that rubbed through on the train ride from Dana to the Jeep assembly plant on a brand new Wrangler (my wife's new car repair) or cross threaded and not fully seated top bolts.
 

windtraveler

Observer
If you are not looking for a new rig I don’t think you can go wrong with a low mileage first gen Tundra, if you can find one. Relatively low cost, super reliable, minimally bigger than the current Tacomas but significantly more comfortable (and capable) in my opinion.
 

phsycle

Adventurer
Now that I have the Colorado in hand, I can report 2 days' ownership experience.

First point of note: that suspension... Ho-lee-wow! We have an issue with our well requiring us to drink bottled water until I get it fixed (super close, lots of code to write...), and I fill 1 gallon jugs at the grocery store twice a week as an excuse to get out of the house and run errands. In my Dakota, I fold up the rear bench seat bottom and put them in the rear foot wells; six to a side, down low so they stay put. They never stay put. Every time, I get to the store and I have to fish the empties from all over the place. When full, if I have a full compliment, it's no big deal, but any less than that and they'll slide around (twisty mountain roads). The Colorado's rear seat folding situation is less than ideal... The seat folds up, but there's a big bin/support thing there preventing the floor from being very usable. The seat back also folds down, and that's pretty flat, but really high. I ended up putting the jugs between the other 40 seat back and the c-pillar. That was good for five jugs, but the other five weren't really held in place by anything other than the friction of the carpeted seat back. Now, I'm still breaking the thing in, so I wasn't exactly flogging it, but I used to DD a '62 VW bus, and drive like I still do, so it's not like I ever flog anything that isn't really asking for it... When I got to the store, all of them were still in place... For some reason it didn't impress upon me at the time, but when I got home and was unloading, the full jugs were also all still in place despite nothing really holding them there. Wow! I noticed that it corners really flat, but this calls for some experimentation once things have broken in... So I guess that's two notes really... The rear seat system sorta sucks, but that suspension is living up to the hype.

Third point: Got my first QC issue on only day 2. When I took it home from the dealership, it was dark. I didn't really get a chance to look at it. The next morning, I took it down to the flats to have the snows mounted, and I noticed the DEF tank had leaked all over the fender from the fill neck. I cleaned it up, and figured they just spilled some when they topped it off at the dealership, and it took some time to dry up and crystalize. When I got to the grocery store this morning, I noticed the side of the bed was covered in DEF fluid crystals again! When I got home, I did a few minutes of internet sleuthing, called the dealer service department, and in short order discovered the existence of a TSB for the rubber grommet not being fully seated around the filler neck causing the cap to not fully seat. Pushed the grommet down, and done. I poured a gallon or two of warm water from the sink down the drain tube and wiped the fender down again just to make sure there are no corrosion problems later. .01 bananas. Not the greatest note in the world, but it beats having to POR15 the spots on the frame that rubbed through on the train ride from Dana to the Jeep assembly plant on a brand new Wrangler (my wife's new car repair) or cross threaded and not fully seated top bolts.

Bro....that’s not a QC issue. Friend had a door latch freeze issue on his f150. THAT is a QC issue. Not having to push down a rubber grommet!! :) Glad you got your truck. I’d like to try out that suspension some day. Heard it was amazing.
 

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