I have a 98 Ford Ranger 3.0 and was wondering if i needed to continue to use the same station as privious owner. Previous owner bought truck brand new in 98 and used Chevron and has put Chevron in it sence then. Just wondering if it makes any diffenance where i get my gas from at this point. Can i go to ARCO for the lesser expensive gas or do I need to stay with the higher expensive Chevron. Thank you for your time.
Lycan
Gas is gas. Where you buy it makes little difference. I buy gas on price mostly and use different stations and different brands. There are several brands that meet the most stringent “top tier” requirements, Chevron is one of them. Your '98 Ranger will run on any gas, it isn’t a special high performance car.
Ok thank you for the quick response. Now ii just need to figure out how to get better gas milage with it LOL.
A clean air filter (replace every 30K miles) makes a big difference. Spark plugs in good shape make a difference. Make sure your tires are fully inflated to the pressure listed on the sticker you’ll find somewhere on the vehicle (usually door jam, and in some car the fuel filler door).
Since you just got the car you might need to check maintenance records. If there are none, then I’d get a new air filter (easy to buy at any auto parts store) and new spark plugs.
Filter is ok. Not to sure bout plugs. I do know it was maintained at a Mazda dealership, sense the Ranger and the B-series Mazda trucks were almost 100% identical. I get the tires checked today and have them rotated/tire pressure. Any other tricks to help fuel mileage would be helpful. O the truck only has 99,000 miles on it but only getting about 10 city and 14 highway. My 2002 Taruse got better MPG then that and had same engine in it.
Thank you
Lycan
I think you have the V6 motor? That is a peppy truck if you do. In town driving your mpg is not far off what you’d expect. If it has 4X4 drive, that doesn’t help mpg. The truck is geared differently than a Taurus. Also it has awful aerodynamics compared to a Taurus, so you are pushing a bunch more air.
To get decent mpg you have to drive like a “grandma” and refrain from enjoying the zippy nature of your Ranger. Back in '98 the full sized pickups got such poor mpg they made the Ranger look frugal, but in reality with a V6 it didn’t get good mpg. The current batch of full sized PU’s beat the old Ranger for mpg easily and haul more, and tow more. Truck mpg could have been much better back then, but they were selling all they could build without bothering to get good mpg too.
When you get the tires rotated, have the shop check to make sure you don’t have a brake caliper hanging up. All the wheels need to spin easily with the truck up on a lift. An easy thing to check. I’d suggest having the differential fluid changed while they are at it. Some folks never change it and it can’t hurt and just might help. If it is a 4X4 you have a front differential, and a transfer case too. I’d change them too.
Ok Uncle turbo. Ill def agree with all u just said. Ill just suck it up for now tell i can afford another good pickup or a super cab F150. We will see.
Thank you again,
Lycan
Gas is gas with a few exceptions. IF you are worred, find a discount station that is Top Tier certified. We have the “premium” stations like Shell as well as smaller chains that meet the same rating but have a discount price. Try to find one of those. This rating is mainly based on detergents and their ability to prevent deposits from forming.
My Ranger is a rare 2x4 automatic trany. When i look it up the all show my truck as 4x4 manual. go figure
Ok ty for the information cwatin.
Lycan
Sorry for the miss spell (cwatkin)
Your truck is rated for 15 MPG City /21 MPG highway /17 MPG overall
as you can see here
fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=14507
The 2WD Automatic is probably the most common configuration actually.
Your mileage is too low. Take one plug out and inspect it. If you have feeler gauges, check the gap. Let us know what you find.
Try to use a gas station that seems to sell a lot of gas. It’s less likely to have any contaminants or water seeping into the holding tank if it is sold as fast as it is put in. That’s my theory anyway.
I’ve always used ARCO in California. The “A” means Alaska (at least I think it does) and Alaska is a source of low sulphur clean oil which refines into excellent clean gasoline that won’t gum things up in the engine , so ARCO is a good choice from this point of view (another unproved theory, I admit). And ARCO has some of the lowest prices (this is pretty much proved). The downside of ARCO is that they prefer you pay in currency. You’ll be charged a little extra if you want to pay by debit card.
I expect the other low price stations have just as good of gas. Valero, Rotten Robbies (in Calif). I think the V in Valero means the gas comes from Venezula instead of Alaska, but that’s just another unproved theory of mine. It’s probably all mixed together no matter where it comes from.
Beyond all these theories of mine, I think the best thing is to use the octane rating you owner’s manual says, then shop by price for gas. There is a wide range of prices charged, even by ARCO stations. There’s a few web sites that track local gasoline prices and tell you where the lowest price ARCO station is.
A 15 y.o. truck might be ready for a new thermostat.
Oh, one more thing … at least here in the SF Bay area, a new station has emerged called “Alliance” or something like that. Once it opened, it sold gas at a considerably lower price than the other stations, and the price of gas fell by about 15 cents per gallon pretty much everywhere. I haven’t used it yet. I don’t know where their gasoline comes from and why it is less expensive. I did inspect the pump one time while walking by, and it said the gas may contain up to 10% ethanol I think it said. I don’t know if all gasoline in the area contains ethanol or not. But I’ve haven’t seen that sign at other gas stations besides that one particular Alliance.
@Lycan in case you don’t have the owner’s manual, here’s the factory maintenance schedule
https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/maintenance_schedules/FullMaintSchedule.asp
Did you happen to get any maintenance records?
I’m a little confused with your last post. You said you had a 2x4 automatic tranny. You probably meant 4x4 automatic tranny, right?
If you do have a 4x4, I would seriously consider a transmission fluid and filter service, plus front and rear differential fluid service.
In addition to anything else that’s needed or overdue.
As much as id like i would like to agree with you db4690. I cant. Its a 2x4 with a auto trany.
I am having a hard time even finding anything on web about the truck. Everything says its susposed to be a 4x4. but its not.
@GeorgeSanJose, I looked on line for Alliance Gasoline and found prices at lots of stations in Cali, but I didn’t find any parent company information. There is a company using the same name in New England, but their web site doesn’t show any gas stations elsewhere. I don’t think that they are the same company.
As for the low gas prices, Alliance may be using the same business plan that Sheetz uses back east. They move into an area and open a few stations, then undercut the competition on price. This drives the rivals out of business, and Sheetz builds more stations to control the market. Then they can raise prices to a level that lets them make money. Maybe that’s not how they operate, but still enjoy the low(er) prices while you can. Ours dropped to under $3.00 for a short while, but they are back up about 40 cents now.