ranger 4 cyl plugs

[medwards29]

my dads ranger needs a tune up and I'm thinking about using Bosch platinum +4's on it. He has the 4cylinder with 8 spark plugs, i think thats the 2.5L I4, but anyways, I heard that some 4 cylinder vehicles cannot use the iridium or platinum plugs because they burn too hot or something like that. So will the Bosch's work in the ranger? or do i need to get the standard plugs?

Also How hard is it to change a rear differential gear? He has an issue where at 70 miles an hour the speedometer will go haywire and the transmission will have issues shifting (i'm guessing cause the haywire speed changes). We have already replaced the speed sensor which was located on the rear diff and it did not fix it, so I was lead to believe that what the sensor read was cracked and was separating at high speeds (70 mph) and causing the speed to read weird and causing the tranny to shift weird. So as I was saying, how hard will it be to change out the gear? We have to change the fluid and gasket anyway so I thought we might as well fix the sensor issue if we can.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

stick with motorcraft plugs.

 

[jonathan]

x2 stock plugs are fine

 

[MUDKICKR]

really need to know what year the ranger is to answer the speed sensor problem. but to answer the speed sensor gear question, its a big ring that is sandwiched between the ring gear and carrier, and almost impossible to have broke without something major going wrong. its metal as well so it just "breaking" is not possible. it is possible that you have enough metal in the rear diff that its collecting on the sensor, but with that much metal i would hope you would have heard it whine by now. let us know the year and we will go from there. also if you can get a scanner and hook it up to the trk and go under "abs" you can watch the speed sensors working and can also see if it jumps on there, if it does could be sensor problem, if not, then dash cluster problem.

 

[medwards29]

well i have the vehicle posted in my sig, but its a 2000. Other details on the issue is that the rear diff seal is leaking about a few drips a day. I was just thinking that maybe the gear was put in at the factory with a void in the metal or a small crack or if there was damage somehow caused later that could cause this issue or if the low fluid is the cause of everything. Again, the speed sensor has already been changed out for future posters who like to skip to the last post,

 

[tractorman86]

Pull the cover with the rear in the air, then rotate the wheels till you can inspect the entire toner ring

 

[medwards29]

thanks man, that was actually out next step. We have to change the fluid and the gasket anyway so, will do. My dad heard from someone that there is some connector that is located under the drivers seat that corrodes and goes bad and shows the symptoms we are experiencing so we will check that as well.

 

[tractorman86]

Cool, good luck. I don't buy the story on the the iridium and platinum plugs, my fiance has an 04 with a 2.3 and I run NGK iridiums in it with no problems. Personally I don't like the bosh +4s they seem like a lot of extra money for nothing. If you put the plug wire on one and ground it out then crank the motor you will see it can only fire to one electrode at a time and typically the same one

 

[medwards29]

thanks for the advice. I buy everything bosch but I prolly wont get the +4 unless they are on sale that day, lol. Still waiting on dad to stop being lazy so we can take the diff cover off to replace fluid and gasket, as well as inspecting the gears.

 

[jonathan]

thanks for the advice. I buy everything bosch but I prolly wont get the +4 unless they are on sale that day, lol. Still waiting on dad to stop being lazy so we can take the diff cover off to replace fluid and gasket, as well as inspecting the gears.

why cant you do it yourself? it easy to do

 

[82F100SWB]

The factory plugs in that Ranger are most likley platinums, I know my dad's 96 2.3 came with them, and I highly doubt they'd have changed that.

If you do end up having an issue with the tone ring, it isn't too bad to change, you do have to pull the axle shafts out, pop the carrier out and unbolt the ring gear from it to do it, but, none of it is really very complicated, no actual gear setup needs to be done, just have to make sure you keep the shims on the right sides.

 

[medwards29]

thanks guys for the help. I would do it myself except it aint my truck to fix for one, lol and two I am living in a dorm going to college at the moment and my dad just needs to get up and do it, lol. 91idi suggested we try to do a 1 ton dually swap on the ranger lol that would be sweet.