Easiest to work on pickup?

[Wayne]

I’ve been giving serious thought to purchasing one now for some time. I flip through craigslist weekly checking out what’s available for under $5k locally here (philly area). The Ford rangers I rather like in 4×4 (1996-2001) and in a perfect world I’d find a manual in that flavor. I’m just wondering how big of a PITA it might be to work on in any serious problem sense. Am I going to need to yank the engine to replace a head-gasket for instance?

Any fairly common (and affordable) 1996+ models that are easy to work on?

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[cunno96]

they all have there good and bad points my dad had a ford courier/mazda bravo twin cab 2.0l which lacked the power he loved his ford falcon ute (sedan hight suspention pick up as you call it)but the 4.0l 6cly falcon was not as usefull less space but more power didnt make it better the his courier and the 2×4 suspetion in the courier meant he could go over curves plus dont forget fuel economy o and also tie down points some utes/pickups have metal ones and other just have plastic for keeping the cover on the tray p.s.older cars have more room in the engine bay and reliability on the motor depends on what one it is
i hope this is help full

[mckrishes]

My former 2001 Chevy s-10 v6 was easy to work on, although I had a lot of break downs with it.

[muadeeb]

My 2001 Xterra is pretty easy most days; you can crawl under it without having to jack it up. It’s mostly been basic maintenance on it, but I’ve done A/C compressor, timing belt, and radiator myself without too much problem. Biggest hassle has been valve cover gaskets — you have to remove the intake plenum and there are a few connections at the very back of the engine bay that are a pain to get to. The Frontier is basically the same vehicle with a truck body.

FYI: In 2005, Nissan changed the engine from the VG33 (1999 – 2004) to the VQ40 which has a timing chain and 6 coil packs.

[Wayne]

Not exactly a pick-up, SUV. Nice, but not what I would get the most out of. And just not really interested in any of those flavors. Extended cab I know I’m set on now, which will likely eat further into the engine bay space…meh.

[Author]

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