Ranger/BT50 power problems and fuel economy

[01lux]

pmturnbull, what mazda did u speak to? pm me if you want.

[pmturnbull]

thanks mate Mazda Blacktown in Sydney

[pmturnbull]

If you ring them up ask to speak to Peter he is the head service guy in the workshop I can't remember what the job title is but he is the one that gets to go to special lunch meetings with other service managers etc to talk about related mazda problems

[PJW]

I joined this forum today to share my findings to hopefully help others out there who may be experiancing the same problems, and don't know what to do with lack of power and bad fuel economy.
I am a 39 year old male (tradesman)
I have a ranger 2009 auto 4x4 crew cab with a few accessories with 5000km on the clock
I will try to keep it as short as possible
I thought my ute had no power when towing and on some hills 40km in 2nd was the best I could do, and 90km was flat to the boards on a hot day with a load behind of 1.5 tonne, also had bad lag
A 140km trip used over 1/2 tank of fuel that day (mannum and back)
The local ford dealer did computer checks and found nothing, but said that my ARB bullbar is causing airflow problems to the intercooler
Not happy to there suggestion to remove my bullbar completely, I dyno tested the vehicle at willall racing and found the results were 65kw at 90kph on a 24.4deg day on the 4th&5th test when the intercooler failed and 275 N.M torque
Willall racing technician told me my intercooler was no good
I found an intercooler custom manufacturer in adelaide Cross Country 4x4 ph: 08 82768569 who built a 30,000 btu cooler and upgraded the trans cooler 30,000BTU rating also for around $1300 I have photo's of there excellent work, and I have there blessing to tell others of there capabilities.

Now the car is amazing with huge power differances and power use, with the same trip using just over 1/4 tank of fuel
Town driving is from 14ish LP 100km to 11 with the 1st tank
Haven't done a long distance run yet with the new cooler.
The same hill is now climed in 4th gear at 3100rpm not 3500rpm in 2nd as previous as 3rd wouldn't hold it
I was going to chip the engine but now its not required and sent it back
New dyno tests are : 65 to 89kw at 90kph now peeking at 92kw instead of 69kw, (at the wheels) the torque is 100N.M improved also at 275-375N.M thats a 40% increase of power
Ford currently dont want to know about it and blamb arb bull bar design for air flow restriction, and ARB say this is not the case and have fitted 100's, so I couldn't be bothered with a huge fight and paid for it all myself at around $1500 by the time I did tests and tilt trays etc...

If you are having power problems or high fuel use and your dealer doesn't know why and just tells you to let it run in for another 40,000km then just feel your inlet and outlet lines on the intercooler hoses (drivers side is outlet) the outlet should be as cool as your bull bar (mine is -NOW!) and the other side is as hot as a cup of coffee if you touch the side of your cup.
Then ask them to explain why and how they intend to fix it...yeh right!!!

The only person that would be good to tell is the state rep of ford Aust GLEN as he doesn't here of any problems with any other cars like mine, but out of respect for him contact him through your local dealer, but don't expect much

It has been a frustrating time but an excellent result obtained and could only recomend to others to upgrade there intercoolers to get fuel economy under controll due to better torque and acceleration without pushing the engine so hard - especially if you are in a warm part of Australia and need to tow sometimes

I have dyno test results, and photo's I can e-mail if you want to see it or feel free to ask questions if you want
Hopefully I dont get 100's of replys but who knows??

craig

Thanks for your post . I am very new to this forum stuff and really only found you because I am having the same issue with my Ford XLT Suoercab Auto Ranger. I advised my dealer of power loss on uphill gradients from initial delivery, but perhaps that I noticed it only after I had my ARB Bull-bar fitted. I'm not sure as I nursed the vehicle during the first month or so. My vehicle is a 12/09 PK Ranger and I must say I love it except that there is something fundermentaly wrong to make it lose power under the slightest load or incline. The dealers did a fine tune at 10,000kms but that didn't fix the power loss. At 20,000km service time I took it to a specialist Auto company that has Dyno equipment to check the power and torque. They reported 'Results confirmed customers complaint at power. Engine is rated approx 115 kw and 380nm of torque. This engine only outputs approx 84kw and 253 nm of torque. When compared to another Ford Ranger Diesel with auto trans of the same year, one vehicle had a rear wheel power output of 90kw the other 68kw....suggest owner return vehicle to dealer for warranty claim".
I did that and the dealers did a comprehensive electronic diagnostic check and found some faults and finely tuned my vehicle. It performed a little better as a result but did not fix the 'lack of power' particularly in top gear. So far everyone has been helpful and trying to fix the problem. My dealers have written to Ford Aust requesting further action required. No reply as yet.
I am really at a loss as to how to resolve this problem if it comes down to the blame game between Ford and ARB. I hope it doesn't come to that and yet I still have a 12 month old vehicle under warrantee with serious performance issues and unable to perform the function for which I purchased it, namely towing a Caravan,boat and trailer.
In the end all I want is to rectify the power issue whether it is a result of ARB bull-bar being not compatible with the intercooling system on the PK. Any further updates from owners with similar power/torque problems is appreciated. Regards Peter.

[caprusz]

PJW
I havent been on this site for a while and didn't get your notification
I trust you have read all my posts on both pages
If so you know what you have to do to get the vehicle you need for your purpose
If you dyno tested and your hoses were hot there is only 1 thing to do.....scrap the intercooler
e.mail me your ph no..if you want and I will call you back when i can
cajmail@bigpond.com
Ford don't care fella - mine was only 3 ish? months old and they walked away
Arb didn't build it so not there problem

$1500 will give you a car you thought you were getting
remember under load things get hot - hotter the intercooler the less it works - the harder it works the hotter and hotter things get etc.....result no turbo boost and reduced K/W
big intercooler keeps boost working and nothing works as hard
p.s do your auto trans too

caprusz

[Northside 4x4]

I speak to probably 10-15 people per week regarding the economy and power issue with the Ranger/BT50's.
After so much interest, we did alot of R&D regarding the problem and the data all pointed towards the intercooler as the main culprit. So we came up with a cooler kit that did the job so much better, even dealers were getting requests to have these kits fitted before the cars were picked up.
It kills 2 birds with one stone as well. It cools a hell of alot better, and it gets the cooler up into the airstream and out of the way of any off road obstacles that might punch up into where the standard intercooler was.

After having one warranty battle with a customer that had a stump smash his intercooler, then promptly hydra lock the engine due to water ingestion they also saw it prudent to consider doing this for customers if they wanted the extra performance and safety.

Few pics below of the full kit if anyone is interested + a dyno graph. Its a given to see a 20Kw gain simply with exhaust and intercooler on these vehicle.

[Northside 4x4]

The other interesting test is how long it holds the power for.

As the ecu is reading intake air temperature, it can and does back the fueling down from 60deg+ temperatures. Which means loss of power and the driver squeezing the throttle harder and harder to maintain speed, which increases air temp more and so on......

We were able to hold temperatures within 20% of ambient for very extended periods of time. The standard is basically staying around 35-40deg on cruise. And heading past 60 at a great rate of knots once you have your foot down.

Also dont forget pre intercooler temperature are reaching 160+deg at full boost. So alot of cooling is required.