2018 Ford Ranger Pricing and Specs

Provided you're comparing apples with apples (dual-cabs with dual-cabs, for instance) the exterior panels, glass and much of the chassis and platform should be interchangeable between these two variants of what is essentially the same car.

The differences are likely to be cosmetic, such as the Wildtrak version having a chrome tailgate handle rather than a black plastic one on the base model Ranger. But even things like headlights can throw up big differences. for example, the Wildtrak had LED running lights and HID headlights, which won't fit on the lower-spec version thanks to mounting and wiring differences. The Wildtrak was also available in its own palette of exterior colours, so matching panels colours might be difficult.

Then there's the question of what engine was fitted to either version you're trying to swap parts with. The different powerplants would have had different wiring looms (for different sensors in different positions) and perhaps even differences in where major components were mounted under the bonnet. Even the wheels of different Ranger variants had different sizes and offsets. So, a simple bonnet or mudguard substitution might be viable, but some parts sharing will definitely not be as simple as it sounds.

This gets a bit political, because Rangers delivered after May 1, 2018 carried a five-year factory warranty, but cars sold before that date had just three years of factory cover. Which means that if your car was sold new before May 1 2018, it will now be out of warranty and, if it was sold later than that, the problem is still Ford’s as the warranty should still apply. Even so, it would seem fair that Ford should offer some pro-rata cover for a car that was built in early 2018 and missed out on the five-year warranty by a quirk of the calendar. But don’t count on it.

As for the actual problem, have you noticed any warning lights on the dashboard? If so, that could be a clue to what’s going on. But unfortunately, there are many, many things that could be making a modern turbo-diesel engine run poorly. Rough running or stuttering, for instance, could be caused by anything from a blocked fuel filter, worn fuel pump, faulty fuel-injectors or a DPF system that is blocked. Or any of literally hundreds of other things.

The best advice is to have the car electronically scanned to see if the on-board computer throws up a fault code. From there, you can home in on the actual problem without a hit-and-miss approach. That said, I would have expected a Ford dealer to have tried this already, so maybe it’s time to try another dealer. And don’t forget to press them on the warranty situation.

While it might sound like your car is haunted, I have actually come across this problem before and it’s not as rare as you might think. The clicking/tapping noise is actually caused by the actuator motor for the cabin-ventilation’s recirculation flap.

If any dirt or grease contaminates the internal electrical contacts inside the actuator (which is a little electric motor that opens and closes the flap) the actuator cannot electronically detect (or find) its parked position. So, it continues to cycle the flap, searching in vain for the contact that tells it to switch off. That continual cycling is what you can hear.

You can replace the actuator or, if you’re keen and a bit handy, you can remove the actuator from under the dashboard (near the glove-box) take the unit apart and clean the contacts to that it all works properly again. Or take it to a Ford dealership, as a 2018 anger should still be covered by the factory warranty (Ford upgraded the warranty to five years in 2018).