First post guys, be gentle!
So I just inherited this Ranger from my grandfather (2000 auto 3.0 XLT supercab 4x4), and it's really a great little truck. That is, until I went to the gas station.
115 miles from full until the "Check gauge" light came on... which came out to around 7.7 miles per gallon
. That's worse than a hummer, and a few MPG's better than what my uncle gets in his Volvo with a sleeper cab and 9 speed transmission.
Anyways, sometimes when I drive it almost feels like the parking brake is on, but its not. It's like a dragging feeling from the rear of the truck, and also when coming to a stop the truck shudders(?) a little bit. Like a smooth linear slowing then a few bumps before stopping completely. The truck also seems to have no power. I took it onto the interstate today, set the cruise control at 60, and the engine was revving at over 4k rpm just to maintain speed.
My grandfather did very little maintenance to this truck but was also very gentle on it... I don't think it ever exceeded 50 mph in his 7 years of ownership. I'm really at a loss as to where to begin to try and diagnose what is wrong with it, any tips would be greatly appreciated!