All to often I hear the statement "anyone can do brakes". Seriuosly, just anyone should NOT do brakes, or many other services to their car. Few people even do disc brakes correctly. Theres a lot more to it than just slapping in a set of pads.

The special tool is a puller for the pump pulley, and then the re-installer. The bolts that hold the pump to the bracket are behind the pulley, and the bracket also only has an opening sufficient for the pump shaft to stick through, so no matter what, the pulley has to come off in the car, and then be pressed back on in the car. Yes you can buy the tool, for a cheap version, you'll be spending about $50. For one that will last over many uses, figure about $200. As far as your local small shops not already owning this tool, that directly comes from the very likely possibility that they are underpriced, and therefore have to control expenses to the point that they cannot purchase tools like this. I can only imagine what else they SHOULD be buying in scan tools, DSO's DVOM's, information sources, and above all training. But they have themselves caught in a downward spiral. Seriously, expect them to go out of business fairly soon, and at the same time you can almost be assured that no one will be there to replace them. The reason for that is for someone to be able to get another shop going, they would have to price correctly. Which means not like the two you presently have. Then they will have to struggle through all of the endless times that they will hear "but Henry down the street will do that for half that price". Yea, your in for a rough ride when it comes to keeping your vehicles running.

High fuel consumption,, is this measured over a couple of tanks of fuel, or simply happen on just this one? The valves are hydraulic, there is no adjusting to be performed. If it was running too rich it should be setting a trouble code and a check engine light. The computer systems are pretty smart. if the convertor was plugged up, the onboard computer would actually detect that the MAF sensor is under-reporting airflow through a volumetric efficiency "VE" calculation. Now it would turn the MIL on and set a P0101 for MAF sensor performance because it would not know why the "VE" was incorrect but it would recognize this. If the emergency brake isn't releasing fully, that could seriously impact fuel useage. If you ahe been looking at this from a single tankfull, it could be the gage is doing something erratic. A fuel leak again is extremely unlikely, first you would smell it, secondly the evaporative emissions system would detect the leak and turn on the MIL (check engine light). As far as someone stealing the fuel, there is a roll-over valve, and the car also uses ORVR, On-board Refueling Vapor Recovery which between them make it virtually impossible to siphon a fuel tank. It's a real PITA when I have to service a fuel pump, not to mention a great saftey hazzard dealing with a full fuel tank that I cannot drain. The car already uses platinum plugs, in fact they should be double platinums. If there is a missfire occuring, the car would detect it and agian illuminate the MIL. It would be a good idea to get this checked, first of all it's still under the 3year- 36,000 mile warranty. One possible cause could be that the vehicle may have been fueled with E-85, and may not actually be a flex fuel truck. Although I would off-hand expect that a 3.0 Ranger would be a flex fuel, and quite capable of handling such fuel. If a problem in the feedback system occured at just the right time, the vehicle could be totally confused thinking it got refueled with E-85, when in fact it actually got regular fuel. It would take it a while to figure out that something is amiss if that was to occur. A qualifed tech, with the correct tools will make easy work of verifying the engine control system. Since this should be still under warranty, a dealer is where to go. After that if you want to go somewhere else find a shop that has invested in the Ford IDS scan tool, and is not just relying on some aftermarket 1/2 tool.

I had a 1976 Ranger back when and I really liked it. My son was out hunting and hit a deer with it and wrecked it. Not on purpose. On his way back from hunting it ran into him straight on the front.