Found a truck need help!

[BleednBlue68]

Found a guy sellin a 99 F250 crew 4x4 7.3 with 230K. Wants $7500. Havnt seen it yet. My gf was workin the gas station and saw it out the window and said it looked good but who knows. Im kind of leary about how cheap it is cause I dont know if its got a prob yet havnt talked to the guy. From what I hear he is really rich and just doesnt care how much he wants for it. He replaces trucks every few yrs. What should I be lookin for when I look at it?

 

[BleednBlue68]

Just got off the phone with the guy. Its a 99 F250 4x4 xlt crew manual locking hubs, 234K auto. Changes oil every 5K with rotella syn. Has a crack in the windshield, power locks dont work, but the body is straight, no rust. One scratch on the side. Has a goose neck ball, reciever hitch and one of those louvered tail gates. He says it has a rattling noise at idle. He said it sounds like its in the exhaust. Like the exhaust valve in the pipes? Has had the turbo checked 3 times by ford but they say there is nothin wrong with it. Its a quart low of engine oil at 5K everytime so it uses oil. Nothin has ever been done to the tranny. He has pulled a tandem trailer with a tractor about 20times and a horse trailer with 3 horses every now and then. He bought it with 100K miles. What you guys think? Im still not sure since its got an engine noise but dont know enough about diesels to say the engine noise is no prob. Any help would be great thanks in advance.

 

[yoslick]

Just do the usuals, check the valley of death for fuel/oil, try and watch it at a cold start for excessive smoke, check the oil filter area for leaks, check the dip stick for water, also see what kinda blowby comes from the oil fill hole.. See how it shifts, you said the trannys ****** auto or manual, if auto it's gettin close to some maintenance time ie: TC and other internals.... not a bad price, I'd be all over it for sure!!

 

[BleednBlue68]

He said he leaves it plugged in all the time. He said it has never been hard to start. He said he doesnt like to start a diesel with cold oil which i understand that. Not good on a motor. Do these motors have any blow by out the oil fill when there is nothin wrong with the motor? Its an auto so how much is a tc and anything i would need to service the tranny? I would install a shift kit if I had to do any trany work to it. How much is a shift kit?

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

rattle at idle probably the TC clutch rattling around, sounds like a can of marbles, 99s are common for it.
stock TC $350 fropm ford, transgo tugger about 150
1qt in 5k is not excessive for oil usage.
you do have some blow by out the oil cap. some is also sucked into the turbo, when a ccv is done you can see the blowby from the tube, normal


power locks can be fixed for free.

try offering 6500.

 

[BleednBlue68]

Is there some kind of flapper valve in the exhaust pipe near the turbo? I can do all the work myself, I do with all my other vehicles. Im just worried if i buy it it will start havin probs.

 

[wpfd571]

With 234k your gonna have some problems, its cheap enough. If you have the money go for it. It might nickel and dime you ya never know with those miles.
I second the TC being the noise not something in the exhaust. There is a valve in the exhaust to make back pressure to warm the engine up faster think its called a Exhaust Back Pressure Valve if i remember right, never heard of them coming loose but it could happen

 

[BleednBlue68]

Well is that exhaust back pressure valve something that I would toss when i put bigger exhaust system from the turbo back? If i test drove this truck would i notice any tranny probs if the tc is messed up?

 

[rebel_horseman]

No most of the 4" systems bolt up to the flange on the EBPV. The EBPV automatically closes at temps below 40* with the truck in park to help the engine warm up faster. They do get loose and have problems at higher mileage, but there is a freebie mod that you can do to gut it out.

The consumption isn't totally abnormal for a truck with that mileage. The rattle is most likely the TC like was posted above.

 

[BleednBlue68]

Yea. So it sounds like the tc is coming unbolted from the flywheel? Im also lookin at a 2000 F350 4x4 srw crew sb with 142K. Has an edge programmer, 4 or 6in lift, 33's, smoke stacks and full leather. Im gonna check on this one at a ford dealer. Its got everything i would have done to a stock truck and this one has less miles.

 

[BleednBlue68]

I think im gonna go after this truck. Atleast gonna look at it. I know whatever truck i get its gonna be lifted with atlteast 4in lift, 33in tires and big exhaust with stacks. Any places i should shop at for those parts? I would do some upgrades to the tranny too of course.

 

[rebel_horseman]

The stock Super Duty can fit 285s (essentially a 33" tire) with no problem and I've heard that you can make 315s fit with only slight rubbing. I don't care much for lifted heavy duty trucks since they're made for work and towing. But that's my personal preference.

 

[BleednBlue68]

Ok i test drove this truck. The body is beautiful! has one really small dent in the bed thats like a few inches long with a scratch. Its a truck so thats expected. I drove it and it rides fine minus it needs new tires bad. The noise he says it makes doesnt sound like a tc. He said it had 100k on it when he bought it and it made that noise. Hes had it checked out at ford multiple times. They've checked the turbo and said its not that. Doesnt seem to be a tc cause its been doin this noise for over 140k since its got 242k on it now and it drives perfectly haulin heavy loads and its his daily driver. So he has pretty much just left the truck alone since it didnt affect the way it drove. The sound is annoying. Only does it at a dead idle. When i had it idling it would make the noise for like 30 sec then it would go away for a few secs then come back and so on. If you barely gave it any gas like an extra 50rpm from idle it would also go away. Doesnt sound like marbles bouncing around. Sounds like a bearing. It almost sounds like on a manual trans power stroke when you let out on the clutch in neutral thats what it sounds like. Its almost a rattling noise but the trans shifts fine. it down shifts fine, the overdrive works has great pulling power. So i dont know. What you guys think? Im buyin it no matter what just want to know a lil more. I know im gonna have to do a few things to it sicne its got tons of miles. The injection pump is seepin a bit. There is fuel puddling on the intake. Motor sounds awesome though! I told my dad about it and he said dont buy it with that amount of miles on it but of course hes against diesels anyway. What you guys think?

 

[BleednBlue68]

Hes only askin 7500 for it. Im almost stupid not to take it. He just wants a truck with
130k less miles. He just wants another 7.3. and i know these 7.3s go many more miles than 242k. He uses rotella 1545 at every 5k. He does his maintenance thats for sure.

 

[rebel_horseman]

What you describe sounds exactly like most of the '99 trucks. That's the torque converter phenomenon and from what I understand it's nothing to worry about at all.

Most people who aren't diesels are not good sources for information and advice on them. The 7.3L is a 300k mile engine easily if it's maintained properly (this is a general rule and many go much longer than that.) Like others have said, the truck has almost a quarter-million miles on it so you can bet you're going to have to do a good bit of work on it in the not too distant future including bearings, king pins, hubs, transmission, and this isn't even getting into the engine and the wiring associated with it. Personally, if I was looking at the truck I wouldn't pay more than about $5k for it and use the $2500 as a basis for upcoming repairs. For reference, I bought my '93 Dodge in my sig for $6k with 150k original miles on the odometer.