Thanks for the notes on the injector/injector pump. It seems like it's been sitting a while, and after just looking at those photos I think that I'm going to pass on it. The guy selling it has a few other cars for sale and it looks like they've all been sitting quite a while.


I'm going to take a look at this one this weekend, seems much more promising. 1992 Ford F-350 XL Pickup Truck 4X4 | cars & trucks | London | Kijiji

 

that 92 looks like a better deal. came without AC from the factory so you will not have to worry about things not working with it missing.
he advertises it as a F-350, but the fenders say F-250.
see if it has a solid front axle, or IFS.
the trans slipping when shifting into 4th(od) may be a problem though. i would offer him 1500 and see what he says.

 

I spoke to him just a few minutes before I posted that.
It is a F-250. And from the photos he texted me it looks like it's a solid front axle. Apparently the problem with the transmission has been happening for quite some time (he said it's been doing it for the last 100,000km and hasn't gotten any worse.) Which I don't know is a good thing or not. My guess is the latter.

The downside is that he's 3 hours from me, so if I'm going to look at it I'll be more inclined to buy it on the spot.

 

It looks like it's a Dana 50 TTB front axle.

 

yup, the axle in that picture is a D-50 Twin Traction Beam also called Independant Front Suspension

 

I didn't know that it was considered an IFS.

Anyways, I offered the guy with the '92 $1500 and he took it, so if I can sell my Jeep this week I'm going to pick it up this weekend!

 

Picked the '92 F-250 yesterday. It was a LONG drive back. What should have been a 3 hour drive back turned into a 6 hour ordeal..

I test drove the truck, and I asked them not to warm it up or anything so I knew what it sounded/started like cold.
The truck started and ran absolutely fine. Shifted O.K. There's definitely a problem shifting into 4th, but I'll address that later. 4x4 worked as well.

After driving about 30 minutes to get to the highway I noticed that the water temperature had barely moved. Went from sitting at nothing to just at the bar, it didn't even get to the N in normal. There was also no heat. So I figured there wasn't any coolant. Pulled over and sure enough there wasn't any in the overflow or in the rad.
Because I was in the middle of no where, I opted to just risk it and get to the highway. We got to a gas station at the highway and bought two jugs of water. The rad itself took almost an entire jug. I also filled the overflow tank. Other than that problem, mechanically the truck was running well.
About 3 minutes after fixing the coolant problem I noticed that the truck was violently vibrating. I called my buddies who were following me and asked if they could see the truck shaking. They said the rear axle was vibrating and shaking a lot.

Pulled over on the highway to find out that one of the tires had warped and ballooned out badly. I knew the tires were bad, so I had already ordered some. But they're not in yet.
Went to a Canadian Tire to see if they had something. They did, but couldn't install it that day.

So back on the highway we went.

At this point I noticed that the Engine Temperature light was on. And because the water temperature gauge wasn't working I decided to pull over and see if there was any proof that it was actually over heating.
Again on the side of the highway I stopped. This time I couldn't find anything wrong.

At this point I just told my buddies that unless the tire goes or the truck blows up I'm just going to head straight home. Drove it for another 2 hours bouncing and vibrating my way home and through traffic.
By the time I got in my driveway the engine temperature light had gone away and I was ready to set the thing on fire..

How's that for a first road trip in a new truck?

 

sounds about rite for a 26 year old truck you know nothing about.
the temp light on these animals is in the front of the driver side head, roughly between the two front cylinders.
the first time i degreased/pressure washed the engine in my 88 i almost had a heart attack when the temp light came on when i started it up.
looked it all over and could not find anything wrong. i even put a thermometer in the rad neck to check it.
the light stayed on for two days before it dried out.
when it came on the second time i washed it i was not as worried.
it would also come on if i drove through deep water, or splashed a puddle just rite.
th sender is bad. over the past 26 years, i have said hundreds of times "i am going to change that damn thing!"
then i forget about it until it comes on again.

 

anyhow, lets get back on track.
once running and warmed up, check water temp in the rad neck, and if you have a infrared temp gun, shoot the thermostat neck, and the block to see what readings you get. the sending unit for the gauge may be bad, or there may not be a thermostat in it.
if it needs a thermostat, only use a ford or international unit. parts store t-stats normally do not work in these engines, and they will overheat real fast doing damage to the engine if it gets hot enough.

 

Sounds like you are a brave man! Care to post up how old those tires were? Buying any used car is a hit or miss ordeal and at that price point you can be sure that there are going to be a number of things wrong with it. Glad you got it home without losing that tire the rest of the way, sometimes they hold, sometimes they dont.

A friend of mine has a similar story, they got a vintage F100 or F150, 1970's model that has been sitting up in a shed for so long that the one spot under a roof leak had rusted a hole in the body. Being a solid truck otherwise, some cleaning and fresh fuel got it running and off they went running errands, after 220 miles with 10 miles to home 2 of the tires went lumpy! With a completely rotted spare too! They made it a very slow last 10 miles home to get 5 fresh tires installed the next morning.

 

Yep, about what I'd have expected too. My favorite is when you have intermittent gremlins and you look down to try and identify that warning light you thought you just saw, but it's already gone back off.

The tires... yeah I hate it when that happens. It's just part of the deal sometimes lol. Glad you and the truck made it home safe.

 

I discovered that the sending unit for the gauge is bad tonight. I just unplugged the sending and hooked it to the ground, the gauge went well past "H". I was also able to get the heat working as well. It was a problem with the controls, I'm going to have to replace the *** controlling the temperature as well..

Earlier today during my lunch I ordered a termostat from Ford, I don't think I need it. But it'll be good to have anyways.



I have no idea how old they were. I'll take a photo of the tire tomorrow when I'm down working on it. I'm just glad that it didn't blow out on my while I was driving. And I sort of knew what I was getting into with this price point. I knew it needed work, now I'm just trying to make that "to do" list shrink.

And lucky for your friend that it was only 10 miles! I was over 150km (90 miles) with mine. It was literally the worst driving experience I think I've ever had. The only reason I didn't get a tire on it just to make it home was because there wasn't a single garage that would take the time to do it. I was too tired to argue or look really hard for a smaller garage so I just said screw it, I'm going home. lol

I don't mind the gremlins that hang out for 2 seconds.. I do mind the ones that stick around for 100km/60 miles then disappear as soon as I get into my driveway though, that usually means there's actually a problem to address..

 

I'll post some photos of it tomorrow. But as of now I've got a pretty good to-do list to get this on the road.

The "easy" stuff.
1. Rear shocks need to be replaced. I've already ordered a set, they will be in tomorrow.
2. Temperature gauge sender needs to be replaced. I'll order that from Ford tomorrow.
3. New exhaust needs to be bolted in. I bought some cheap "Thrush Glasspack" I hope that it isn't too loud..
4. Oil needs to be changed. With a Motorcraft Filter. I have everything for this except drain pans. For some reason my dad decided to throw them all out...
5. New tires need to be installed. I'm still waiting for them to come in though. Looks like they'll be here at the end of the week.

The "difficult" stuff
1. Fuel hardlines MAY need to be replaced. There is quite a bit of corrosion by the transmission crossmember. (I'll take some photos tomorrow)
2. Find the oil leak. Looks like somewhere behind the power steering pump.
3. Passenger side rear shackle mount looks like it needs to be replaced. That won't be fun..

I know there is more to do. But for now I'm going to try to keep this list short..

Hopefully there aren't too many more surprises.

 

Good Luck on the projects! There isnt any used truck that doesn't have its share of needs, get a few of these knocked out and you will start to enjoy driving it.

What kind of tires and shocks did you get? I put front shocks on my truck when I got it, the rears need some attention.

 

Thanks! And yea, I agree. I knew that I was going to have to do quite a bit of work to get this on the road. I'm just hoping that there aren't too many more surprises.

Shocks I just got the cheapest ones I could find. I don't plan on keeping them for long. But I wanted to do more research on a good shock before I spent a lot of money on them.

As for tires I went with a 285/75 R16 Goodyear Duratrac on some Procomp wheels.