I am thinking to trading in my 89 f250 7.3 for a 99 F250 4x4 with a 7.3 and a 6spd trans. the problem is, the truck has 230,000 miles on it. the dealer has worked out a pretty fair trade with me, but I am a little leary on this truck. Its a very reputable Ford dealer, the truck was a new sale for them in 99 and they took it back in trade recently. It seems to be very decent, but I dont know the average clutch life or if there are any inherent problems I need to know about the newer f250's. I was talking to a guy today that has 160k on his, and he had to have his auto trans rebuilt already. I keep hearing that about 200k is the limit before expensive things start wearking out or breaking. Last time I had a turbo diesel, the turbo went out at about 60k miles (of course, it was a GM), still, make me kinda leary. Any advice or input woudl be appreciated.

 

dont worry about the transmission. next to the engine, its one of the toughest parts of the "truck". unlike the automatics that tend to fail in time, the ZF6 manual is near-bulletproof. maybe a clutch here or there, but stock trucks rarely need one. a great way to check to see if the truck was cared for well, is to test the coolant. get some coolant test strips at a local autozone or whatever, and swab it in the tank. if the coolant is good on additive, chances are the rest of the truck was meticulously cared for. the cooling system is overlooked alot on powerstrokes. another test is to pull off the tubes leading from the air filter box to the turbo, and examine the turbo compressor wheel. if the blades are perfectly straight and raor sharp, it is in good condition. all the air the engine used has once gone through the turbo, and even the smallest particles of dirt and dust can cause the blades to chip and wear, because the turbo can spin at speeds inexcess of 100,000 RPM. if the turbo wheel looks good, chances are that no dirt has gotten in. another good idea is to have the oil analyzed. 230,000 is alot of miles, but if the engine was maintained regularly, there should be no problem. you can easily see 400000 miles from a powerstroke before needing a major rebuild. if the oil report comes back good, i'd go for it, providing the rest of the truck is in good shape. good luck!

 

I own a 2000 7.3 psd with 201K on it the only things i can say to be sure to check out fuel connections and maybe having the fuel pressure checked before u decide. In the last year i have had a few problems with the stock fuel system and if you go through the threads you will see alot of people have had problems to im not say u will but it is definetly something to check out.

 

208k on mine now and never had anything serious wrong with it. Just little dumb stuff like rear diff. pan leaking, greased up the window sliders, and door lock actuators.

 

would this be worth trading a very dependable and fun driving f150 towards ? I have had my 150 for 3 years now and never had to put a dime it in. I dont want to get into something over my head. I am just a little leary, over the miles and I know what can go wrong. I put $4000 in my 89 F250 7.3 and still have a rusty truck. I know what an IP costs, I know what a PITA the glowplug system can be.

I am still going to look at the truck this week, Its about an hour and a half away, but the dealer is really straight. Thats where I bought my mustang from last february (in a bad snowstorm. I trailered it home and had to push it in the garage for the next 3 weeks before I could drive it)

 

the miles arent so much the issue as much as the condition of everything i have a friend that has a 80s ford diesel and he just rolloed over 600,000 and never done anything but general work such as brakes, battery, alternater , water pump etc.... I would just take it to a reputable mechanic and have it look over the main things

 

I just bought (today actually) a 01 with 227K on it. Runs great, it's an auto. What's the dealer asking for it?

 

I have the same truck you are looking at, early 99 f-250 with the 6 speed and 147,000 miles. I bought it from a guy I have known my whole life and he bought it from his brother in law who bought it new. He bought a 03 6.0 because he thought he had too many miles on the 99 (130,000 then). $13,500 later, the truck was mine. two days before my purchase, I saw a 99 for sale with 330,000 miles.

 

Just bought a '99 f350 4x4 this week with 176,000 on it. Proper maintance is the key.

 

i agree with proper maintence they will last for a long time. i bought my 2000 3 months ago with 197,000 miles on it and havent had any problems

 

the dealer wants 12,995 for it. They offered me close to payoff for my f150. With all the work I put into my 89 7.3, I have no idea how many real miles are on it. The odometer shows 90,000 on it, the previous owner had the Ford dealer put EVERY oil change sticker (sticker, not static cling vinyle) on the steel part of the head liner. With my math, an oil change every 3k miles would have place the mileage as actual (had about 87k on it when I got it), but a 6k oil change would place the mileage about 185k. No idea, but it runs perfect and has great oil pressure. Everything else has went to hell, IP, GPs, water pump, fan clutch, radiator, heater core, tstat, etc.

Just for future info for anybody that cares. If your truck overheats and boils out the water, adding lots of bars leak does not fix the problem. The previous owner of my 89 must have dumped a gallon of bars leak in it. Proceded to plug the radiator and heatercore. I bought the truck for $200 because he thought it had a bad head gasket. It had 2 problems. A physically broken tstat, cocked sideways, and a bad fan clutch. His $5 repair cost me almost $1000 to fix.

 

Hey jeff, off topic the only 00 Cobra was the Cobra R, and it wasn't a vert. You mean 01??

 

you got me. It is a GT with all OEM Ford cobra parts I could find, mostly 99. Bumper covers, wheels, seats, inst cluster, airbag, hood, brakes, everything but the engine. That was out of my budget. It is done right and its my wifes car, she drives it in the non-winter months.