Hi guys i have been looking for awhile now for a decent car trailer tow rig(have 16ft want to get a 18-20ft eventually) but need an extended cab or 4 door cab, and it has to be diesel/automatic/4x4 and i came across one about 3 hours from me and the price seems pretty good, its got some cosmetic flaws(as in the bed is crunched up before the tires on both sides not horible on one side but kinda bad on the other side) im not terribly worried about the bed as it will be a work truck so i dont want some pristine conditioned rig.

the rig is a 2000 f250SD xlt cruise/air performance chip with 275k on the clock, the guy says its had a transmission replaced in its past and has had work done to the injectors(how much of this is true i dont know as it is on a car lot that deals alot with repo's and insurance totals) but this one of his employee's rigs that the employee upgraded to a different truck and it was a repo not a insurance total(how the damage came to be i do not know)

my question is is 5000 obo a good price for this? i am thinking about offering the guy 4-4500 for it, i am a back yard mechanic so i know enough to know what to look for physically and am not worried about minor fixes, i have done work on diesel's before not much but i am not scared of them. i have read the what to look for when purchasing sticky but alot of what it says requires compression testers and fuel pressure testers and what not i dont have, nor do i have the time to round them up before i go(i have gaspot stuff)

here is a picture of it

this is the worst side of it.

my main questions are

1. should i be worried about the tranny if it hasnt been swapped out and its got 275k on it?

2. is the 7.3 capable of 500k like the cummins is?

3. what are some things i should look for if i go down and look at it?

4. any other advice would be appreciated.

in summary do you think this f250SD would be a good pulling rig? i dont have any 40ft fifth wheels or anything like that, i do want to be able to pull a van or f250 on a car trailer that type of thing but not much more than that. all in all i just want a good work truck that me/my wife/ and my 20 month old son can fit in, i currently have a 92 dodge diesel single cab flatbed but its not setup to tow anything and the cab is cramped so i couldnt put a rear facing car seat in it for when we have another kid.

eventually it will be 4 of us, one forward facing car seat and one rear, i think the extended cab might be able to do this.

any help would be greatly appreciated as i plan on going and looking at it thursday(tomorrow) or friday

Alex

 

Here is a link for buying a used PSD...
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel Used Truck Buyers Guide .: Articles

 

As stated I already read that and it left me with the questions I posed, but thank you for the link

 

OK. First off welcome to the forum. You have found a family of 7.3 guys that really like there trucks and will go out of there way to help people out. The guys on this forum are known as the Brotherhood! A great group of people!

1. A: Yes, you should. The autos don't always live much past about 300K. When it is time for a new auto in the truck there are a couple places that a lot of guys on this forum get their trannies from. I don't remember the name of the companies but expect to put 3K into another trannie.

2. A: Yes. These trucks with proper car and maintenance can live much past 500K. I have seen where some guys have as much as 700 or 800 but about that time they do start to wear out.

3. A: Check the turbine wheel for chips and bent fins. This is a indication that the motor has seen some dust. A compression test is preferred as these motor are expensive to repair. You can check for oil and exhaust leaks but this would only help in lowering the price as leaks aren't hard to repair, they just require time and parts. Check the up pipes between the turbo and manifolds. There is a exhaust donut there that has a tenancy to wear out and will leak exhaust. If they are leaking there will be soot on the pipes. Check the engine valley for oil. Drain the fuel bowl and take a look at the filter. Make sure that it's clean. When you start the truck watch the exhaust. It is ok for it to smoke a bit of a bluish smoke but it should go away in about 30 seconds to a minute. If it is white then you have injector problems. If you know someone with a scan tool you can have them plug into the ODBII and scan it for codes and even run a buzz test on the injectors. All the injectors should sound the same and they should sound strong. If a injector has a week sound then it is failing and/or failed.

In regards to pulling, these trucks are VERY well capable of pulling. I pulled the following trailer for the first time after getting my truck with leaking up pipes and it pulled quite well. Granted I got about 8mpg but what do you expect?
I also pull my dad's 7.5K boat around during the summer and get 10.5. I'm currently trying to get that MPG upped but all in due time and as finances permit.



New WW in turbo


Old WW in turbo


This is a leaking up pipe on driver's side. Driver's side is easiest to see.


I hope the turbo images and exhaust pipe images help give you something to look for. The other two images are to show you what these motors are capable of doing and just think, some guys pull 18K trailers!

 

visseroth, is yours an f250? is the f250 strong enough? i have a friend with a 97 f250(newer body style so maybe its a 98) but its the "light duty" f150 rebadged as f250 or whatever and he was told it wouldnt pull his trailer without worry plus it is a smaller engine.


as well those turbo pictures really help, the leaky up pipe is just a gasket fix so easy peasy for me but it would show the maintenance/lack thereof

all that type of stuff i can deal with my self, heck i have even rebuilt a few th400's not that that is the fords auto tranny but i would probably attempt it myself before dumping another 3k in, i figure if i can get it for less than 5k and i get a year or so out of it doing light duty off and on towing(maybe once a month or even every other month or longer) and then the tranny goes out then i can justify spending another chunk on it, rather than spending it all at once so i am in the neighbor hood of 8k and still the tranny goes out etc.

i have my own obdII scan tool an innova equus 3140 which will go with me lol, if i drain the fuel bowl and pull the filter what is involved in represurizing the system? just turn the key on and let it pump or is there a procedure?

i have a cummins dodge that does the 30-60 second of bluish smoke so i am good visually there.

as far as the engine is expensive to work on, is that expensive in labor or parts? i have a 40x40 shop with a 2 post car lift and all the tools i could want(save for a plasma cutter yet) i just dont have any diesel compression testers/tools yet. but i am not affraid to tear into the diesel motor (save me labor costs)

so do you think the truck showing the picture and knowing the mileage on it is worth the 3hr drive one way to go look at it?

 

Yes, see my signature for my vehicle information.

Here is a picture of the up pipes removed and having the passenger side seal being replaced. You see two seals there. One is old one is new.


The reason the guys put the 3K into the trannies is because the ones that are built by these two locations are tougher then the stock trannies. If the truck doesn't have gauges it would be well advised to get gauges. Trannie temp gauge, boost, exhaust temp and what ever else you want. On a auto trannie you don't want temps over 220F, 220F will kill the trannie.

Wow, you have a nice shop! Wish I had such a thing or a friend that did.
Anyhow, the parts can get expensive but labor is way WAY more. As with any engine if the engine is dusted and it needs new rings then it can be expensive. I have never had to do it but maybe someone can chime in with how much rings and such run. I know new pistons and connecting rods can run 2K

Also, if you stick around the forum you will find out about many mods that people do to their rigs to improve life expectancy, reliability, and drive ability.

In regards to the fuel bowl, just close the drain valve and cycle the ignition. Turn it on, give it 20 secs, turn it off, then back on and start, fuel bowl will have already filled up on the first cycle.

I'm not one for banged up bodies but yes, I think it would be worth it though I think he/she should drop the price a bit more unless they can show proof of repairs, otherwise it is just hear say.

 

when i posted if yours was a 250 i didnt see your sig(due to being in the reply)

your pictures of your turbo showed it had been dusted at one time then? did you do anything for the rings? i.e. if this turbo shows somewhere between new and the old picture than should i worry about rings or do you think if it runs fine and i start paying attention to maintenance etc it will be ok?

if it doesn't already gauges would be the first i would do i have a 1972 winnebago i know the value of gauges lol

 

i just found a second add for the same truck on c/l the other was on the coworker of the owners website, the c/l add says it has a new motor and transmission

it has a 5th wheel hitch in the bed as well as a heavy duty trailer hitch. i think if the guy is negotiable i might just have to go check it out.

 

Well I'm not to worried about mine though I'm sure I have had some dust in there. If you want to see if the truck has blow by then pull the oil cap and flip it over, lay on up side down on the oil fill tube and see if it blow the cap off. If it doesn't then it doesn't have blow by though it is normal to see smoke.
BTW, my truck had a stock air box, stock air boxes don't work as well as they should, that is why my WW was dusted. It now has this....


Here is the test for blow by. It should not blow the cap off. It is normal for it to slide off though.

 

i know what blowby looks like but i have never thought about flipping over the oil cap, i guess on a diesel because of such higher compression it would make a bigger difference and would probably be way more noticeable(enough to blow the cap off).

so in summary your turbo was dusted but your engine was still good, so if this thing does have a newer engine like it says it does and a new tranny i should be good to go for awhile. even if its a newer one or the other really

 

BTW, picked up my truck for 6.6K, had to have a new clutch, shocks, rims, tires, brake booster, donut seals and WW. I get 15 to 17 around town, 20 to 24 on the hwy, 8 to 11 pulling a trailer and having lots of weight in the bed of the truck barely effects my mpg.

 

Indeed, they are tough motors for sure. Some people have modified their trucks to pull 400 to 500hp and 700 to 800 TQ. The only thing you have to worry about is breaking the connecting rods after you hit about 450hp. Some people break them, some don't. Powder metal rods are well known for this. E99's are known to have forged rods which are stronger but not impossible to break.
BTW, modding these trucks to get that much power usually doesn't effect fuel economy much unless you do a lift, change the tires or drive it like you stole it.

They are good work trucks, I don't think you can go wrong as long as it doesn't have blow by.

 

thanks for offering up how much you payed for yours i wasnt going to ask. however it does give me a ball park comparison because your body is sweet but it needed work, where as my body is not great but it might not need that work for awhile. my whole goal for this is to stay under 5k closer to 4k i know they are out there off and on. but i am a cheap s.o.b. especially for a work truck, if this turns out to not be what i am thinking it is, i will probably yard my cummins out of my 92 and find a 4dr f250/350 shell and do a swap.

 

i plan on keeping this mostly stock, no lift bigger tires etc, i just want a nice comfortable towing rig that i can jump in and go pick up a car for my friend etc, that if i accidently back into something its like oh well its a truck.

i have 2 97/98 explorers and the first one was cherry i mean little old laddy cherry, both v8's first one was awd and i got a little to over confident with what it could tow, and put it in the sidewall at 60mph(actually got it down to 15-20 before it touched the wall) then i picked up the other v8 which had no body damage and was cherry and again using it to haul stuff inside it not towing, but turned a corner to sharp and slid along a cement barrier "NO I WASNT DRUNK EITHER TIME LOL" low and behold using my nice rigs for work horses has not turned out so well and i cannot use my single cab now that i have a kid otherwise i would just keep the dodge.

 

If you can find another truck laying around then heck yea! The parts alone can pay for itself and like I said just stick around this forum and we'll have you PMSing as well (Power Stroke Modification Syndrome) and the guys here will teach you ways to keep your truck well maintained while saving as much money as possible as most guys on this forum are DIY'ers.