2002 4.2L F250
 

Hello, am thinking of buying a 2002 RN XL 4.2L F250, 5 spd manual. Does any one know of any major problems with these models. What kind of fuel efficiency do they get and are they a good/bad vehicle. Thanks

Know nothing about em bruva. Dont believe many are still around. Would be a bit wary regarding parts or any up grades. Would get in contact with Rocket industries or SupaFspares and ask about parts availability and for a laugh have a talk to your local Ford stearlership.

Lol. just had a look on Carsales after i posted. there is a heap of em. Just goes to show how much I know about em :(

MWM Diesel
 

G'day Mate,

A good mate of mine where I live in Victor Harbor has got one of these.
If there is anyone to use as an advertisment for the Toughness and Durability of theses little MWM 4.2L Turbo Diesels, then he's the one.
He shows that thing nooo mercy ... no mercy}>.

It's a Super Cab and he runs it heavy with a big Ali gull wing tray canopy back on it loaded to the hilt with camping gear, gen set fridge etc. Boat on the roof, outboard and extra spare on the back, 150Ltr water tank and a wooping big extra 400ltr Diesel tank between canopy and cab:-hair.
If his missus is with him he would be pulling a heavy offroad van as well. Hate to see him pulled over by the scalys.
He floggs that poor bloody thing along 115K/h full loaded up like that.
Floggs it out on West coast Tassie, Snowys, Flinders, Tracks, Pilbra what ever. Hes on a trip through NT and Gulf as I write and that thing just keeps on keepin' on.
He done over 330,000km in it and hasn't put a spanner on it. He's a stickler for correct Lube oil their change intervals, filters, Fuel filter and Air filter and we all know that is the main key to durability of a good Diesel donk.
The MWM used to be part of Duetz and are made in Brazil. They are the No1 Produced and used Diesel in the Americas. Parts easy to come by and coupled to a 5 Speed ZF Gearbox almost bullet proof.
They have their querks like all thing mechanical. One thing is that they can develop a weak spring and ball check valve in the lube oil pump. But easily fixed. The mates has never had an issue :-X22.
Give Mark a call at 'F100 and Ford Spares' in Liston Rd, Lonsdale SA he has had a bit to do with them. He's a bloody good fella.

From what I've seen the mates 4.2 truck do and if you see a good straight one with a service history, I'd go for it.
They're a good and basic mechanical Diesel with a common ZF gearbox which make them easy to maintain, nothing fancy about them.
They are XL so basic again, a hose out version of the XLT.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Reg:-drink

Good post Reg, Reps sent

4.2L POWERSTROKE
 

G'day Brian,

Cheers mate. Yea the bloody thing never fails to amaze me how that power plant, gearbox and drivetrain have been so well matched.
It's a real pity that Ford Aus never bought out the newr gen F150 with this power plant in it:confused:.
It would have taken the Tojo and Poo-trol market over.

Even though Duetz was in there for a while and for a while MWM was actually part of International and was a fully owned subsidiary of Navistar International since 2005. Just recently I believe they were taken over by Caterpillar. So I guess if you get or have one of these you can Bull**** Brag with all the CAT Mudflaps and Stikers :D :-X13

When owned by Navistar they made the Power Stroke 2.8 & 4.2L for use exclusively outside North America and their engines powered the local versions of the Chebby Blazer, Nissan XTerra and F250s. They also powered all the Volkswagon Busses and Trucks with MWM Diesels over there. They currently are the market leader in diesel engines (I think about 35/40% market share)in Brazil and South America.

Cheers,
Reg:-drink

Interesting Reg, I never rated the 4.2 until now!

Honestly, I would take a 4.2 over a 7.3. The things are bullet proof and run forever, been in the Argentinian trucks since the early 80's, not to mention you got a proper transmission.
The only problems is that the engine wasn't available with the better spec'd models and with the weight of the effie, they are a bit gutless (particularly when they are off-boost, and they don't spool up till about 1600rpm).
The rest of the drivetrain (gearbox etc.) is a known quantity, and been around the F-Series for a while, and not going to let you down.

Fuel efficiency is going to be about 13-14l/100k (worse in city/towing/lead footing etc.). Pretty much similar to Landcruisers/Patrols.


For what its worth, the 4.2 used to get similar sales numbers as the 7.3 (about 100 a month each), of course they almost all went to fleets.
Other things to note, given its an 02 model (I used to be the engine-ear on these)
Unless they were retro fitted, it probably has the lighter weight front springs (not a big issue, unless you have a ruddy great steel bull-bar) so might hit the bump stops every now and then.
It will pull to the left. You can buy a set of castor shims from your Ford dealer to fix.

thanks guys, has really answered alot of questions, we have had the 7.3l in the past and it was a beast, we have properties so there is no mercy shown to our vehicles either. Had a drive of it and loved it, bit noisier in the cab than the 7.3 but i guess thats maybe from the lack of sound proofing. Keep you al posted.

give us some details on the truck, interested in how this goes

Yes, definitely interested in how the 4.2 goes, especially after your experience of a 7.3, which is what most of us would related to.

There is plenty of room on the forum for discussions on the 4.2 F250 in the Aussie chapter. While our US bro's may not have much experience with the 4.2 engine. I've seen plenty of posts about the manual transmission, and just about every other system in the truck for that matter!

brought the 4.2, have already put it to work towing our livestock gooseneck round the farm, like it better than the 7.3 although im used to a bit more power. It has plenty of power to spare. Its got rear airbags too. Even had to pull our hilux out of the bog in the paddock yesterday. So far very happy, will keep you posted.

Good to see, Glad you got a goodie. When ya get some posts up, put up some pics. We luv pics on FTE

Yes, great news all round!

Also on this forum your rescue of the Hilux makes it 1 ALL !

cause I scored an own-goal by getting stuck in a paddock last month and had to get pulled out by a Toyota.

Hey fellas (and ladies if any), so an update on the 4.2, the bus runs well purrs along the hoghway like a kenworth with a few ton dragging along, had it loaded up to the max with hay, cattle and feed. absolutly love it, came in very handy in hay season to rake paddocks and drag the balers round, never be done with a hilux........Still got it stock standard except fro a few cheap things like matte black grill etc. Want to get a headlight upgrade but refuse to pay 800 for it at this time. Any one know if the headlights from the USA on e-bay or just in general will slot into the place of the old ones? 8 out of 10 for the 4.2 RNXL.:)

rnxlf250, DieselSub also rates the 4.2 highly.

A few of us have tried a few of the F250 replacement light kits with varying levels of success.

This one from Riff Raff would be one of the better ones:
Riffraff Diesel: 05' Ford OEM Headlights

You have to be handy with harnesses & it is also good to use relays behind the lights to get the best out of them without risking running extra current through the headlight switch. The O5 lights also require some cutting out of the stock headlight mount - the 4 screw that hold the stock cowl are retained to mount the new headlight. Not hard to do, it's just you can't go back to the stock lights once all the cutting has been done.

It is very hard to determine what the best set up is. I'd like to give the Spyder projectors that I see on flea-bay a go, and wonder if they'll be any better than the 05 Harley (copies) that I also got from ebay - they took a lot of fiddling to wire and fit and only ended up being marginally better than stock on light beam and output - and the focus adjustment in woefully inadequate - I'll probably start stacking washers and spacers around the mounts to get the lights aimed correctly.

Let us know how you go. Also search & ask on the US bro's site to see if anything new has come up. Buying & shipping from the US is usually around 33% to 50% than buying locally!