I'm looking to buy a 2002 f250, 7.3 with a crew cab. This truck has 130k on it and is from Missouri. The truck was a theft recovery in 2007 and purachsed from an insurance auction from the current owner when the truck had 30k miles. Spoke to the local ford dealer who maintains the truck for the owner and he says the truck is well maintained. I'm having them do a prepurchase inspection at the dealer. The seller and I agreed to a price of $14.5k.

 

With the theft 5 years ago, no I would not worry about it. Plenty of other good and bad things could have happened since then. No worries on the salvage title either. That traditionally hurts resale value, but I think that bird has flown. Actual condition is the big deal. I might be a little suspicious of the dealer who did the maintenance also doing the inspection. Not sure what choices you may have, but an independent shop that knows the 7.3, or at least diesels, would be better. But hey, maybe they are good and honest, in which case they should provide copies of the maintenance history. Where is the truck located? Read thru the new buyer guidelines post to get some background, and tell us what you see. Or if you have pics you can have several hundred experienced eyes look it over. Good luck, and welcome to FTE!

 

There are some "7.3L Buying Guides" out there so do a search and they will come up.

I would have the shop look closely at:

Turbo for dusting
Transmission fluid and operation
Blow by from the oil fill
Front End condition: Auto Locking Hubs, steering components

More in depth analysis which will cost you:
Injector buzz test
Cylinder compression test