Not for me, for a buddy. He decided to trade his '82 Mustang for a truck and found a decent '93 F150 for $1,800. He's a little weary of it, as he had a '94 F150 4x4 with the 5.8 and E4OD that fried the trans and PCM. This truck is in a sense, a twin of my '92, same interior color and everything, and is even for sale from the same lot I bought mine from.

Okay, so I'm not as good on what to look out for, my '92 had 287k on it when I bought it and blew the engine a week later, since then I had a 60k engine installed and went over it with a fine tooth comb. This truck, however is a 160k all original truck. It's a supercab shortbed 4x2 truck with a 5.0 and E4OD. Going over the truck today, it's surprisingly rust free, no rust anywhere. The car lot was closed by the time we got to it, but as with most of these old trucks, the ignition lock was a little squirly and I figured out I could start it with one of my keys. Now on to the details...

It started right up, however it does idle too low. I didn't notice any smoke from the tailpipe so I let it warm up a little bit. Idle stays low and it you put it in gear, the idle picks up a little too high causing the trans to clunk into gear and shift the truck to one side a bit. Put it back in park, the idle drops so low it tries to kill the engine. It runs smooth though, however when it idles real low it has a bit of a bottom end rattle, not a knock, that many of the stock Windsors I've been around have, so I don't consider this a problem.

We opened the hood and I could see right away that the IAC was brand new, but from the way it's acting I would suspect a faulty TPS or maybe the throttle set screw was tampered with. So what do you guys think? Anything else we should check over as well? Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds more like a $1200 dollar truck to me. I don't really like buying things that have new parts and still don't act right.

I think I would keep looking, myself.

Robert

 

It could be several things from my experiences looking at these trucks. Timing could be off which with knowledge can be done by yourself with the proper tools, might just need a tune up which on the 302's isn't that hard except the back passenger plugs. This is what I look for when buying these trucks, I've only bought 2 but look at 25-30 before I pick one up.
-These trucks are known to have exhaust manifold leaks
-Check to see if its leaking oil, which is probably is. Mainly from the rear main seal as that is a B to get to in my experience.
-Besides in the wheel wells look for rust on the inside bottom of both doors
-That year also the OD light will blink when the transmission has an issue so if the OD button is broken off or blinking that's a red flag there.
-Look at the radiator mounts, they rust out as well
-I always look for what is easy to fix and isn't. Rust isn't easy. Brakes and brake lines are. Torn seat? Cover will fix that or pick a part for around $40.