I will try to post some pics but I heard it is a bit of a pain. I spoke to the Ford service department and they wanted over $200.00 for plugs, wires, rotor and cap. That is way to much. I have bought from Rockauto and looks like that is where I will be going from now on.

 

Just please tell me you checked the fuse, all the lights went out its probably the exterior light fuse.

 

I love a brick nose!

 

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="6" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alt2"></td> <td nowrap="nowrap"> Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Senior User
1997 Ford F-250
</td> <td width="100%"> </td> <td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top"> Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 220



</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Quote:
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset"> Originally Posted by Mike1
Not in Atlanta, but I'll sell you my 96 F250 4x4 5sp 5.8L. I'm fed up. I just lost all the turn signals and brake lights this morning and it's too freaking cold to be laying around outside finding the problem. It has about 131K on it.I'm in the NW subs of Chicago.
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Just please tell me you checked the fuse, all the lights went out its probably the exterior light fuse.



My son and I fixed it. It took a couple of hours. About 3 days before we had a bad snow storm here, I was going to get gas for the snow blower and some idiot decides he can drive downhill like it was summer time. He crossed into my lane and it was either hit him head on and probably kill him or put it to the ditch, I chose the ditch. The only thing that stopped me from rolling down the embankment was the truck slid against a tree. The underneath of the truck snagged bushes and small trees causing both front brake lines to break and ripped the wire harness loose from the plow assembly. The wiring was shorting out on the frame. We spliced the wires and tucked them away, replaced like 3 blown fuses, replaced 3 broken brake lines, popped the dent out of the drivers door and paid the tow bill. They had to bring in a semi wrecker to get the truck up and out, they tried it with a flatbed but my truck was too heavy and the flatbed just kept sliding towards me. The drivers winch cable finally snapped, but all is good now.

 

What's so bad about 2wd? Every truck I've ever driven has been 2wd and never once been stuck. Obviously 4wd has it's abilities, but it also comes with extra weight and decreased fuel efficiency. I'll take a 2wd with some sort of locking rear end and good tires over 4wd almost any day of the week.

 

sometime when you are chasing cattle down a field right after it rained then while you are sogging back a 1/2 mile through the mud ask yourself what is bad about a 2wd fields around here even 4 wd trucks get stuck, then the only thing you can do is hop in the tractor and hope for the best

 

but yes i do like the 2wd for the weight savings (more towing and payload) and for fuel efficency

 

I'll second this. Mine is a 4x4, but in the 2 years I've been driving it, I've used 4x4 twice.

 

Yea I am fine with it being 2wd. I am over my 4x4 days of going off road. This truck is for yard work, hauling stuff to the dump and going down forest service roads to go fishing. Not that I wouldn't have bought it if it was 4x4. The truck is in too good of shape to pass up.

 

I can see in that situation that 4wd is the way to go, but that's why there's ATV's and tractors, right?

There's pros and cons to both, but most of the people I see driving around in their jacked up 4wd trucks (or the SUVs, Subarus, Audis, etc crowd) will never really need power to all four wheels. Instead if they were good boy scouts and prepared their vehicle for the seasons they would be able to navigate through just as difficult conditions.

 

Meh..you'll be fine with 2x4. With some care and a little weight in the bed with semi-decent tires you might be surprised where you can get in 2x4. I live in the Rockies and don't use 4x4 all that often. If you need 4x4 to get down the street, it's probably closed.

Sounds like you found a cherry. Congrats man. Took me 5 months back in 2004 to find a decent 96' (F150 or F250) in the rust belt of MN. So 10 years later, I'm impressed they're still out there!

At only 45k miles, I wouldn't say plugs, cap, rotor are needed yet. They're not food, so they don't expire by age, just by number of times fired. I usually change mine at 60k. Should not be an expensive ordeal. Plugs are like $2 each, cap is about $5 on RockAuto, rotor is also just a few bucks. Don't bother with platinum plugs. Just use copper core plugs and change them every 60k or so.

If it's an auto trans, its an E4OD. Good news there is that it has the center support bearing and is notably more reliable than previous versions. Build dates of mid 95' (IIRC it's March 22nd of 95') and newer are the good ones.

Engine coolant change interval is something like 100k or 5 years. You can obviously check the color and strength. There is a tool for checking alkalinity too. If all three parameters look fine, run whats in there. If its murky, lacks freeze protection, or alkaline, change it now.

Brake fluid is an alcohol. It readily absorbs water. Water leads to leaking/bursting hard lines and leaking rear wheel cylinders. Now is a good time to crack the bleeder valves and push fresh fluid through the system.

The gear oil change interval on a rear axle is 100k miles, unless it has been submerged in water, then the interval is ASAP. The Sterling 10.25 ought to outlast the rest of that truck if maintained.

The vent sound makes me think vacuum line leak. I swear mine makes a funny noise right when I turn the AC off, but not when I had just been using the vent. Someone else has probably had the same trouble (if it even is trouble) as you and will hopefully chime in on that.

Should be good to go! Welcome to FTE