I have been doing alot of research and poking around alot of places trying to get info. Ive never owned a diesel before and after a month or so of searching I believe i have located the unit I want! and this is 100% a want i have absolutely no need for the capabilities of this truck.

After talking with the owner it seems to be in good working order I just want to know what to go looking for problems wise when checking the truck out. (I was a FoMoCo tech for a few years though never in the Diesel bays)

I am specifically looking at a 97 f350 4 door drw ZF5 167 000 miles.

Any help would be appreciated on the check for this common problem area or do not even touch the truck if it has this xxxx issue.

thank you

 

If taken care of 167K is no problem, these motors are tough! Being a tech I don't have to tell you about rust, leaks, etc. to look for. Someone will come in and list the check list for buying one of these trucks. I don't have that one saved. Welcome to the forum!

 

Thank you for the response.

Yes I was just looking for the diesel specifics. I have a basic understanding of the system but don't know what are problem causers. I will do the obvious rust and leak checks along with turbo check but as far add specific to this truck I guess there is the oil filler cap blow buy test I will do and I have heard the coolant is very important in these vehicles. I also am supposed to check the fuel filter/separator (though I'm not sure how our what for).

I was actually looking for an 88ish idi for simplicity but this truck is everything I'm looking for (tuff finding a clean 4 door drw 3 pedal truck here)

But if anyone has the specifics and how to s on what and how to check that would be great

 

Found one of the 'new purchase' links.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...sel-truck.html

 

Although I am no expert, especially compared to some the guys on these forums, I have learned some things along the way for these trucks. I recently bought my first ford, which is a 97 f250 7.3 with a zf5 as well.

In no order:
Clutch. Does it have the factory dual flywheel setup or has it been converted to single mass? I had a dual mass setup on my truck. The flywheel was making noise on startup and a week before I converted over to a single mass setup it got really bad. It had about 3" of rotational play when I put my hand on it and tried to move it. I know these are dual flywheel but I don't know how much play if any, is bad. But it made me nervous so I changed it out to a single mass because I didnt want to he one of the horror stories I saw online of a dual mass breaking and taking out my bellhousing.

I would check the clutch hydraulics as well. Take the fap off and look at the fluid. Probably the most overlooked thing on a manual transmission setup is the clutch hydraulics. A lot of times, people won't flush the fluid. Many times, clutches and transmissions will get changed without bleeding it. Regardless, I would probably bleed it anyway, but that is just me.

The blowby test you mentioned seems to be a good quick indicator as far as the condition of the engine. If it passes that, you are probably ok, at least for a little while. I just helped a buddy buy a 97 last weekend with 356k miles on the original motor and absolutely no blowby. These engines are pretty impressive as far as longevity goes.

Does it have a K&N air filter? If so, I would check that turbo wheel. Everything I have read about that filter on these engines, it's kind of a death wish for them. My buddy had one on the swap he did on his bronco, and the turbo wheel was pretty trashed and then found out a month ago the compression was bad. It ran, but it has some issues. There will be some people I'm sure that will say don't worry it's not that big of a deal, but I have read enough things about it online that if somebody had a K&N filter on this engine, I'm probably walking away from the deal.
I would try switching to both tanks and seeing if it runs/works on both settings.
I can't remember if you can see behind the e brake pedal bracket or not without removing it but if you can or he will let you remove it I would see if there is a chip on the PCM. I had one on mine and I didnt know. It was loose so my truck would loose power while driving every now and then for a few seconds and the wait to start light would come on.
There glow plug relay is also known to be a problem on these trucks.
When it starts, does it start right up?if it hesitates, does it blow smoke at all? Mine did. I replaced all the glow plugs and valve cover harness, and that didnt do it. I just did stage 1 injectors and when we pulled the old ones, we discovered somebody had recently replaced all the injectors on one side of the engine but didnt do the other. So I'm sure I had bad o rings/worn injectors on mine as mine is starting right up and no smoke cloud.
You will read here countless times if you haven't already, only use motorcraft glow plugs. The autolite ones can heat up and expand in the cylinder head.

There are other things, but being as you sound mechanically inclined, you know the usual stuff to check for that's universal across any used vehicle purchase.

 

Low mileage has everything to do with how it was maintained. Follow the above advice and you should be fine. Personally, I would be wary of questionable maintenance and little use. Diesels, in general, do not like to sit and be driven short distances. Yeah, some will disagree and think low mileage is king, but not in my experience.

 

Thank you for the info guys, hopefully this sunday/monday I get to go check the truck out.
The glow plug regulator and fuel pump were replaced 6 months ago he is asking a bit over 10k for the truck is the second owner and has no info on the clutch/flywheel. is it fair to offer 9k to then immediately have the clutch/flywheel changed or if its as stated pay the man the money?

 

Depending on the mechanicals and condition the price can be negotiated.

 

What you want to pay and what any of us would pay are probably 2 different numbers.
There are probably a lot of people that would pay 10k for the truck, and then others like me would never pay that much for this truck. My personal opinion is if you like the truck enough where you feel you have to have it, decide what your absolute highest amount you would consider spending, and offer less than that. You will eventually land somewhere you are comfortable, or have to let it go.

10k for a 2wd OBS powerstroke is probably the highest I have heard of yet for 2wd. If it was SRW 4x4 and everything else the same, I would say 9k is a good deal considering what I see them go for around my area.

 

Rust free and low miles were my goal. 12K for 90K miles SRW dually. These trucks are becoming rare and I'm asked all the time if I want to sell it.

 

SRW dually?....

Anyway, yeah, dually supercabs are very rare. I've seen exactly one "in the wild". And yours is, well, dayum.....

 

haha, DRW, haha Sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing or have done! Where is Alex????????????? As far as the supercab, I did want another cc but...........

 

And man oh man...she is a beaut!

 

:edited:
Well today I ordered some sca test strips from Napa and I head down Sunday to check out and hopefully pick up the truck.
I'm going to test the test the sca and if I get a low reading is that a big concern? Or as long as coolant looks OK just change it with everything else if I get the truck. Also what size is the Allen for the plug on the top oil storage thing that runs the injectors - some of those powerstroke help you tube videos say this does not mix well with the rest of the oil and will look black and not good if not serviced - is this a concern? Do I need to worry about the price if these two tests come back not so great or are they common?
any other thingsuggestions you guys check that had yet to be mentioned that may be able to effect the price, anything else I should know that has yet to be mentioned before I head out?
:edided: (my original late night post came out a bit more dickesh than I had intended thanks for calling me on it! )

 

Sounds like you've been watching powerstroke help on YouTube. Just. Stay. Away. From ol Bill. The HPOP oil is the same oil as everything else.

I can't recall the Allen head. I just keep a pouch of them in my truck. Make sure the truck hasn't been ran for sometime when you go to start it. A cold start will tell you a lot.