Hello everyone, I'm looking for my first diesel and I'm strongly considering 1994 F250 4x4 XLT as my first. I've done as much research as I can and im looking for opinions if the truck is worth it. Any help I would greatly appreciate. it has 247k miles so that and just the age of the truck is the biggest concern for me. carfax says 8 owners and the current owner plus the 3 before him he's told me about and they have done their maintenance of the truck (2 owners were a father and son who worked for Caterpillar if that means anything).

Truck has minimal rust for its age and no leaks from what I can see except i see some slight moisture in the front area of the oil pan gasket. I read that these leak rarely so maybe it could be something else?. He is asking 7.5k for it, has good tires on it. I plan on taking it to a diesel tech to get it looked at next week. I cold started it and it ran fine, no blowby from the oil cap test although I neglected to inspect the tailpipe for excess smoke after startup. I attached a video:
thanks a lot for your time

Nathan

 

Dont let mileage scare you, as long as the truck and powertrain are in good health you shoild be alright, in the stickies on top of the page theres a list of what to check when buying an OBS Powerstroke.any pics ogmf the beast?
Good luck

 

Thanks for the reply. Here are pics. Note the bedliner coating around the truck. the spots on the body with rust are 2 places on the wheel well fenders, and 2 places on the very bottom of the cab behind the doors minor rust, hasnt eaten through the fender. I think the truck has been looked after well.

 

Looks good, depending on your region it might be a good price , on my area a rust free 200k+ miles go anywhere from $2k to 7k.

 

For whatever its worth, KBB has it at $6.6k - $7.6k in my area. may be able to get it for 7 though, would love to pay 2 or 3 like you mentioned, but I think its too good to pass up Thanks

 

Go for it, try to hassel him/her on price see if you can lower a couple of bucks more.

 

Thanks for all the replies. He’s pretty firm at 7 but I think it’s worth it

 

Everybody has different opinions. I live in Phoenix, so when I see something more than slight surface rust on things, I'm basically out at that point. But I can afford to be picky like that here. If everything is a rust bucket where you're at and you like the truck and you think it's worth it, go for it.

I bought my 97 F250 ECLB 4x4 ZF5 2 days before Christmas law year for $4000 and it had 316k miles on it. Miles don't scare me if the price is right. Anything below 300k miles on a diesel usually doesn't even make me think about mileage.

In addition to the cap test you did, are you able to cold start it? If it starts right up cold, than you are looking pretty good I think.

Check the coolant reservoir. Is it Green? Check the dual tank,switch and see that it works. How old are the batteries? Check the UVCH (under valve cover harness) plugs. Do they look burnt or damaged? What air filter setup is on it? If it has a K&N filter, ask to see if he would let you inspect the turbo wheel. If he does, is the turbo wheel in good shape? If it's dusted at all, how bad is it? Have the glow plugs been changed(I'm assuming they have been)? Did they use motorcraft plugs? What about the injectors? Around 200k miles seems to be a pretty common point when they need to be rebuilt, although I have seen plenty of people go over that.

Any aftermarket work done to it?

 

Thanks for the reply, I’m learning more and more .

 

JMO, but if you are set on an OBS, get a '96 or later...better HPOP design, front cover, PCM tuning, and easier to get parts for. I had a '95 and would never do it again.

 

So if the block heater was plugged in and you unplugged it and it sat for only 15 minutes, than it was still warmed up. I don't know for sure what is too cold, but the truck should start just fine if everything is operating correctly, to an extent I'm sure. I'm not sure what the temperature threshold is, but I know for sure these trucks can start in the single digit temperatures cold start and fire right up like normal.

Depending on how cold it is where you are, one thing people can do to try and mask problems is plug the block heater in so when people come test it, it fires right up. The kid I bought my truck from I'm sure was doing this because he wanted to meet kind of far from where he lived, so it didn't smoke on startup until I bought it and it sat overnight. I almost couldn't start my truck the first time for the first month or 2 until I did the glow plugs. And that was in 25° temps. Just something to think about. Hard starts when cold can be a lot of different things, and if it's cold enough, it could just be that it's too cold.

I don't know much about aftermarket companies that make cookie cutter tuning products, so I'm not sure if that's just to monitor certain things or it's tuning. Probably should check it out though. The UVCH plugs just unplug at the valve cover, 2 each side, and takes less than 10 seconds to inspect each. If they are burnt or damaged in anyway, you're going to need to replace them soon. I had to replace the plug on one of mine when I got it because it was burnt up and I just replaces the harness and gasket while I was at it.

Also, if you take the emergency brake bracket off, behind that sits the back end of the PCM, where a chip would go if it has one. So if you remove the nuts holding the e brake on, you can pull it back and see if it's chipped if the guy doesn't know. Mine had a POS jet chip I think it was, and I would have my truck cut off while driving, wait to start light come on for about 1-2 seconds, and then it would be fine. I just pulled it off.

I'm also with BBslider001 on the 96+ powerstroke.94.5 and 95 powerstrokes had different HPOP's, and they are not interchangeable. The tuning is also different. 97 had the best, but, some late 97's had split shot Injectors I think which is what came on the 99+ 7.3'S for emissions purposed I believe. I personally see more 96 and 97's. They technically didn't have a model year 98 f250 or f350 so the 97's were produced a little longer (I think). Regardless, I agree with his sentiment. But, a 94.5 and 95 powerstroke is still better than not having one.

 

As long as you check the usual suspects as stated above you should be OK.
a good cold start,glow plug check,wheel check are most important . Check the orange inlet boot for splitting,dirt in the inlet track .
Tuning.g can be easily updated by DP tuner for like 60$.
IMO any differences between early and late are negligible really other than just excuses.
Condition is key here

 

Thanks a lot for the replies again, speaking on the clutch, the clutch pedal has no slop whatsoever and it shift fine in my eyes, there must have been a clutch replacement at some point.

Im taking it to a diesel mechanic to get it checked out for an hour, What should I ask to get looked at? compression test, look for PCM mods, things mentioned before in the thread that I haven't checked? Anything else to add?

Thanks a lot

 

Badges are wrong,
Something has been done to that truck.

94's have a turbo diesel badge, not a powerstroke badge.

 

Mine has had powerstroke diesel badges on it since 94.5. new. In 94 ford put out 3 engine configurations a 7.3l naturally aspirated -a 7.3l turbo both of which were not direct injection and the 94.5 powerstroke which is direct injection. If I remember correct.