I agree with Jack and others...less is more. Me and a buddy have bone stock '06s that have been well maintained. Each has over 150k miles with no major issues.

Aftermarket parts are not an 'upgrade.' Once people start messing with these things (tuners, bulletproofing, etc) then it turns into a revolving door of always working on the truck...no thank you.

 

Not in so many words, this is what I have told him. He's just a major woody for this truck. I just don't understand why he needs such a beast, I tried to talk him into an F150 or a Ram 1500, but this is it!!!!!

I also told him he needed to join this group for advice and pointers and help on repairs. Also told him to set aside $200 a month for repairs! He was in agreeance with both.

 

Been there. Our son loves Jeeps. During my career we supplied a lot of Jeeps, I tested a lot of Jeeps. Compared to all the other Manufacturers they just broke all the time. I couldn’t get a Grand Cherokee to go through 15k miles what an Explorer would do in 100k. Every Jeep he’s owned, suspensions, transmissions, transfer cases, and differentials. And in some cases multiple times he’s had them repaired. The same issue we had in the fleet. We pulled one of the new vehicles axles to change to prototype brakes, the axle shaft had the words “Bent” written on it.....from the assembly line.

He’s 57. Age ain’t a factor. I push too far he asks me how the 6.0 is going these days.

 

Most likely he won't. He will be looking at power adders, lift kits, grill guards, stacks, wheels etc and not FICMs, coolant filters and transmission pan upgrades. When something breaks he will have a great looking truck in the driveway looking for $5 grand to get it running again.

 

Auction vehicle would have me walking away. There are a number of reason a vehicle ends up at auction: newer ones often are bulk off-lease, that's where Carmax and the like get a lot of cars. Old vehicle is at auction because it has issues and no large dealer wants it near their lot...

He's looked at a total of 2 trucks now? This going to be a very, very expensive lesson for the young man...

 

My son-in-law's dad just bought a truck at auction. He thought he was getting a great deal. 2010 F-450 Dually 6.4. Truck look nice. He paid $20 grand for it. About 1 month later the truck threw a rod. Cost him another $20 grand for a Ford Rebuilt Motor to go in it. I tried to talk him out of the Ford Reman but it didn't work. Buyer beware.

 

TY JACK FOR GETTING THAT RIGHT!!!! it drives me nuts every time i see people call them emergency brakes... they were never meant to be used for that and people have been calling them by the wrong for a long time... and it gets them into accidents because of it... Its not an Emergency Brake... ITS A PARKING BRAKE MEANT FOR PARKING ONLY!!!! NOT TRYING TO STOP A ROLLING VEHICLE!!!

ummm 04 is a 4th gen mustang.... 05-14 is the 5th gen... totally different body styles and components... they are not the same vehicle... while the v8 was still the 4.6 "modular" OHC between those 2 models... the 04 had a 3.9 V6 (03 and earlier had the 3.8) Pushrod motor with the 05 being the start of 4.0 v6 "modular" OHC...

 

he will want to set aside more than that a month for repairs.... especially if theres going to be a shop doing the work.. nothing is cheap on thes...

 

It's always been an emergency brake to me, not that I used it as such...………….I've also heard it called parking brake, so I'll try to use that as you are correct that is what it's for!

 

That thought makes ME sick to my stomach. Young and dumb...……….as said earlier, learning lesson. $200 I guess is a starting point!

 

Spent way too many years with me or my guys parked on a hill 5 minutes at a time running FMVSS tests to not call it that.

 

you left out repossession, seized in busts, abandoned/impounded and never picked up.. my first car was an auction vehicle... was listed abandoned as being on base so no keys... looking through the windows the inside looked clean.. but couldnt look under the hood or anything... 1 tire was flat but just needed air to get it home... (the auction yard made keys so you could open the doors and turn the ignition switch after the auction was finished)... got it for $300... when we got it home it just "needed" new brakes (rear wheel cyl was leaking), replaced the tires since they were all different looks of wear, found a bunch of pills strewn all over the trunk (nicely guessing the guy was a weight lifter??) and an alignment... the Rack and Pinion had issues but i drove it around for a year for getting around to replacing it.. issue was when trying to turn one direction it would stick like the piston was frozen in place.. but after it "freed" it was fine.. i ended up doing that when the master cyl went out.. had that car for years after that...

only major issue we ever had with it was the TCC solenoid wouldnt ever release when trying to slow down and anytime the battery would be disconnected the computer had to "relearn" how to maintain the engine rpm at idle... for the next 2-3 days of driving you would have to keep your foot on the pedal to keep it from stalling out when slowing down.. after those couple days it was fine.. even after replacing the TCC solenoid it still wouldnt let go so we just left it unplugged so it never locked up the tq converter... still got 32mpg outta it though lol...

 

just about every time the dealership had my truck after i first got it the repair bill between the parts and labor came to 3K... when i first got my truck i didnt know a thing about working on diesels which is why they got to work on it and not me... id worked on gasses but not diesels unless you count an oil change on 1 during a summer internship in hs and a busted fuel line on a school bus at the tech center i was learning automotive at... that one kinda stood out as an IM RIGHT HERE!!!! diagnosis since it was spraying the fuel like a fire hose...

it wasnt until i got tired of the repeated paying the dealership 3K a trip that i started learning to work on it myself... which after you start getting into it.. outside of theyre operational mechanics of one just using heat and compression to ignite the fuel and the other using a spark plug to ignite a more explosive fuel... theyre really no different to work on... well diesel has higher bolt torque values too... but just means you need some bigger tools.. lol

 

Sorry about that. After the Fox bodies ended I didn't keep up. He want the body style like you have. Hard to find a non ragged out Mustang.

 

SN95... which was built on the fox body "frame"... 93-04.. dunno if hes looking at the v6 or v8... but the v6's are pretty hard to kill unless you really boost the heck outta them... the T5 (if he gets a manny) that sits behind them is the same as what sat behind the 5.0's.. only difference is the number of splines on the input and output shaft.. 20% of the 04's got sold with the 3.8 the rest are all 1 year run of the 3.9 (238cid).. slightly more power and tq.. but pretty much the same as the 3.8 (232cid).. but that said you can push 11 psi of boost on them and not need to upgrade the internals yet... I know a few running 15psi on them and still havent upgraded.. but 11 tends to be on the safe side...