I see a 2002 truck advertised for sale by a private owner. Odometer reads 49k miles. I don't believe it. Could it have been changed? Where is mileage stored? Computer? Some other media storage device in the truck? Could it have been swapped from another truck, ie. a wrecked truck at the salvage yard perhaps?

 

Easy it's stored on the PCM, just pull up the mileage and compare. Easy if you have forscan or access to IDS.

 

I saw a 2002 truck advertised for sale by a dealer recently. Odometer read 67k miles. I had the same reaction as you did. I checked the carfax and there were NO maintenance records. Even more suspicious. Nineteen years and not once into a shop. Right.

 

Mileage is stored in the cluster itself.

Could the cluster have been changed? Possibly...but, the cluster has to be reflashed to handshake with PATS or the truck won’t be going anywhere (or even starting). It’s definitely not a swap and go operation for most.

That’s hassle most dealers aren’t touching on trucks this old.

What kinda F150 we talking here? Regular cab long beds aren’t huge daily drivers. I only drive my SuperCab a couple thousand miles a year now, since I’ve had newer trucks to semi-retire it as of late. Some fellow who drives a few minutes to everything isn’t putting too many miles on a truck, even moreso if they have a few vehicles to spread miles around with.

As for Carfax and maintenance, that’s a relatively new thing. I doubt my ‘03 has any maintenance visits tagged to it on Carfax. Especially since I do most of my own on it these days.

 

none of my trucks EVER had a Carfax... Did all maint at home.

 

I picked up my 01 F150 in November of 2019 with 24k miles on it. I’m the second owner of it and the car fax does show infrequent maintenance on mine including a new water pump in 2013. If it were a one owner I would be inclined to believe it as long as the interior and under the hood don’t look all tore up.

 

Same here, all repairs and maintenance done at home. When selling a vehicle I'm usually asked if I have repair and maintenance records. I tell them no that I do all my own work and have for the past 40+ years. The next obvious question they ask is, oh are you a mechanic, to which I get to reply, no I fix things correctly the first time.

 

Interesting thread for me. I bought a 99 ext cab 4x4 Lariat last month for a hunting truck knowing that the display didn't work (Famous for that) but the truck checked out other than that. Doesn't leak any fluids, 4x4 shifts good, cats are noisy when cold but I can deal with that. I started messing with the trip reset button just clicking and snapping it and bam, the display popped on. 433,855 miles on it, I had a stroke in the cab. I have no idea if the engine and trans is original but hey look like they could be. The body is solid, no rust where I live and I can tell every front end part under there has been changed (grease fittings). I was also surprised that the 99 5.4 has an aluminum intake, I thought it was 4.6 when I first popped the hood but it says 5.4 on the sticker and it definitely appears to have the low end torque like the 5.4. From what I just read above there really is no easy way to alter the mileage and besides that no-one I know would make it have more than it really does so I guess I bought a truck with close to a half a million miles on it lol. I guess I will just tell everyone it was built Ford Tough!!!!

 

My 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis we bought in 2001, and still have, was in the shop for a minor issue in about 2002, but not since, but it's been cross country 3 times.

 

As others have said, it’s possible that it could have that mileage and not been in the shop or at least a shop that reports to carfax. I do my own maintenance and have done the repairs myself on my truck, all of which won’t show up on a carfax. The shop that did the clutch kit when my slave cylinder went out doesn’t report the repairs to carfax. Now if that truck had four previous owners like a 2007 Dodge Ram with 15k miles on it that popped up for sale in my area, I would be highly suspicious.

 

All of the Carfux reports I’ve ever ran on vehicles here in NC always show title transfers and state vehicle inspections. Mileage info from those is the only reliable thing the report is good for.

 

Going to tell you now that you need to change the oil pump on that truck if you want to keep it. These are very good engines and they do have some weak points like the oil pump that came in them.

Most of these engines will last to around 300,000 miles with the oil pump that came in them. Have seen some that got over 400,000 miles on them and they are still going.
Ford said 130,000 miles you needed to change the oil pump and timing gears so it is up to you on this. This has to be one of the easiest engines to change all of this out and reset the timing I have ever done.

If you have never changed an oil pump on one of these there is an easy way and a hard way of doing it.
The easy way is to take all of the timing gear off and take a flip-style wrench 8mm and take the two bolts that hold the oil tube on and remove them and replace the oil pump. Make sure you blow the oil tube out real good with air to clean it out. Now pre-lube the oil pump.

The correct way and hard way is to take the seven bolts that hold the front chunk in and lower the chunk so you can remove the oil pan and then take the oil tube out and clean it or put the high-pressure oil pump and tube assembly in and make sure you pre-lube the engine oil pump.


1999 5.4 and early 2000 came with the metal intake and was the first engine to get the PI heads and all in the F150. The F250 5.4 had the metal intake a lot longer.

 

How many miles were listed on the bill of sale?

 

What if the engine was replaced and only has a few thousand miles on it?

 

I didn't get a bill of sale nor does the title have that info on a vehicle over 100000 miles. I bought the truck knowing that the display was bad but everything checked out for what I bought the truck for. I bought it to hunt out of and run to town and back on the weekends when needed. Cash deal and a handshake (We still do that in Mississippi). The guy I bought it from told me the display never worked for him but he had not owned the truck very long either. I have no idea if the engine was replaced but I doubt it unless it was a while ago. Its a 22 year old truck that seems to be in decent shape and fits the bill I bought it for. I was just surprised when the odometer showed 433000 miles, I was thinking 250000 or so in my mind. Thanks for the additional info on the 99 engine, I think I'm just gonna drive it like it is and if it gives trouble I will make a decision on what to do with it depending on the severity of the trouble.