How about a little Otis Taylor.

 

Just came across this thread, as I'm not very active here (due to the overall reliability of my '15 3.5EB). But, I read the whole thing as I just had the vacuum pump and right valve cover replaced at 160,000 due to the smelly oil leak issue @JKBrad described. I paid $2,600 or so for that job plus an oil change at the same time. My local independent shop used dye in the oil and those were the two places leaking, so they didn't recommend the replacement of any other components (which I appreciate). Towed my boat ~300 miles over two mountain passes the day after I picked the truck back up and had exactly 0 issues.

However, my shop has a laundry list of recommendations for services due to the age of my vehicle that are all good ideas but probably add up to $10,000 or so. Plus I need a set of new tires before winter hits I am officially in the "expensive maintenance" phase of truck ownership. So, I'm confronted with the question of how much to spend on a truck that wouldn't sell for what I might spend on it. Here's what keeps me spending on maintenance rather than shopping new:

• I like my truck. It's been mine since it had 17 miles on the odometer. I know exactly what it will do in response to every throttle, steering, and braking input. I know exactly how it feels loaded to the max, or towing a 22' boat or camper over the mountains. I know the entire maintenance history. The grooves in the left seat are from my butt. We've aged the last 10.5 years together.
• The cost of a like-for-like replacement of my 2015 F150 XLT is bonkers. I do not have a fancy truck. No big screen, no goofy trailer-backer-upper ****. Not even heated seats (I wish). I have a 40/20/40 bench front seat, column shifter, 4x4, 6.5' bed super crew with a well maintained 3.5 EB engine. Buying that new today would be $60,000+ at 6% interest.
• My truck has been highly reliable overall. Yes, I just had to drop $2,600 into it. Last summer it needed a new throttle body. I can't seem to get out of my local shop for less than four figures, but luckily I'm only in there once a year or so. At 160,000 miles some things are just going to be worn out. I'm not a guy who abuses my vehicles, but I'm not afraid to use them either and this truck has spent its life doing quite a few truck things. For how long I've had it and what it's done, I can't complain about some maintenance dollars. I definitely got a Wednesday truck.
• The nit picky things: mine has no auto start/stop, I prefer the column mounted shifter over the weird fold down center console thing (or heaven forbid when Ford goes to a ****), I have a lighter interior color (beige) and everything available now is some version of black or almost black (unless you go Platinum or King Ranch, which are above my pay grade), the gauges are round dials with needles instead of a screen that will break the second day out of warranty and cost $5,000 to replace, the customization work (nerf bars, bed liner, tonneau cover, air bags) is already done.
• Not widely applicable, but in MT you can permanently register a vehicle after it hits 11 years old. The registration I do this coming December will be the last payment I ever make to the government as long as I own this truck (yeah, I'm not counting gas taxes).

I view it as I will either pay for maintenance and replacement of worn out parts or I will make a monthly truck payment. If a truck note ran me $750/month that's the same to me as $9,000 per year spent on maintenance. True, my truck does not have the same value as if it were new but I'm also not "paying" for depreciation in any real sense at this point. Not every year will be a $9,000 maintenance year (in fact, none have ever come close to that) so I view it as money ahead. It's also true that I'll never recover the value of the maintenance if I sell the truck--let's say $4,000/year for the next 5 years would mean I've spent $20,000 on a truck that might bring $15,000. But that's true of the maintenance dollars spent on any vehicle that's out of warranty. Basically, you either trade it off the day the warranty expires or you keep it forever. I'm sticking with the devil I know until something drastically changes.

 

Well. after much consideration, I sold my truck today for $23,000. Considering I paid $40K for it 10.5 years ago, I can't complain at all. I'm in no hurry to replace it. What will take it's place? I don't know yet. More than likely a V8 powered truck, maybe a 3/4 ton.

I didn't sell it because of the issues that started this thread. There are no more leaks, the valve covers took care of that. I put high mileage oil in it to mitigate anything further that may seep. But, the EcoBoost really needs to be driven. And it got to the point where my truck was sitting quite a bit, sometimes for weeks at a time. The new owner bought it for his son to go to college in. It will get driven a lot more regularly, and that is what that truck really needs. That way the seals and gaskets all stay wet and won't shrink. I'm sure if I got another boat, and started to put hundreds of miles at a time on it, there would be no further issues. It was too nice of a truck to just sit in a barn.

@Montana300 , your truck is getting driven, and it's treating you well. Mine had less than half of your miles, and had the same valve cover issues, and the vacuum pump not long before that. My, well not any more, truck is in excellent condition, but sitting for long periods does no vehicle any good. I guess the reason it sat so much is that I didn't want to use the EcoBoost on short trips.

 

Yes, my F150 is treating me great and I continue to enjoy it. I'm glad you got a good price for yours, and wish you the best in your search for a replacement.

The wife and I have bought our last three vehicles brand new, which includes my truck. When the time does eventually come that I have to replace it, I'm not 100% sure that I'll go that route. Everything I've heard and seen about post-COVID vehicles has not been positive. I have definitely toyed with the idea of finding a nice low mileage OBS with a 460 on Bring a Trailer if/when I'm forced to replace my F150.

 

I've found a nice one or two. I missed out on a super nice 44k miles 1996 a few weeks ago. Supercab 4x4 F250 with a 460. The price was too high, or so I thought, at $38K, but it sold quick. It seems that a lot of people are picking up the OBD1 with low miles, and paying a premium for them. They can be diagnosed and fixed at almost any shop, or at home with an inexpensive code reader. And there is no CANbus system, no infotainment collecting date, and telematics to send that data back to Ford, and whoever they choose to sell it to.

 

Even with low miles and well maintained good condition, $23k for a $40k 2015 F150 seems very good. I am happy for you and happy for that college kid. Do you have to resign as moderator now ?

 

I guess. I’m no use here anymore.

 

6.2L is bulletproof. Starts up, goes never an issue.I put back the stock exhaust because anything close in price rots out. The coils fail but after very high miles, and some can even be salvaged with a kit. Mine don't leak a drop over 200K.Phasors do not use oil pressure - they are timed with the valve springs and they just trap oil - very rare to fail.Supposedly that saves a bit of gas too, less drag on the oil pump. Just have to be ok with 12ish/17ish mpg.If you consider a 6000lb truck, with 411hp and that reliability, its not bad. There is no question it is ready for any towing up to 11K. I use the maxtow package.
I wonder if the gas saving ecoboost and possible repairs make it cost the same as a large v8 with its gas consuption.

 

The “gas saving” eco boost is either eco or boost but never both at the same time. Unloaded my mileage is decent, but loaded or pulling anything heavier than a jon boat it drinks like a big bore V8. Which makes sense, because it pulls like a big V8.

 

If you tow heavy with the 3.5L, it will drink gas like a 5.4L V8. Ford was looking at the empty MPG's in both engines. It seems that that the 3.5L and 5.4L are equal in fuel consumption while working hard.

The 6.2L is never going to get 20 or 20+ mpgs no matter how you gear it but it's reliability in the F150 is unimpeachable.

 

Yeah....stop your noise buddy. Your input is always of great value and we all appreciate you.

 

That was a sarcastic answer to a sarcastic question. I don't convey tone or emotion well in my writing. Ask my wife!

 

I ran into a similar situation last winter with our 2013 Lariat DRW 2x4 4.30 gears that suddenly started running like crap when we were wintering in Yuma AZ and I couldn't figure it out so I took it to a independent shop. Before they figured out what was wrong with it I priced a new truck and it was shocking plus I couldn't get a F350 7.3 with 4.30 gears in a DRW or a 8ft box from Ford. It ended up being a broken intake valve spring that took them a long time to figure out partly because it made no noise, a compression test found it with 7 cylinders being 175 and #4 was 0, the repair was cheap compared to the diagnosing it, all there fancy testing equipment only showed numerous misfires. The truck ran great after the repair but heading home with our 16K trailer made me nervous at first but the 2K miles home was none eventful. When I got home and had all my tools I did a compression test in #4 and with my gauge it was 180 so I'm confident no damage was done. Our plans were and now still are to make this our last pulling truck so when it our the trailer dies we are done and at 101K miles it should last a long time. The truck I priced was over 70K and I can put a lot of money back into it and be money ahead plus I like the truck. I've never had a problem with this truck and other than normal maintenance it's only cost $1536.00 for the valve spring and $530.00 to upgrade kit to sync 3 so I'm money ahead. It doesn't get used in the summer normally but this year I hauled 40 43lb patio blocks with our F150 and needed 111 total and the car truck F150 wasn't up to the job so I removed the 5th wheel hitch and loaded the last 71 and the DRW did it without a problem .
Denny