Alright, Ive been doing a little research online to find out how long diesel engines will last but havent come across anything yet.

The reason I am asking is because my brother is selling his 99 f-250 diesel and it has all the options i am looking for in a truck, but it has 175,000 miles on it. Hes offering it to me for 10,000 and that is the price i was looking to spend on an f-150. But i decided since it has everything I need, and then some, why not go for it?

 

I was always told that 250K on a diesel is comperable to 100K on a gas engine. Did your brother own the truck since new? If so, at least you'll have an honest answer to how it was serviced. I think 250K is conservative for engine life if it's been taken care of properly.

 

Actually my brother's boss owned it first then sold it to my bro so im pretty sure it has been taken care of considering my bro is buying pretty much the same, but newer truck from his boss. I thought I heard that diesels will last until about 300k. Rumor maybe?

 

Properly maintained it should go much longer than that. Do a search on this site for "diesel longevity". You'll find what you're looking for.

 

It all depends on how you drive it, what kind of driving you do, and how well you maintain it. I read an article about a year ago about a guy that had over 1M miles on his PSD. He is in the transporting business and puts a lot of miles on his truck every year. Only major service done was the water pump. Of course that mileage is almost all highway and his engine is running for long periods of time, but the PSD is capable of very high mileage.

 

Well, unfortunately I just got word that my bro sold the truck to some guy for 10k cash... so im out again into the world of the never ending search for "my" truck

 

Just so you know, there was a post on this site (not sure which forum) that had a guy looking at buying a PSD with (I think) 550K, still going strong. So don't be afraid to buy a high mileage diesel IF IT HAS BEEN TAKEN CARE OF!! I plan to drive my PSD until it dies or I do, whichever is first!

 

I saw one locally with my own eyes that was 3 years old and has 435000 on it and going strong

 

A long time ago I read somewhere that International rates the 444 for 200,000 miles before a top end rebuild, and 400,000 for a total rebuild.

Obviously if they are cared for properly they can go well beyond that.

 

The Powerstroke will last well over 500k miles with proper maintenance, some go much further. I deliver campers with pickups for a living. Many of the drivers trucks go well past 500k miles. My 96 F250 diesel, has over 300k, but had trans trouble, 5speed bearings wear out. I couldnt get it fixed properly so bought a 2000 2500 Dodge diesel. It now has 461k miles. So far so good. You must change oil regularly, and all filters. Do not start and go. Let it warm up. Never turn it off until it has cooled down, idle for 4 or 5 min or more. I seldom turn mine off when on the road, It has idled for many hours at a time. The ford too. I use Wal Mart Diesel store brand oil. No problems. Use good filter. I change every 8k miles. Change trans fluid and filter about every 40k. Change rear end oil 60k or so. The ford always used 2 quarts of oil in 5000 miles when working. The Cummins rarely uses any in 8k. My pesonal opinion is the Cummins is a better engine, but both are great engines. Both get 21 or better MPG empty and about half that working. I pull campers weighing between 7k lbs up to 18k lbs. Both trucks weigh over 7k lbs.