Hi everyone I'm new here and i'm 14 yrs old. I've been thinking about a 1996 Ford F-250 (w/ the Powerstroke diesel) also w/ the crew cab. Is this a good first truck. and also could you all give me a lil bit of info on diesels, like what they have that gas engines don't and what gas engines have that diesel's don't. thanks alot - i'm tryin' my best to learn

 

That truck is going to be hard to find. I am not even sure Ford made a Crew Cab F250 in 96, I know they made them in 97. They are fairly rare and I don't see them for sale often in my area. It would be easier to find a F250 Supercab or a F350 Crew Cab. Welcome to FTE, and feel free to ask anything on here, chances are some one will have had the same problem and know how to help you.

 

Welcome to the forum. I can't speak to the 96's, but I purchased a 97 like you are wanting this spring and I will give you my experience. I paid $5995 for the truck and it had 289000 miles on it. From what I can tell the engine is in decent shape as it only burns about a quart of oil between oil changes. With in two months after purchase I had to replace the cam sensor, 1 lower ball joint, alternator, and one battery. I consider this pretty normal for a used truck purchase, but that should be a consideration. Another problem I have had is the transmission gets too hot under serious towing. Transmission problems are notorious problems with this truck, but can be managed. Now that it's cooling off outside I've noticed I have some bad glow plugs. On the upside, from what I can tell the motors are pretty much bullet proof and the rest of the truck is solid. Diesel engines are fundementally different as they are more efficient than gas engines. They have higher compression than gas and rely on compression to ignite fuel rather than a spark. For a reason I do not yet understand they tend to produce torque in huge numbers compared to gas engines. You'll also pay more to maintain a diesel as opposed to a gasser, but they tend to run much longer. Obviously there are many other differences, but I'm not qualified to get much deeper. Keep reading the post's on this site, and use the search function, and before long you'll have a PhD in these trucks. As for a first truck? There have been several post about how to inspect one of these trucks prior to purchase, and it would be good to have that info before you buy. I would also suggest you consider what you want out of a first truck. If you want something that you can, drive, work on, upgrade to almost no end, and learn about, a used PSD would fit nicely. If you are interested in something that is super affordable to drive and maintain, and doesn't require you to invest any wrench time then you might consider other options as well as the PSD. One last thing to consider is safety. What ever you eventually get make sure you know what shape it's in and how it handles and drives. It's not speed that kills, but the sudden stop.

 

I have that truck with 4 wheel drive. Start saving your money and who knows someday you may have one also