I have been reading this forum for almost a year and gaining good knowledge but thought this should be my first post. I own a 93 F-150 extended cab with a 5.0, auto and 2WD. I bought the truck with 145,000 and have done very little (besides routine maintenance) for the past 60,000. I replaced the started, water pump (for a failed gasket) and radiator. The truck now has 203,000 and has never had the valve covers removed. It doesn't smoke, knock or use oil (about 3/4 quart between changes at 5,000 mile intervals). The only leak is the front seal on the tranny but not enough to drip on driveway or run back on the rest of the tranny. I just checked all of the front end parts and could find no play in any links or ball joints. This thing even has the original alternator and fuel pumps.

I tow a 3600# boat about once a month in the summer so I beefed up the tranny cooling by installing a Deral cooler with fan, inline temp switch, external filter and temp gauge. Thanks for all of the past post to help with the selection and installation.

I keep looking at the new trucks but can't force myself to part with one that is running so good. (It still gets 20 mpg on the highway) I can only imagine how long one of the new ones will last.

Thanks for a great forum and keep up the good posts.

 

i am having trouble with believing you get 20 mpg on highway with auto and 200k+ miles. i have a 94 auto, 300 six with over 100k, so i can not compare apples to oranges, but i do not get 20 mpg on highway in my truck. i am glad you love your truck so much.

 

It took you a year to come out of the closet and say hello? Sheesh, I thought that I had lurked in the shadows for a long time! I don't think that 20MPG is all that hard to believe - it depends on driving style, speed, load etc. etc. I have gotten as high as 22.3MPG CDN with my truck (see sig) which, I think, converts down to about 18MPG US. I'm pretty sure that if I slowed down to - say - 60MPH from 70MPH - that I could get around 20MPG US outta my old girl as well. I just can't ever see myself driving that slowly for any more than a few hundred feet on any given clear highway.

Cheers!

Mike