iam a newbie with diesels my 2500 chevy with the 350 gas motor just isnt cutting it anymore so i have been looking into getting a powerstroke . i dont want to spend much do to buying a new house just started a family and it is going to be a work/family truck what ever i dont scrape spill or dirty they will.i have found 1 locally that is a 2000 f-350 xlt crew cab 4X4 it has a husky tool box and a 70 gallon off road tank in the bed for $12900 heres the bad it has 213000 miles on it it seems tuff and strong the tranny was replaced by the dealer at 90000 it was 1 owner the guy was a contractor it had its share of bumps and bruises dents dings very lil rust here and there he upgraded to a duallie the dealer was only trying to give him 5000 for it on a trade so he bought the duallie out right and sent this truck for paint and put new tires on it. so my question is it worth it how many more miles should i see out of it please give me some input before its gone

 

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U really need as much maintenance info as possible. Well taken care of it will last many more miles. Diesels just last longer...it's inherent to the design. Look how long the big rig motors last. Adding good oil and diesel fuel addditives along with bypass filtering can really help. Many folks geet an easy 250k trouble free miles. Diesels liked to be worked.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Nut

 

I wouldn't be scared of it as long as you get some kind of records.. I just bought a 99 with 233k on the clock and it runs strong.. Heres the best part. I drove it over 800 miles home (bought of eBay, beleive it or not). Got home and parked her in the garage over a whit peice of carpet. Let it set for three days (had minor troubles with the registration) and when i moved it, it hadn't leaked a drop of anything!!

Long story short, as long as you get records of maintenance and everything drives and runs ok, I would go for it. Thats not a bad price either!!

 

I bought mine with 255,000 KM On it, (153,000 Miles for those of us south of 49), and it does not use a drop of oil. Chances are that you will see a couple of rusty framrails with a PSD still chugging along between 'em before you see any major engine problems I don't think that engine is near worn out, the automatic is what I would worry about.

 

well i know the guy has 2 mechanics fulltime out of his out fit he has a rather large excavation company that has a well taken care of fleet the way he put to me was if something was broke it got fixed he said he didnt have time to break down so if something needed fixing he would have his mechanics come and get it and fix it oil was always changed every 5000 miles i belive the guy took care of it i just dont want to buy something that is going to fall apart in a year i know things break i just dont want to be putting a motor in the thing in 2 mos

 

the dealer things he has documented the tranny and the 2 oil pans it went through the oil pan init now show s very lil sign s of corrosion i know from other company i worked for that had powerstrokes had the oil pan problems in corrosion states . the rest was all done by his guys the truck eas used to plow but the whole front end is tight new pretty much everything i have the option to take the 9'2" boss v-plow for and extra 1500 it was just a clean up truck the majority of there plowing was done with the wheel loaders with the push boxes on the front

 

250K+ isn't that rare anymore. For a plow truck I'd be mostly concerned about steering, front-end & tranny (or clutch)...the engine can take all the plow dishes out. Just make sure that it wasn't over-chipped at any time which could lead to some serious problems. A few too many minutes at a 120+HP boost setting can cause some big damage. www.forddoctorsdts.com has some gruesome photos that are related to performance tuning. Only other thing I did when I bought my well-used '99 was take it to a good diesel shop to have the injection pump, injectors, compression & glow plugs checked out. --72Lester

 

ok thanks for the input that is what i was worried about at first was a million people with there hands in it but the thing is completly stock except ithink he said bosch glow plugs and warn manual lock outs. everything else they replaced was right from international dealer the thing even has oem air filter and exhaust system i think the only thing i will do is a k and n airfilter i just think it has enough power the way it sits and i dont want to break anything. the only thing iwill do with it is pull a skid steer ocasionaly maybee a dump trailer a few times a yr other thant that it s a motorcyle or two the offroad fuel tank will be full almost everyday as will the tool box but i hope that wouldnt even faze this truck all that stuff makes my chevy gutless .

 

don't put a k+n drop in filter on it!!! i have worked on 2 dusted engines in my carreer so far and both had k+n filters. now to while we are on the subject of dusting if it was a work truck for an excavation company it was around dirt and dust all the time. pull the top of the air box and the first rubber tube toward the turbo. check for dirt in the runner going directly into the turbo. also look at the inpeller on the turbo and it should have sharp corners and flat edges. if it looks sand blasted with dings or rounded corners it not good.

 

I think 12.9K is a bit much myself.....I just picked up a 99 350 crew cab with ranch hand all the way around, new clutch and 160K miles for only 9K. Ebay is actually a very good place to picked up a good deal......and always better from a private seller than dealership.

 

i was scared too, but I bought a 99 ps 4x4 with 233k on it. In the garage at the dealership, I checked the turbo out, and the fins were shiny and sharp. I test drove the truck overnight and signed the papers the next day. Its been cold here and I figured the best test for me was to leave it set overnight and see how it starts. To my surprise, it starts the same, cold or warm. After digging around in the glovebox, I found the previous owner actually kept maintenance records. Changing oil, air filter and lube every 7k miles. They even tracked repairs and replacements, as well as brand of oil. Used Rotella and motorcraft filters, and so will I. I am not scared of this truck any more. I love driving it, the clutch is a little weird, but I will get used to it. I thought the 89 I have drove weird for the first week, but now it smooth and seemless shifts.

I have 2 problems with the truck, the first one was the dome light stayed on all the time. I fixed that in 2 minutes with a can of lubricant in the door latches. The 2nd problem is, if you drive it hard, (I love the whistle of the turbo through the gears) and park it, when you start it back up, it will smoke for a little bit. As long as I let it idle for a few minutes before I shut it off, its fine.

If you look to chip it, be cautious and do homework. Install a pyrometer and talk to Jody at dp-tuner about getting performance.