I will be riving 300 miles this saturday to hpefully buy an 03 with the 7.3L. Any tips on what to inspect and paticularly look for. Things that tend to wear out. The oasis report came back clean. NO problems other than the ball joints. Any advice or tip would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Jason

 

hit up the 7.3 forum.... those guys I think have a sticky on what to look for and one of them can link it to you.

 

Thanks I will definitely go look at that forum

 

Loose steering parts would definitely be something I checked. Door lock actuators are known to go out, see if they all seem to be working well. Paint on the roof right where the top edge of the door meets the body, right by the molding strip. Good chance the paint is worn through from dust rubbing in there, you can use that to try to argue the price down some possibly. How may miles are on it? That will greatly effect what you should be looking for.

 

The truck has 116,000, I know he just had the front end worked on. He is going to show me the receipts. From reading on this site, the 7.3L seems to be a reliable engine. I know without the previous owner history and how they drove it, I won't know the true condition of the engine, but is there anything to check on the exterior of the engine.

 

YouTube - HOW TO BUY A USED POWERSTROKE DIESEL TRUCK - 1 OF 4

Stewart

 

Well heres the deal on the 2003 EB Excursion. I tried to research the best I could and I watched the 4 part viseo on youtube about inspecting a 7.3L prior to buying one. I made a check list and for the most part everything seems to be okay. All exhaust bolts were intact didn't look like there were any leaks from the turbo or exhaust. There was some discoloring (yellow) on the two tubes that go to the turbo, right before the flex joint. I look at other 7.3L pics on the web and noticed the same thing.

4x4 seems to work hubs engage and disegage automatically. I could not turn the manual hubs. They may need cleaned and lubed up?

Trans shifts good, fluid is clean.

Engine sounds good seems to be healthy. It has 117,000 miles, it does not smoke.

The seller just had front brakes and rotors replaced. The ball joints were done under warranty.

I did notice the power steering leaking back at the brake master cylinder area. From what I could tell the one fitting needed tightened, so I did that and it seems to be okay. If all else fails I would change the line.

The truck is a theft recovery, but from what I can tell they didn't do anything to the truck. Possibly just joy rided. The column is all intact, I couldn't find a cut wires. The back uo sensors don't work, but I think its the switch.

The worst part of today was I was set to buy this truck and then found out he doesn't take my credit card, which he assured me before I left it was okay. If your wondring why I would use my CC its because the interest rate is awsome, way less than used auto loan rates. So after a 6 hour drive no truck. He did say he could have his friend deliver it, for a low fee. I want the truck, but this guy has to make it right. If I can get him to cover the shipping cost than I will buy it, but if he refuses than I will probably give up on getting an Excursion for now. I did get the guy down to 10,000 for the truck.

Sorry for the long post, its been a long 24 hours.

 

$10k for an '03 EB X is pretty sweet, especially with that mileage. It must be a dealer, if he takes credit cards. If he won't take your CC, what does having his friend deliver it have to do with it? Will he take the card at a later date?

What state is it in?

Good luck, sounds like a nice one!!

 

The friend could deliver it if I pay using another method, which is what I am going to do.