advice - looking at purchasing 2002 f150 harley
 

I've had my '88 Silverado Reg cab Stepside for 12 years now. had the engine all done up and all that fun stuff. truck is mint. problem is with 2 kids we have to take two vehicles if we want to pickup lumber or take the bicycles somehwere to go biking.

I found this 2002 F150 Harley Davidson edition and fell in love with it. spoke to the dealer and he said he's really interested in doing something with my truck on trade. wants $10,500 canadian with my truck on trade.

he let me take it home tonight so I could test it out. truck has 105,000kms on it. rims are mint(tires look like they need replacing) body in excelent shape. a bit of surface rust on the inside of a few doors(lip at the bottom). interior is mint. tonneau cover has a small ding in it on driver side probably from a stone. all the accessories including the a/c appear to work.

issues I found

at about 80km or so it seems to have a shimmy from the rear(tire balance?) when applying brakes there is a pulsing and it pulls left(stuck caliper??). when putting it to the floor and then letting of the gas when it shifts gears it seems to have a belt sqeal for a split second(is this just the serp belt that needs replacing or is it normal?) also sounds like a slight exhaust leak from under the hood when driving with window open. doesn't seem noticeable when idling standing outside the truck.

anyone with experience have any pros or cons or good advice? I love the truck but don't want to buy into a money pit! also read a lot about spark plug blow out. should I be concerned? should I try to contact the previous owner to see if plugs where ever changed?

thanks
Jeff

Rear tire shimmy- could be just a wheel balance issue, check for a bent axle
Pulsating brakes/pull to the left- warped rotor caused by either made of cheap materials and/or sticking caliper
Belt chirp...weak tensioner or stretched belt (or contamination on belt)...check for pulley alignment also....something may be looses
Exhaust leak....exhaust gasket, cracked exhaust manifold.

I'll let someone else chime in about the plugs!

a little late on this but we had our spark plug blow just last summer on the 2002 Harley. I did a lot of research afterwards buy owner just went to dealer to have fix to the tune of 5K. If it were me I woudl research and do any preventiative on that happending to yours - it is almost inevitable. Good luck!

Five grand? Damn, someone got ripped off badly!

Two hundred bucks and one insert later and my '99 L was back on the road.

Lock-N-Stitch aluminum inserts are the approved Ford inserts for when this problem occurs. Spark Plug Thread Repair Inserts

Timesert Inserts used to be the main choice of guys who have suffered from this problem before Lock-N-Stitch was approved by Ford. ++ TIME-SERT Threaded inserts for stripped threads, threaded inserts, thread repair stripped sparkplug's, Ford sparkplug blowouts, threaded inserts threaded, repair stripped threads, stripped threads, inserts threaded inserts, Ford spark plug repair,

Since so much time has passed since this became a well known problem (years now), preventing the problem is also now a tried and true method.

Change your plugs on a cold engine. Make sure you torque your plugs to Ford specs. The old school method of just tightening them down with as much arm muscle as ya want won't work.

Check your plugs at least once a year. When I had OEM unmodified heads, I checked mine twice a year.

Follow the above instructions and you won't blow a plug if your cylinder heads and the corresponding plug holes are within spec.

Stewart

nice car :-X19