So I'm supposed to make the two hour trip to Baker City this weekend to pickup a 95 F350 Crewcab Dually Powerstroke. Truck is a 5 speed and has 270,000 miles. The inside is clean and in very good shape, the outside of the truck is fair. I have not seen the truck in person but my friend who lives in Baker City has and shes the one who found it for me. She was able to look under the hood with her dad who is a former diesel technician and he noticed a severe oil leak from the valve cover but no other visible leaks. The guy who owns the truck says it has two newer batteries and runs and drives great the only thing it needs is new glowplugs which he is currently putting in it right now. He used it to pull a gooseneck trailer from Baker City to Salt Lake and back several times. The turbo silencer has been removed and the exhaust has been upgraded but otherwise the truck is stock. So what I'm mainly worried about is the price hes asking for the truck. He has it for sale for $3000 which I guess is reasonable considering the age, mileage, condition, and it being 2wd. But it also seems kinda weird to me. In Idaho, even the 2wd powerstrokes usually go for around $5,000-8,000 especially if they are a crewcab or dually. Should I be worried about this one? Anything I should be worried about? Pretty sure the truck will make the 2 hour trip back to Nampa. Any info will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

The valve covers do not typically leak, possibly an hpop o ring is shot. Or the hpop lines them selves. Sounds like a good deal, what does the sellar say about the oil leak? Any chance it was diesel and the flue bowl was leaking?

 

Seller of course, supposedly didnt know it was leaking. He didnt seem to know until I had said something about it to him. According to him the truck runs and drives fine and it's been his daily for years but he has two trucks: this one and a 97 with 4wd and he drives the 97 more I guess because of the 4wd. I mean theres some holes in the dually fenders on this one too and a little clear coat fade but otherwise it seems fine. I'm just hoping theres no other major leaks like a rear mean or something. Not too worried about the engine having issues, definitely not too worried about the transmission unless the clutch goes out. I also know the guy said he was gonna put new glowplugs in it for me and my friend drove buy the shop its located at today and said the truck had been moved into the shop and he had texted me and said he was putting in the glowplugs. New to these trucks and fords in general so just wanna make sure I'm making the right decision.

 

Well if the valve covers are leaking then he should fix that when he does the glowplugs. There are a number of things in the valley that can leak. But they are pretty easy to work on.

 

Apparently the hpop has never been replaced. And yeah I'd think a person with common sense would do that but idk. Is it still at least worth going to look at?

 

Only you can really determine how much its worth to you. But crewcab dually is good shape is worth that much if you ask me. Especially with the 7.3 and ZF. You could part that truck out for $3,000 if you didn't want it.

 

Yeah its definitely in good shape! The two front bucket seats and center console came out of an early 2000s lariat powerstroke but the backseat is original. They are the leather ones though which is nice but I'm probably gonna swap a stock blue bench seat in there from the junkyard when I get the truck. I'm extremely excited to get the truck! A 7.3 powerstroke is my dream truck so it's like a dream come true and I love duallys which makes it even better! I had a 94 Chevy K2500 with a Detroit that I loved too but it the tranny went bad and I ended up selling it. So this will be my second diesel and I hope itll be better than my Detroit, although my Detroit ran like new besides the fact the tranny was bad. Any good horsepower mods I can do for under $500 that'll make a drastic difference?

 

Getting a chip can get you around 50 HP more and that's under 500 but you should watch your EGTs with a gauge

More power after that is going to get more expensive with bigger injectors and more

 

Okay thanks for the info! Would straight piping it make a difference?

 

Anything you do to make it breathe easier helps. If it still has the flat turbo down pipe, replace that with the round diamond eye one. I was told by a reputable diesel shop in my area that doing so was the best bang for your buck you could do. Also doing the big air filter mod helps. You can do both for around 200 bucks.

 

Oh okay so like a cold air intake basically? I was planning on doing that if the truck didnt already have one but I wasnt really sure how much it would help. I'm just worried the clutch or something is gonna give out on the way back from Oregon. The owner swears up and down theres nothing wrong with it but idk. Hes holding it for me until Saturday until I can get there to get it. What could really go wrong with one of these?

 

Go get it. It'll be worth it if it isn't all rotted and beat to pieces.

Don't worry about the drive home. Don't expect it to be a tire burner if it is mostly stock, but it'll be a good solid truck for you.

HPOP replacement isn't a common thing on these, even with that mileage. The pump stays well lubricated (it is pumping filtered engine oil, after all), so it seldom wears out enough to cause any kind of issues, especially if the truck is running stock injectors and tunes.

I'm suspicious about a "severe valve cover leak" as well. My guess is that there is liquid in the valley between the cylinder heads, which is most likely fuel leaking from old, dry cracked fuel lines if they have never been replaced. That's a cheap fix if you're hand with a wrench. Former diesel technician or not, if you haven't spent much time under the hood of one of these trucks, he may not know exactly what he is looking at. There aren't many of these on the road that have a dry valley between the heads. There are so many fuel and oil connections that leak into that space that it's tough to keep it all dried up and cleaned out.

My advice: Go take a look at it and if it runs / drives good, buy it. You can't build one if you don't have one....

 

Okay but even if its leaking will I at least be able to make it home and fix it once home?

 

I drove a parts truck 45 minutes home that had a severe HPOP reservoir leak. I stopped twice and put a gallon of oil in each time.

Just stop frequently and check it... grab a 5 gallon bucket for the drive home just in case lol - Traveler oil from Tractor supply has treated me well and is fairly cheap.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...gine-oil-5-gal

 

Depends on the severity of the leak. I found Rojo in the back of a used car lot, been there for a few years in the Texas sun. Drove it 13 hours straight before I lost a high pressure return fuel hose on the driver's side where it poured fuel out so fast the gauge could be seen moving. If you do not have it yet, sign up for AAA. Valve covers will leak if over or under torqued also.



Captain Ron said it best -






Expect to put $2000 into it pretty quick. I am sure it will need seven tires, 245/75R16 fit fine and are a far, far more common size. ALL fluids. Brakes probably. Clutch and flywheel. Do not expect to rip through the gears with the ZF, the throws are pretty long even with Midwest's short shifter.