My Son is looking at a truck

[theknight571]

Update: The guy doesn't know anything about the maintenance history beyond the 4 months he owned it. After some discussion with a diesel mechanic friend of a friend (who I didn't know of until this morning). We decided to keep shopping.

He also wouldn't take a cashier's check. Cold hard cash only. Makes me a little uneasy. I can understand not taking a personal check.

Over I was just not getting a good vibe from him. I could be wrong, and probably over cautious, but I'd rather be sure than $6k in the hole.

Thanks for the input. It will help for the next one he finds.

/end update


My son is looking at this truck: Link Removed... it was a 1999 Ford F-250 SuperDuty with the 7.3L Diesel 216K miles... asking $6900 was going to take $6000cash.

I admit to not being a car guy... and I've never bought a used car from an individual.

I've done a little bit of research, since my son is stuck on the F250 with the 7.3L diesel, and it seems that if taken care of the 7.3L will outlast the body of the truck.

Ideally I'd like to get at least 3-4 years from it.

So far, I know that the guy who owns the truck, purchased it before winter in order to plow with it. However he states he has since decided to not get into plowing and is selling it.

He is mostly dealing with my son, but since I'm paying for it, I have briefly talked the to the guy and have discovered that he will take $6000 cash for it, which is way below KBB (7300 fair - 9000 excellent), and that he does have the title for it.

I've asked my son for more details about what he's learned about it. We have not gone to see it yet. (I will update when he responds.)

My questions are:
- Do you think this is a decent truck for the price? (It's got everything my son is looking for)

- Do you think I should be worried that 1) he's only owned it for 4 months and is already looking to sell it; 2) that he's willing to take so much less than KBB; and 3) He'll only take cash. No checks.

- Is there something I should be asking about before making the trek out to look at it.

Again, I am not a car guy, so if I'm missing something obvious let me know... I will not be offended.

 

[michal1980]

1) why does your son need such a huge truck

2) no matter what you get used, get it inspected.

 

[gorcorps]

15 year old truck with over 200k miles dealing with the winters of Detroit

Salt gets EVERYWHERE and will corrode all sorts of stuff if not washed out. Just because you can't see rust on the body panels doesn't mean it's "rust free" everywhere. I would be pretty hesitant getting something that well used in that climate, but that's just me. I guess if it gets fully inspected then it might not be an issue. It's entirely possible he's selling it so quickly because gas prices came down so diesel isn't really worth it anymore... and not because of issues with the truck.

 

[theknight571]

1) why does your son need such a huge truck

2) no matter what you get used, get it inspected.

I asked him the same question... it's what he likes. I know he's been working at his friend's dad's landscaping business, so maybe it stems from there. I also know several of his friends have similar trucks, so he wants one too. If it's a good vehicle and will last longer than the last beater he bought, then I really don't mind. He's responsible for gas, and his mom is responsible for insurance.

I had planned on having it inspected, I'll just need to find a place near the owner that will be available to do one.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ghost recon88]

I would run a carfax and see if it's always been registered in our salt belt or not. Sometimes carfax will also tell you if it's been serviced at a dealer. At that mileage, it might need new injectors or glow plugs soon if they haven't already been replaced.

 

[rancherlee]

with 200k on it make SURE the injectors/pump have been replaced, usually they are wore out in the 200-250k range. Great engine otherwise.

 

[WackyDan]

- Do you think I should be worried that 1) he's only owned it for 4 months and is already looking to sell it; 2) that he's willing to take so much less than KBB; and 3) He'll only take cash. No checks.

As others have said, get it inspected and make sure that the important bits like the injectors and glow plugs have been serviced recently.

As for cash -- I believe this guy means no personal checks. Pretty standard when selling private. I would never accept a private check from someone unless they let me deposit it and then wait several days for it to clear - most buyers don't want to do that either.

I bought my last trailer with a certified check/cashiers check.

 

[iamwiz82]

Googling the phone number leads to a landscape company, so it was a work truck. I doubt it was terribly abused but I am sure it spent a vast majority of it's life towing.

 

[theknight571]

Googling the phone number leads to a landscape company, so it was a work truck. I doubt it was terribly abused but I am sure it spent a vast majority of it's life towing.

<homer>Doh</homer> Didn't think to do that.

 

[Squeetard]

Get it inspected by a mechanic. A lot of costly repairs on a Diesel.

 

[WT]

Those 7.3s were very solid diesel motors, especially compared to the 6.0s that replaced it. Actually, the 6.0s weren't bad other than their head bolts causing issues when the motors were modded to produce more HP. EGRs were also a problem on that model.

I think that's a very good price for a diesel 7.3. If it were a crew cab, I'd be interested in one myself.

 

[echo4747]

i had a 2001 f250 7.3 liter. it was a fairly good truck... but from what i remember my mechanic(who has several 7.3 ford trucks) always used to spread grease on the oil pan to prevent it from corroding. The oil pans on these rot out especially in areas that salt the roads. if your oil pan needs to be changed, its very labor intensive.. as you need to lift the engine to get a new one on.

 

[theknight571]

Updated in original post.

We decided to keep looking. The guy didn't seem to know anything about the truck beyond the 4 months he owned it. He had no idea if the injectors/plugs or trans had be replaced or even serviced.

So I'm preferring to err on the side of caution.

Plus I was not getting a good vibe from him. Perhaps it's nothing, but it's my money.

Son was disappointed, but understands.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Any reason in particular you're son is looking at diesels? Generally, diesel trucks hold their value much longer than gas trucks. The 7.3L Powerstroke was / is a great motor, but unfortunately by that age, a lot of other things are going to be going wrong. Unless it was meticulously maintained, there's going to be a considerable amount of rust, visible and / or hidden.

At the $6k price range, I'd look for a decent gas truck. I personally prefer Ford (4.6L or 5.4L, no V10s) or GM (5.3L, 5.7L, or 6.0L). If he isn't going to be doing any towing, stick with a half-ton to keep costs down. Look for good maintenance history and go for the fewest miles possible rather than options / packages. Expect some issues regardless - window regulators needing to be replaced, ripped / worn seats, bulbs out in the dash, etc. Things like that can (usually) be fixed easily, but running into someone's beater project whose engine/transmission/differential/suspension is ready to blow will make you tear your hair out. If they put a huge chrome axle-back exhaust setup (or worse, a smoke stack - even funnier on a gas engine) on it, walk away. If they wired in all kinds of lights, put in a custom sound system, or otherwise ripped into the wiring, walk away.

 

[Scarpozzi]

A coworker of mine bought a similar aged F250...same engine. He paid under $10k for his, but instantly got stuck putting another $2k in it to fix all the problems his mechanic found. (flushed transmission, gaskets, fixed problems with brakes, etc)

You can get a 3-4 year old 2WD F150 XL for $12-14k with 40k miles on it if you look around. Those trucks start under $20k and drive fine. I bought my F150 STX 2WD with alloys, nerf boards, bed liner, tow packages, Bluetooth, (SYNC), etc..for $16k at 20,000 miles on it....3 years old. It only has a 250hp V8, but drives great, tows alright for light jobs....is going to last me much longer than 3-4 years for the money. 18 MPG+ highway.

It's your money, you can sway him away from the diesel if you find a nice enough truck that he gets attached to. Tell him, he can save up his own money and take a half ton pickup to a 4WD shop and have them lift it if he wants....

 

[theknight571]

I've managed to get him to not focus so much on the diesel. The engine in his last car died, so I think he was looking at the diesel's because of their reputation for lasting a long time.

I'm having more trouble getting him away from the F250 though. So we are now looking at a 2005 with the 5.4L engine.

He has a $6k budget to work with.... Which is $1000 more than I had originally OK'd.

I do have final say though.

 

[heymrdj]

5.4L Tritons are super stout and go a long time. The 2005 would be the first year the F-250 got the 3v model of the engine, and the 2nd year for the 3v overall. Still possibly some teething issues. Watch for frozen spark plugs. If owners didn't change them in 60-100K, they were a two a piece design that is very likely to break off in the head, requiring extraction. If it hasn't had a plug job (which Tritons DEFINITELY need before every 100K), expect 1000-1500$ if you don't do the work yourself. Also check cam phasers. The engines are inherently ticky (sound like a diesel) but this doesn't mean anything is going to break. But planning to have cam phasers done if the engine is over 150K miles is a good insurance policy (and should be built into negotiations). Expect 1K or so for that job. Check for blue smoke on startup, if it cold starts and smokes blue the valve seals are bad and leaking oil. Not much of an issue really by itself, but if it gets bad enough that it smokes while running, then you're going to start damaging emissions equipment.

There are many F-250's with 5.4L's that are cranking 300K+ miles still. They are a workhorse engine that has to rev higher to make the power necessary to move the truck. Many teens that want the lifted truck forget this then regret the purchase. They are designed to churn day in and day out with reliability, not make gobs of power. The F-250 is already very heavy for their modest power, a lift and bigger tires absolutely destroys any acceleration. If a lift is in the future look for a minimum of 4.10's. If going bigger than 36" tires, he'll need to get regeared to 4.56's to have any grunt left.