Reliability of 1996 F350

Wickky · #1 (**permalink**) 01-14-2010, 11:16 AM

Hey everyone I found the truck I want to get but I just want to make sure this is going to be a good decision.

I currently have been driving a 2008 Mazda 3si sedan that I got off my friend for a steal... It is my daily driver and I have always wanted a truck just never found one I like. A friend of mine has a 96 f350 psd, cc, lb, with a 4 inch lift, exhaust, chip, beefed up trans, and intake. He has maintained it very well. IT has 172,000 miles on it.

I am getting it at such a good price that i will replace anything that goes bad on these trucks and have the entire truck repainted: Tranny saver Injectors, custom tune, fpr, gp, gpr, fuel pumps, put a ic on it, and anything else you guys recommend.

I want to make sure that this truck will be a good daily driver, that it will start and run all the time with little to no necessary maintainence. I know that it is harder to start in the cold but besides that I just want to make sure this is a good idea for me to do (reliability wise).

Thanks all!

wils2527 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-14-2010, 11:22 AM

As long as the truck had regular maintenance oil changes and fuel filters it will be reliable at 172K. Keep a spare CPS with you because you never know when those dang things are just going to give up and quit. As long as there are no major oil leaks the regular maintenance should remain. But you never know with the high pressure oil pump those things tend to go on their own. When you go to get a glow plug relay make sure to get a Stancor:
586-902 Stancor General Purpose / Industrial Relays

ridiculously_necessary · #3 (**permalink**) 01-14-2010, 11:23 AM

batteries, glows, gp relay, fluids, etc. and even thoguht eh tranny is "beefed up" might have a trusted mechanic take a look. a blow-by test might not be bad idea.

other than that sounds great. you might want to take a look at the fuel mod Bill (Alberta 7.3) just posted. it might help your performance if its running stage 1's too. sounds like a really nice truck! is it a dually?

ianstew · #4 (**permalink**) 01-14-2010, 11:28 AM

These trucks will last quite a while with regular mnaintenance, use a quality oil (motorcraft is a good oil for the PSD), use only MC filters for fuel and oil, and change the oil at 5k, fuel at 10 or 15k, and as far as air, you said it has an aftermarket intake, so you'll need to find the specs on filter changes (or cleanings) for that.

As for "tranny saving injectors", i have no clue what that is........as far as the FPR goes, just clean the screen if you want, but if the truck runs ok, it's fine. The GP system is a headache for many owners, use only MC plugs, and a Stancor relay is a good invesment, heavier duty by far than the stocker......

As far as the IC, that is a good mod, but is not necessary if the truck is basically stock. Give the truck a thourough look through, and go from there