Greetings yall. I am in the market for a used pickup truck and came across a local business selling a fleet truck. It is a 1999 F350 4x4 with crew cab and long bed equipped with a 7.3 powerstroke V8 automatic diesel engine. Interior is excellent and the body has dings with the tailgate missing. Their vehicle history folder was two inches thick and showed regular maintenance and repairs over the years (transmission has been replaced twice). Main issue that I saw was the high mileage at almost 450,000 and their admission of the engine leaking (do not know how badly).
I am a farmer looking for a towing vehicle to move things like my tractor, cattle, and hay. Does not have to be beautiful, but reliable. I do not know anything about diesel trucks so I did some research and came across this forum. Would like to get some input from knowledgeable folks. Asking price is $4000 but they were open to negotiate down. I am supposed to go back tomorrow to do a test drive. If everything checks out, would that be a deal or no deal?
I'm a 6.0 guy which replaced the truck you're looking at, but $4k sounds like a good price.
The 7.3 will not have emissions, so you need not worry about EGR.
Just because of the mileage, I hope you would not be towing far, just around where you're at. Diesel's are rumored to go forever, but don't see many for sale with that many miles.
I personally am looking for a 7.3 Excursion, the SUV model.
There was no rust underneath the truck; that is one of the benefits in living in south Texas. The leak seemed to be coming from further up the engine and dripping down from the oil pan. I will have to hunt it down.
I did end up buying the truck for $3500. Now I'll have to pickup some maintenance manuals and start reading the forums to learn more about the truck.
Another thing to look for is blow by. Take the oil fill cap off and flip it upside down if it is blown off then walk away, if it just vibrates off your good to go. All diesels have some amount of blow by a little is acceptable/normal but if its able to blow the cap off you are more then likely down a cylinder or more and will sooner then later be do for a rebuild.
There are several places on top of the motor that can leak oil into the valley, and the valley then drains down the back of the motor. More then likely if the oil is leaking down the back of the motor it will usually be a leak on the top of the motor and easily fixed with the motor still in the truck. It is not very common for the rear main to leak (doesn't mean it can' though). As said above if the oil pan is rusted through and leaking the only proper fix is to pull the motor to fix/reseal the pan. If the oil pan is leaking from the flange area sometimes you can get by with just tightening the pan bolts if they came loose at all.
Another thing to look for is blow by. Take the oil fill cap off and flip it upside down if it is blown off then walk away, if it just vibrates off your good to go. All diesels have some amount of blow by a little is acceptable/normal but if its able to blow the cap off you are more then likely down a cylinder or more and will sooner then later be do for a rebuild.
There are several places on top of the motor that can leak oil into the valley, and the valley then drains down the back of the motor. More then likely if the oil is leaking down the back of the motor it will usually be a leak on the top of the motor and easily fixed with the motor still in the truck. It is not very common for the rear main to leak (doesn't mean it can' though). As said above if the oil pan is rusted through and leaking the only proper fix is to pull the motor to fix/reseal the pan. If the oil pan is leaking from the flange area sometimes you can get by with just tightening the pan bolts if they came loose at all.
Good luck with your new to you truck. Check the maintenance records to see what kind of oil they were using and stick with it.
Most of us change oil and oil filters ever 5000 miles. I would use only Motorcraft filters. (oil and fuel) You said something about farm work, so to me that sounds like pulling a heavy load from time to time. Get a good transmission temp gauge and keep a watch on it when your pulling.
Doug
with that many miles, i'd be looking through the service records
to see if they ever changed out the hpop. that could be your
leak source.
i still say $3500 is a good deal.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum
5.4M posts
265.8K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to Ford F-series owners and enthusiasts with a Power Stroke diesel engine. Come join the discussion about performance, bulletproofing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!