I am looking at a 2000 F-350 with 225k. It has nice rims and brand new tires and I know it was taken care of as far as oil changes. Through its life it did light towing but nothing major. Am I buying a ticking timebomb or does it still have a lot of life left?

I will be trading my car plus cash for it totally 10k for the truck. I don't have any extra money to be putting into it.

 

I wouldnt be afraid of it as long as it doesn't have alot of blow by. Any history on the tranny, fluid smell ok? I paid just shy of 20 grand for my 01, three years ago with 100,000 on it, but it was real clean. Ryan

 

Welcome to FTE. There is a link that tells you exactly what to look for when buying a 7.3. Try the search. I'm sure someone will have the link saved and post it a little later (maybe Millerfeed) He has a lot of good info.

 

I thought you said high mileage? If the truck was taken care of, no I wouldn't be scared of it, but I've seen trucks with 90k miles on it that I was scared of. The first thing you need to do is take the top off the air filter and inspect the tube going from the air filter back to the turbo. If the inside of that tube is clean, and you can't leave a clean streak by rubbing your finger inside the tube, then read this thread on the other things to look for. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...questions.html

 

That's what I was looking for. Thanks Chris

 

Welcome to FTE, like alot of guys will tell you here, does it got a stock airbox on it, ask to pull the intake tubes off and take a look inside to see if there was any dusting of the turbo, you'll be able to see chips or wear on the turbo fins, this is bad, shows it ingested alot of dirt. Check around inside the valley for oil or fuel, stright down in between the motor looking down in there, dry is good. Another point is to take a look at his service records if he wrote them down in the manual, not always trustworthy but people(like me) that take care of their vehicles write down all service procedures they do. Check all the fluids and look at and smell the tranny fluid, shouldn't smell burnt or look dark in color. Also take a look under the truck for leaks of any kind. Check belts and hoses. There's a few things I can think of right now. Good luck, seems like a good buy. Chris got you hooked up above.

 

Thank you everyone for your help? You guys think 10k is good for this truck if everything turns out ok? I will check for everything you guys said. I figured the motor would be fine I was just just more worried about the 4x4, turbo, transmission, and the rear end.

 

Maintenance on these trucks is key...not just the motor but the entire truck.

If it has a problem it will let you know, you just have to look for the signs of abuse.

I'd say 10k is good as long as everything checks out.

 

You don't say if it is a crew cab, extended cab, or regular cab. Nor SRW or DRW or trim level (XL, XLT, Lariat). All those are considerations about price. A regular cab, SRW, XL with few or no power options should be priced at least $5,000 less than a DRW Crew Cab Lariat.

As the other guys said, mileage means less than how it was cared for. I bought a 2001 that had been on a Ford lease all it's life. It had 266,000 miles on it when I bought it and drives like a new truck. I had to do front brakes because of sticking caliper pins, but the rest of the chassis is pretty much like new. It was cheap because it was a XL regular cab.

Anything with over 100,000 miles will need some TLC for something. The depreciated price helps compensate for things you'll have to pay to fix. Plan for it, and it won't be bad.

 

Sorry, it is a SRW crew cab xlt, but again, thanks for the help and suggestions

 

Where are you located, is it online, do you have pictures?? The guys on here are pretty sharp and can even pick up on things just looking at pictures. Let us know where it sits, maybe there's someone close by that can stop and take a look at it.

These trucks are pretty tough, and if maintained, at the minimum by the book, it should still be in decent shape. I've got 233k and have only done "normal" repairs to it; waterpump, alternator, ball joints, front hubs, etc.

Take it for a test drive, and I don't mean just around the block. If you plan on towing with it, talk the seller into letting you use it for a day or two pulling your trailer. If that's what it's going to be used for, you'll want to see how it pulls.

Is it a 4x4? If so, engage it, then crank your wheels to see if you can feel it catch to make sure it works.

Good luck and keep asking questions!

 

I live in Peoria, AZ, but the truck is located about a half hour west of there. It is a friend of a friends truck.

I think the main reason I'm questioning this truck is because I wanted it lifted and I heard it is super expensive to lift this truck even 6"....any comments on this maybe?

The other reason is I'm still just kind of worried about buying it and something serious happening within the next 30k miles or so.....I'm thinking I will may go get it tomorrow, I want a truck pretty bad!

 

I just paid $4000 for a 2001 F250 with 177,000 miles, I would definately try to talk the guy down a bit. Mine does have a little bit of trouble. The UVCH has come loose, so I'm going to do the half dollar fix. If you have any questions about repairs or general information this forum is a great place to look, just search for a topic and be prepared to receive a wealth of knowledge. I wish I had joined this forum before buying my truck, I could have talked the salesman out of more money.

 

I think you can do better than 10K. One year ago, I paid $9800 for mine with 198,000 miles on it, and had I waited until this year, I probably could have saved $2000.

 

Just for a quick look I checked out 4 wheel parts online...looks like a 6" lift (Skyjacker) that includes shocks is right around $1,200 (on sale). This will definitly be more if you are not comfortable installing the lift yourself (or if you just don't have the tools). There are many companies out there that sell lifts for these trucks...make sure to check out all the retail stores (online and off) to really get an idea of how much it might cost.

I bought my 99.5 about 4 years ago w/135K miles on it for $14,500. The truck now has 235K on it and is still running great. I have kept up with ALL maintenance and have always checked fluid levels. The original 6 speed pooped out at 218K but I have decent hp and tow a 32 ft. gooseneck along with my toyota truck. Alternator also went out near 200K and ball joints at 183K. This is all that I have had to replace on my truck. It is 4x4, XLT, x-cab, long bed, f-250 that it truly flawless inside and out. Only tear is on the console where I put my elbow. Everything works great still. It had auto locking hubs but I swapped them for Warn manuals because they never seemed to want to auto unlock (even though everything was clean and there were no leaks). I give you such a huge description only because if I were to ever sell it (never) I would probably ask around $8,000. Hopefully my description and my insane amount of writing will help you in the decision to buy or pass on the truck.

By the way, I will be in Pinetop, AZ in about 1.5 weeks (from TX).