hello all this is my first post. was wondering, i have come across a 99 f250 superduty xlt 7.3L 4X4 turbo diesel with automatic trans. it has high milage at 241242 miles. i have no idea if the motor or trans has been replaced.. neither does the sales person who bought from an auction. did a carfax on it and it is has a clean record. does anybody have any advice on what i should do or what to look for to get a better idea of wether or not this is still a good and dependable truck to buy.
thanks

 

Did you ask the salesman if there was any remaining warranty on the vehicle?

 

Unless you are well versed in ford diesels, I'd look for something with less miles. The previous owner obviously traded it in for a reason- most likely it's due for some pricey repairs. Used car dealers are notoriously adept at covering up major problems long enough to get your money. I bought a high mileage used truck once and had to rebuild the motor shortly after my first oil change. 6 months later the tranny took a dump.

I could be wrong but I wouldn't be expecting a whole lot of trouble free miles out of a used truck that already has a quarter million.

 

thanks for the input guys. no there definetly no warranty left on this truck do to the high milage and being unsure of the motor and trans i am very scared of giving money for the truck. its incredible how nice this truck is and how good of shape it is in for having that many miles. the bed shows absolutley no use ( im thinking ther might have been a utility bed on it ). the under carriage in also in good shape. ther is signs of oil leakage somewhere from the motor. other than that i would say that this truck had maybe 90000 miles on it but im for sure not a mechanic so theres no telling what could be wrong with it.

 

You didn't say what the price is. I went to Edmonds.com and plugged in your info and somethings I though might be on it. The Trade-in was about 7K and the Dealer sell price was about 11K. You also didn't say how many miles you'll be putting on it. If it a second vehicle and you'll only put on 5K a year, then it might be worth looking at for about 8K or 9K.

 

Hey George, the problem with Edmunds numbers or KBB, etc...
is the mileage penalty maxs out at some point.

I think we would all agree that two identical trucks would have different values if one of the had 146,000 miles and the other one had 241,000 miles.

The program calculators end the mileage penalty at 146,000 for the truck in question. You can verify this by resubmitting the truck, leave everything the same except the mileage. The value won't change from 146,000 miles to 1 million miles.
The penalty at 147,000 was $2,286.
The penalty at 100,000 was $1199.
Roughly, $1,100 for an additional 46,000 miles

Applying that logic to the truck in question,
241,000 - 146,000(max) = 95,000 unaccounted for miles.
95,000 / 46,000 = 2 appx.
$1100 X 2 = $2,200

If they didn't 'max out' the mileage penalty in the calculations then all of the numbers you posted would have been $2,200 less.

Trade $7,000 - $2,200 = $4,800
Used Retail $11,000 - $2,200 = $8,800

 

To be honest I never thought to check that about the mileage issues on Edmunds. That's a good catch. Learn something new every day.

 

This deal depends totaly on the price. the powerstroke engine comes with a 100,000 mile warranty, generally around 160k things start needing to be replaced, not the actuall internals but a whole bunch of little things such as injectors, and injector pumps, the turbo could prob also stand to be rebuilt, the motor themselves will run for a really long time if cared for properly which based upon the condition of the truck it must have been taken cared for. miles don't scare me on a vehicle, with that many miles on it, it spent a lot of time on the road wich means it couldn't have been broke down too often. My father has a 95 ford van with 280k miles on the original engine, runs like a top and doesn't even smoke on start-up. The good thing is diesel truck a insanely popular right now, if you could get it for the right price say 7-9,000 dollars you could keep it for a few years and get your money back out of it,
If you don't buy it, let me know where it is i may buy it!
I could always use another PSD truck!!

 

Umm......PSD trucks don't have an actual injection pump. Navistar last put them on the 7.3L IDI back in early 94. Without knowing the history of the truck I'd be VERY wary of that truck. 240k is ALOT of miles and at that point the reliability comes into play. With proper maintenance it wouldn't be a problem, but the PSD was/is suceptable to quite a few problems.

Coolant issues:
Due to the design of the engine it requires an addative to be added to the coolant to prevent cavitation in the system. This SCA (supplemental coolant addative) needs to be checked/maintained at regular intervals. There is a sweet spot to the present levels. Too little and you get cavitation, too much and its effectiveness goes down. If you are intent on buying it go to the navistar dealer and buy some test strips and test for SCA. If there is alot in the system he most likely dumped a bunch in right before the sale. If there is very little its most likely not been maintained. When it cavitates the small bubbles burst and create more or less a tiny shockwave through the system damaging the block over time. Luckily the newer PSD trucks are a little more resistant to this than the older 7.3L IDI trucks were.

Sand in the coolant can also be present. There really isn't any good way to check for this, but this is whats left over from blasting the engine right after casting. Over time it circulates the truck and wears out water pumps, seals, and everything else the coolant touches. Most of it gets flushed out with each flush, but there is almost always some residue left. Some of the silicate SCAs will leave sand behind so a coolant filter is a must on the truck. Don't be suprised if after you get it you end up replacing the water pump and other seals. This isn't a guarantee, but very possible.

Injector issues:
Typically after about that many miles the injectors may or may not have problems, depending on maintenance again. Its imperative that they have enough lubrication while operating. If it was run out of fuel or gelled and was cranked for extended periods the injector barrels may be scored resulting in poor operation. There are quite a few trucks with injectors running very high mileage so this all comes down to maintenance. This is where periodically adding a fuel addative such as Standadyne or Power Service will help keep the lubricity of the fuel up. Luckily you can have them rebuilt and upgraded for less than $1000.

Oil issues:
The heart of the PSD is the high pressure oil pump (hpop). This is what drives the injectors and actually injects the fuel into the cylinder. There is no mechancial injection pump on a PSD like there is on a Cummins. Since the oil is used in this fashion its CRITICAL that the correct oil and change intervals were used. The oil at the injectors typically runs anywhere from 2000-3000psi. There are very specific requirements that the oil must meet and oils such as motorcraft, Delo, and Rotella (though I've heard foaming issues with the Rotella). If the previous owner wasn't using the right oil and changing at good intervals it may have worn out the hpop or injectors from improper viscosity or foaming. The best setup is either Motorcraft by itself or Delo/Rotella with a Navistar antifoam addative. I would also have an oil sample taken and sent to Blackstone labs for analysis. This will show if there is any accelerated bearing wear and will help identify problems before they arise. If you do buy it I would do an oil analysis every 10k with changes every 5k. Its not uncommon for a neglected truck to need the hpop replaced.

Fuel issues:
Lastly we're onto fuel issues. Its not uncommon for a higher mileage truck to have its fuel pump die on it. This typically happens in the 150k to 200k range. If the truck has been gelled or run out of fuel is when the damage occurs, because like the injectors the pump needs the fuel for lubrication. Also with the 99-03 trucks the mixing chamber in the tank and the quick connect fittings from the tank to the pump have been notorious for leaking air into the system. This damages both the injectors (most damage) and the fuel pump (not as much as the injectors). The lower the tank is the more air is ingested. Alot of PSD guys won't run their tanks under 1/2 because of this. If this guy regularly ran it to E then theres a higher chance for damage occuring.

Transmission issues:
If this truck is an auto I would be ready to replace it soon. Most don't even make it to 100k so its most likely not original and if it is don't plan on it lasting long. They do last, but not usually. Check the fluid level when hot for any burnt smell and the correct level. It should also be bright red in color. It can also take on a rotten smell if its burnt. If its towed regularly or heavy it should never have exceeded 25k change intervals. The 4R100 CAN be a very strong tranny, but it requires (like the engine) alot of regular maticulous maintenance.

Fluids:
Be prepared to change every single fluid on the truck including engine oil (14qts), coolant (7gal), transmission (20qts), transfer case (3qts I think), and both diffs (about 3-4 qts between them).



It can be a good truck, but to avoid alot of repairs on your part its going to have needed ALOT of regular maintenance. My advice is if you can't get a good idea on its history I'd pass. I got a good history on mine and I've still had to do alot of repairs. Whew........I'm tired.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by powerstroke73
[B]Umm......PSD trucks don't have an actual injection pump. Navistar last put them on the 7.3L IDI back in early 94.

correctomundo!! don't know what the heck i was thinking, gues i was thinking about injectors and injector pumps rolled off my finger tips two.. i need to start proof reading i guess
Good catch powerstroke 73 you are the Powerstroke expert on this site!!