Opinions..

[Jspafford]

Hey All,
Last June I traded in my 2001 Ranger for a 2002 F-250 4x4 Ext Cab Short Bed Super Duty. I however made a mistake and now I feel cheated.. I am sure you know what the mistake was... I bought one with the 5.4L V-8.

I noticed the day after I got it how much fuel it used and I called the dealer (non ford) and told him I was disappointed in it. He insisted I try filling it up and driving it ove the upcoming week to make sure... Little did I know that was so my being able to take the truck back would be out of the question!

So here I am, stuck with a truck that is no where near as peppy as my 4.0L
4x4 Ranger was, and I get on average 11MPG. My family has 2 Travel Trailers.. One is a 29' that weights 6950empty, and the other is a 31' that weights 6400 empty. I towed them both at the end of the season and was highly disappointed. Yeah, the truck did the 50 mile trip, but I used half a tank of fuel and thought on a few hills the engine was going to wind itself out from under the hood!

I am on the lookout for a used Diesel since I now owe 3K more on the truck i have than what it is worth! My limit is about 21K for a used Diesel. I don't think I can afford a 6.0L, but from what I hear the 7.3L is tried and true.

Can you guys give me some advice on what to look for and what years to stay away from. I would like a 2002 and up because of the new dash clusters, but I know I can't be choosy!

Thanks for all the opinions, advice!

 

[rgdillon]

. . . now I feel cheated.. I am sure you know what the mistake was... I bought one with the 5.4L V-8.

I'm sure that sucks! I had one as a loaner when my truck was in for service - damn thing couldn't get out of it's own way

Buying a used diesel can be an adventure - esp since you don't know how it was taken care of. Diesel's are beasts that love to work - but not be abused. Anyway - as for years I would look for 02 and early 03's in a 7.3. Don't be taken in by the "tried and trued" statements - the 7.3's had their share of problems - I know - I had one. Also it takes a bit of money to get them to run anywhere nears a stock 6.0

The very first thing that you need to do when you find a truck you like is take the VIN number to your local Ford dealer and ask them very nicely to run an Oasis report. This will tell you lots about the truck.

If the truck had a programmer on it - it would be hard to tell. Easier to tell if it had a chip in it - but you would need to inspect the PCM. If the truck has gauges installed on the A pillar - it most likely had a chip/programmer. I would shy away from a truck that had anything installed - again because you don't know how it was cared for or driven.

Anyway - I'm sure others will chime in on somethings to look for.

Good luck with your search.

Ron

 

[ranger boy]

I'm sure that sucks! I had one as a loaner when my truck was in for service - damn thing couldn't get out of it's own way

Buying a used diesel can be an adventure - esp since you don't know how it was taken care of. Diesel's are beasts that love to work - but not be abused. Anyway - as for years I would look for 02 and early 03's in a 7.3. Don't be taken in by the "tried and trued" statements - the 7.3's had their share of problems - I know - I had one. Also it takes a bit of money to get them to run anywhere nears a stock 6.0

The very first thing that you need to do when you find a truck you like is take the VIN number to your local Ford dealer and ask them very nicely to run an Oasis report. This will tell you lots about the truck.

If the truck had a programmer on it - it would be hard to tell. Easier to tell if it had a chip in it - but you would need to inspect the PCM. If the truck has gauges installed on the A pillar - it most likely had a chip/programmer. I would shy away from a truck that had anything installed - again because you don't know how it was cared for or driven.

Anyway - I'm sure others will chime in on somethings to look for.

Good luck with your search.

Ron

couldn't have said it better by my own damn self


definently don't buy anything with any "advancements" to the engine, I even bought my truck new because I didn't want to buy a diesel that was hurt (even though 90% of them are perfectly fine)

 

[dag]

Agree with all above

JSPafford - I cannot tell what area of the country you live in - just a note -
I just recently bought diesel Ex - found it in Colorado

Check out Autotrader.com or a bunch of other sites to get an idea
I wouldn't buy anything from the snow belt (ie. Rust Belt)

Maybe one of the 5 million Texans on this site can hook you up

dag

 

[Jspafford]

Unfortunatly, I live in one of those states. I am in Ohio. So I will probably get a rust bucket no matter what. I can't go cross country to get a truck because I have a trade in.. So I am stuck with Local places. I scour Autotrader, but they don't have much at this time! Any other used car sites you all know of?

 

[W4RLR]

You can get an OASIS report if you can't get a cooperative dealer or tech by logging onto the Motorcraft site at www.motorcraft.com and going to the technical resourses option on the top right hand side of the screen. Purchase a subscription option and create a user name and password. I subscribed to the publications for my specific year and model truck for a short term, it cost less than $10. You will see an option to enter your VIN for an OASIS report. This was an added surprise when I was doing some last minute research for my satellite radio install article.