GRM, meet tow piglet

See, occasionally I do listen and follow advice on here . In this case, the advice on buying a better tow rig to replace my '93 F150 was essentially to get the best condition, cheapest F250 I could find for my budget. That turned out to be a tall order around here as decent trucks cost a lot of money even if they're old and the 99-01 F250 V10s were either well used up, badly used up or had other issues. Anyway, I found this after some searching and a drive along the not-yet-loneliest-road-in-America (US50 to Fallon):

96 F250, only 300k, looks like 2 owners from new. The PO had it for 14 years but it didn't see much use in the last few years as he couldn't fit is family in there. Pretty hard to fit wife, dog and three kids in one and not get pulled over.

So why the heck did I end up spending good money on an F250 that's only 3 years younger than my F150 and has double the miles on it?

In one picture:

Yep, it's 7.3 Powerstroke. When I originally looked at the truck I really liked it, but it took quite some cranking to get it going. I suspected that it needed glow plugs and the PO offered to take it to their mechanic. Initially they didn't find any problems but after some more searching they found a minor fuel leak that was enough to leak down fuel pressure when it wasn't running. Mechanic fixed it and it starts like a champ now.

The good thing is that it appears to be completely stock other than a brake controller and the camper shell. It definitely hasn't been tuned to roll coal, which is a notorious problem out here with older diesels.

So what does it need? Probably an oil change, although the PO mentioned that he had the oil changed at 300k and it's on 302k now. But even at 15qt of oil or something it'd still be cheap piece of mind knowing that it's got fresh Rotella sloshing in around in the engine. Oh, and of course the other usual fluids like brake fluid etc.

What are you doing with the 150? Been thinking about getting a truck, and you're closer to me than 99% of the rest of GRMers.

EvanR wrote: What are you doing with the 150? Been thinking about getting a truck, and you're closer to me than 99% of the rest of GRMers.

It's for sale right now. One potential issue for you is that I never smogged it so I have no idea if it will or not. All of the emissions gear is in place, although i think it'll need a new evap canister and the a/c needs looking at as it'll work for a while before cutting out.

Diesel dawg with 300k.....just barely broken in, great find! Is it a manual perchance?

In reply to BoxheadTim:

PM me details, please. Is the CEL on?

In reply to 759NRNG:

Automatic, just in case my wife has to drive it.

In reply to EvanR:

Will do a bit later on. No CEL and yes, the bulb works

Cool. Congrats.

Welcome to the club. Oil and fuel filter change are a good idea. Those are the life of these engines. Also go ahead and buy a motorcraft CPS sensor to keep in the glove box. Look into the lubricity additive of your choice, i run twc3 outboard oil at 1oz per gallon. The lubricity of diesel was much higher when these were built. Current ultra low sulphur diesel can cause a lot of injector wear.

Good find. These are getting rare in unmolested condition.

Oh, wait. If it's a '93, it only has to pass smog once and then I can plate it as a "Classic Vehicle". Bonus!

In reply to EvanR:

Forgot about that. 93 still doesn't feel that "classic" to me.

BTW, you should have a PM.

has the trans been rebuilt? Did the previous owner have records of any trans work?

that is the weak link in those trucks, which I'm sure you are aware of.

Trans has been rebuilt (albeit a while ago), as has the front end. If this thing turns into a keeper I'm not opposed to having the trans done again as the shifts are pretty soft and I'd prefer more decisive shifts for towing.

Trans in mine has never been out that I know of. It's a little balky day to day but it actually shifts a LOT better when I'm towing or otherwise loaded. I plan on flushing it and switching to Mercon V+ synthetic some day...

my last OBS Powerstroke had 490K when i retired it, and that was to upgrade to a slightly newer cummins, i towed a RockCrawler rig and spare parts with mine. never gave me a lick of issue.

Not much to report, which is kind of what I was hoping for. It needed a little work as the steering links and front brakes were well used up, so I had my local mechanic do that work due to lack of time at my end. Now it steers reasonably for an old truck rather than an ocean liner with a drunk helmsman in a heavy gale.

It's not so keen on starting in the colder weather, which was kind of expected - the glow plugs have about 100k on them according to the PO so I'll have to find the patience and time to at least test them and the relay. At least the relay still appears to click.

The autumn weather also highlighted that the thermostat had decided to take a permanent vacation as it was running pretty cold; the temperature gauge needle would barely make it into the bottom of the 'normal' range most days and the heater was rather decorative. Because I can't leave anything completely stock anymore - seems to be a bad habit I picked up on here - it now sports a Dieselsite billet thermostat housing with their 203F thermostat. Made a big difference, as the heater now appears to be working properly and as expected, the motor sounds a lot happier when running at full operating temperature.

Oh, and along the way I also learned that the diesel world appears to be very similar to the rotary world in the sense of having a ton of special ointments available for the motors...

They like it hot.  Not cold.  My '99 runs best when the outside temperature is above 90.  When it's below 30 and I don't allow it to warm up (happened a couple of times when I was late), it will barely back up the driveway under its own power.  When the temp gauge starts to register it runs normally again.

 Good looking Truck, though the room In the Cab Looks like's like plenty for a Dog and Driver, I mean isn't the camper  plenty for the Kids and person responsible for having them.  so No Problem !