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first purchace

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#1 ·
Few questions here,
I just found a 1997 powerstroke in a f-250 its got the auto, 4X4, ex cab, 150,000 miles, he claims he has ALL maint records, since day one he is original owner, it has 8ft bed, cloth seats, carpet floor, power everything, 100% stock as far as I can tell except for an electronic brake controller wich is in there from pulling a 20-25ft camper, he claims it was all highway miles, it was a business truck they did some tree sience or something like that ??? traveled the general region and studied trees, so along with the camper there was a few pieces of lab equipt that went along .
The visual condition is 95% perfect, there is a half dollar sized dent in the front bumper, and very small burn in back seat, under carrage is dry no stains or wet spots anywhere. Also he says the trans was rebuilt about a year ago.

Here is the deal this will be my first diesel purchase, the ranger I currently drive is just killing me on fuel, 2.3 liter, 4x4, 200,000mi stock geared, 29” boggs adds up to a terrible 11MPG, and that’s with no load.. and obviously worse and dangerous with a load (2quads, sometimes a car), so here it is

Now for the questions:
He is wanting $10,500 I think I can get it for $9500 is this worth it? (I understand its hard to tell without being there but hey)

the last diesel I drove was also a 97 it was also auto but seemed to hit kinda hard going into 2nd and while cruising at 40-70mph if I let off gas and got back into it it kinda sorta thumped… dealer said that’s normal on a truck that has sat he says it just needs a good 100mile cruise, sounded fishy so I turned it down… but is this really normal?

Being my first diesel purchace what else should I look for? Remember I have never turned a wrench ona diesel so all the help you have is great.

What kinda fuel mileage should I expect (sorry not sure on the gear but lets say 3.73) as this is my major reason for the purchase I drive approx 50-150 miles a day depending on school day or not. Can I get 18MPG from it?

And one more ?.... with 150k miles is this getting high for this particular motor?

Sorry for the babbling but I need your help thanks!

Chris
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to the site:Thumbup: first the price is realy up to you,not looking at the truck is hard to judge. that does not sound normal at all on the tranny deal. dealers will say anything to get a sale! telling you what kind of mpg it will get is hard to,thier are alot of gray areas,the condition of the engine-tranny-front & rear diffs and things like that. it should get way better than the 11 you are getting now. taking a geuss id say 14-18 mpg depending on conditions above and how you drive. as for the 150k dont let that scare you,i have seen a few go to 300k and still run fine. the best advice i can give is take it for a test drive and have a shop or someone who knows 7.3s run a diagnostic test,have them do an injector test and cyl con test. ask them to look at the undercarage so you can make a educated decision.:Thumbup:
 
#3 ·
hey well thanks for the help! yea the guy wanted to be with his mother so i could not meet up this weekend but i told him i will be there monday! again thanks for the fast response and the help!
 
#4 ·
If the truck is in good condition that is a fair price. The dealer and trans story was typical dealer BS. Ask or have the coolant SCA level checked, the 150k mi. should be a non-issue. If the stock air filter box is still being used then pull the rubber hose off of the turbo intake, check for grit inside the hose and in the turbo. Oily residue is OK just nothing gritty. Ask how much the trans rebuild cost, if it is under $3000 then it was a cheap "soft parts" rebuild.
Here is a good site with section on what to look for in a diesel purchase.
http://pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/_import/pages.prodigy.net/stevebaz/index3.html
 
#5 ·
hey thanks a lot for the info... just got back from taking it for a spin, feels great! did fint a couple scratches though... nothing major, drove real nice, straight all met my expectations, not sure what gear it has but he claims that if he keeps it under 2000RPM it gets 17 on highway (55-65mph) but if he drives it cruising at 80 (over 2kRPM it) he only gets about 15, and he used it to tow a camper and also a skid steer on occasion, he says that when he tows the skid steer he pulled out 11MPG on highway at 55mph....

as i stated before its all stock but it does have brake controller and he also has a hyper chips programmer he hooked to it when he got the trans done, said it helped a lot as for towing, i am farmilliar with the programmers but not positive. he claims all it does is change shift points not really nothing for power... so i dunno. seemed good, did not burn any oil on takeoff (haha and trust me i took off) just a lil black smoke but nothing major very thin cloud.

man i hope this thing is a good truck, i never buy used so it just gets me nervous but i cant afford a brand new truck at the time and plan on buying a house so $40k is out of the picture pretty much till retirement.
 
#6 ·
also as for the 150k miles, well i know thats nothing major on a diesel motor but what about trans, rearend, other stuff like that, if i could get 5 years and oh say 100k miles of not trouble i will be perfectly happy
 
#7 ·
well i told the bank that someone beat me to the deposit and told the guy that i found one in columbus that was a lot cheaper... well a week has passed and i drove there tonight and its still there... so i called him and left him a message and said that the deal in columbus fell through and i see that he still has it sitting there... well i told him (little white lie) that my cousin is a diesel tech and that he checked it out and valued it at 8500.... so hopefully that will work out! just could not decide if i really wanted another debt or not but i think if i can get it for 8500 than i have worked a hell of a deal! guess we will see

and no my cuz. is not a diesel tech he is just a red neck with a flashlight haha
 
#9 ·
Slacker said:
Aren't we all.

ok i will admit.... it was my flashlight.

anyways drove there today and it was still there so its been 3 weeks, guy acted like he was in such a hurry to get rid of it lol.... this tim ehe had it hitched up to his skid steer, so i dunno maybe he decided to keep it, but than again the sign was still in it....
 
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