New to Diesel, Help w/ buying Ford 94 F250 7.3 Turbo Non Powerstk

[ebhall]

1994 Ford F250 XLT 2WD ext cab longbed 7.3 Turbo Diesel. Automatic W/OD, cold AC, PW, PL, PS, PB, tilt, cruise, AM FM w/CD, rear slider, new Firestone tires, black with gray cloth interior. Has a fifth wheel type setup. Runs very strong and drives well!

This is the add description. I'm going to look at the truck in the morning. I am just going to use it for towing a fifth wheel, but would like to be able to trust it on occasional long trips 1200 mile.
The truck has 260,000 miles. Assuming I don't get alot on previous maintainance what should I be initially concerned with. I think he wants around 3000.00 for the truck? Any thoughts or suggestions on this subject would be appreciated.
Thanks [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/phoney.gif[/img]

[Greg77]

The $3000 part is reasonable if its in good shape. Just find out what it was used for. It sounds like it may have been used to pull a trailer over the road. Make sure it has good oil pressure and either drive it or let it run for a while to see that it doesn't start going down. The transmission either has been gone thru or will need to be gone thru. Find out what work has been done and the overall appearance of the truck. If it's clean and not a bunch of oil leaks chances are it's been taken care off. If he can't or won't tell you about oil useage and what work has been done I'd probably walk away unless it's an outstanding looking truck. At 260,000 a lot of things will need to be fixed if it hasn't had good maintenance. If you have to take it to a shop to have the work done you will start hating the truck real fast. Take off the oil filler cap with the truck running and check to see how much blowby the engine has.

[wtom24]

At least ask about whether the cooling system has sca's in it and for how long. See how well it cranks hot, and look for obvious oil and fuel leaks. With that low price you can't go wrong, even if you end up spending 2 or 3 thousand to rebuild the engine or 1500 on the transmission. That's the setup I wish I had, mine is non-turbo.

[icanfixall]

Is this the original motor without a rebuild? Check the motor serial numbers to see if its really a turbo motor. Just because its the turbo 94 year truck it could be a replacement motor. The turbo serial numbers are 1.116.331 and go up from there. Anything lower than that and I say walk away. Someone isn't telling you something or they don't know much about the truck because they bought it from someone and now is trying to sell it to you. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img]