[jpbart]

New to Diesel Trucks:
I am looking at a 2003 F350 Dually XLT
178,000 miles on a 7.3L Turbo-Diesel
2 wheel drive, hitch & 5th wheel hitch in 8 ft. bed.
New rear tires fronts OK a bit worn.
PRICE $ 13,500

Was used to haul a trailer of plastic pipe and maintained in company shop. Appears well maintained but now that I found this list I am going to look again.
I am looking to get an RV in a few years, tow a trailer and this is the 1st. step. This truck will be a daily commute to work driver also.

Questions: How likely are these trucks if reasonably serviced to go past 500K on the clock? (I know no grantees but I an new to diesels)

Does this price appear reasonable?

Any advice or comments are welcome and are appreciated. Please feel free to impress me with your knowledge and expertise about these trucks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Thanks, Jim

 

[Tobysdad]

First of all CONDITION is everything. If it is clean and appears to be well cared for, it should give good service.

Check the trans fluid for color and odor. It should be bright pink and not smell burnt. Look under the truck for leaks. Ask to see the service records. If you are buying it from the owner, ask for copies of the service records with the sale documents.

Drive it on surface streets and on the highway, paying attention to shifts and any handling quirks.

Good luck and come back to this forum with any questions you may have after a closer inspection.

Bud

 

[ryaneverk2]

Another quick test is to remove the intake boot from between the air filter and the turbo inlet. Look inside the boot/tube for any signs of dust or dirt, and also have a look/feel of the turbo blades... should not be pitted or damaged, but straight and sharp. Dirty intake or damaged turbo blades means poor filtering, and over many miles that can damage the engine.

 

[wandrews]

The engine will be strongest part of the package.

The automatic tranny (if so equiped) is the weakest link. If I was going to buy a truck with that many miles, I'd figure the price of a new tranny ($3000+) into the asking price and then determine if it's a good deal. At $13,500, it sounds pretty good for an '03.

One other area where high milage trucks (especially older 2wd duallies) seem to have problems is the ball joints. How are the front tires wearing? If worn more on one side than the other could indicate alignment problems. If you can, jack up the front end and see if you can wobble the tires. If so, the ball joints could be bad. These are probably OK on an '03, but say a 99-01 with close to 200K miles, it'd be more likely.

 

[leonardo4760]

What Ryan said is a MUST!!! I'm new to diesels too and my biggest mistake was not knowing what to look for. I only got 3000 miles out of mine. Now I'm in the middle of pulling the engine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Here is a picture of my intake wheel
Check out the intake boot. Mine had a crack in it right at the turbo inlet (Sorry no pic cus I threw it away). It will have a little oil in it do to the crank case vent (ccv), but it should not be gritty (not dirt).
Check the airfilter box lid for cracked tabs.
If it's been well taken care of and clean inside and out then it sounds like a good deal.