[cgubera]

Wanted a good truck that would last and I took a chance on an 84 Ford F250 4 speed 4x4 that the guy claimed has 34k miles on it. He said he bought it from the original owner who was an older gentleman who broke his back at work and ended up getting a newer truck that had an automatic in it after he healed up so his wife just drove it around town. There are reasons to be skeptical for sure like the wear on the brake pedals and the seat seems shot. The truck was obviously left out in the yard and the sun can do a lot of damage to the seat/paint though not the pedals. I know I took a chance in believing this guy and I ran the CarFax and there were no obvious mileage hijinx. Anyway I'm crossing my fingers....

Since I am totally new to diesels I was wondering a few things:

1. Where is the best place to get the owners manual? Is it useful for that year of Ford?

2. It turns about 3,000rpm at 60mph on the freeway in 4th gear. This can't be good as I saw on the Banks Turbo site that it makes max tourque at around 2,000 rpms. I saw a couple comments for GearVendors Overdrive. What is that and would it be worth it for me or should I just drive really slow? I would like to keep mods under $1500 total.

3. I bought this truck as a 3rd car but I do want to be able to drive it 400 miles to go fishing or whatever. Are there a list of suggested upgrades for these that give it better mileage or power that aren't too expensive? Budget for playing with it is only $1500 for now.

4. Anything else I should know about diesels in general or this truck? Anything to watch out for? I was going to have the fluids changed right away but without the manual I don't even know what stuff to put in. I will probably take it to a mechanic the first time to get it all checked out.

5. Speaking of mechanics I live in Alameda, CA and was wondering if I can take this to my regular mechanic or do I need a good diesel specialty shop?

Knowledge base so far: The guy told also me that if you replace one glow plug, replace them all along with two other things that are easy to find (switches maybe?). He said they all work together as a circut and it doens't make sense since they are cheap and easy to replace one at a time. He also said to wait for the glowplug light to go off before starting it which is pretty basic but literally that is all I know.

Any guidance would be appreciated....

Thanks....

CG

 

[BuilderBob]

You have much to learn,
Learn to use the search function, every question has been asked before, nothing has been "not covered".
Question #1 E-bay, buy it on CD ROM, under $20.
Question #2 Are you made of money? Any over drive is pricey and the payback period is so long that savings will never be-re cooped. Just do the math.
Question #3 There are no cheap mods, this is not a small block chevy.
Drive it, take good care of it, keep driving it.
Question #4,5
Do the maintience yourself, search the previous post for info, look around for good deals on oil/filter, get underneath the truck look for leaks, check levels, it is not rocket science, although some garages want you to think so. Don't pay to have it checked out, give your money to poor people, you will like it better.

Replace your own GP's, 2 hours, you'll learn alot, and have some fun. Otherwise it will be $300, you won't learn diddly squat.

BB

PS, A truck that is 21 yr's old and has 34,000 miles, I have my doubts.
Reminds of the time a middle aged woman told be she was a virgin, 2 kids, but still a virgin.

I don't think so

Good Luck and welcome

 

[beretzs]

Sounds like you have 4.10 gears in your truck. If that is the case and the rest of the truck runs well. I would put your money towards swapping out the gears to 3.55's or maybe a tad lower if you can get them. You probably will not tow much and the 3.55's will be much nicer for traveling on the California highways. Bob is right about not getting your money back for awhile with an OD. Just regear it, probably a 1000 bucks and you will really like cruising in the truck then. Change your oil, new air filter, fuel filter.. Then if you need to put 8 new Motorcraft glow plugs in. That should keep the truck happy and it should be an excellent rig for fishing and you could still tow 5000lbs without really worrying too much. 3.55's are the key to better mileage, and that should put you around 2400RPMS at 70.. Pretty nice for average driving. Should put you in the 16 or MPG range. Good luck. Hope you get it worked out. As long as everything is up to snuff, 1500 is a pretty good budget to get that truck back into shape. Scotty

 

[jdkline]

Well welcome to the brotherhood......could be he's lying or he could be shooting straight with you. You say the brake pedal is wearing.....what do you mean by this? The brakes themselves or the pedal is worn out. It probably doesn't matter that much teh mileage if you like teh truck 134K or even 234K miles might be nothing if it was well cared for. I'll agree with Scotty, get sopme 3.55s unless you regularly tow over 5K lbs. Its cheaper and easier if you know how to do your own work if you can get a whole axle with 3.55s already in it. Doesn't have to be off a diesel. With teh T19 and 3.55s you shoulkd be in the 16-20MPG empty and 12-16 towing range. WIth 4.10s I'm at about 13-17 empty and 10-13 towing. A word of wisdom about teh glow plugs, find a post by Ziggster40 and read the glow plug removal article in his sig before trying to change them. If they break off they can do great harm to the motor. You probably should go to a manual momentary button or toggle switch or either convert to the later solid state system. the stock 6.9 system is known to have a lot of failures. Good luck,
J.D.

 

[Zrob]

Lets not forget about Mel's foolproof pushbutton system. If your electricly inclinded, It's a great home made setup.

 

[agnem]

If the pedals are worn, I'm thinkin 134K. I've never seen pedals wear in just 34K, unless it was a UPS truck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[cgubera]

Thanks for all the great feedback. Just what I was looking for. Hey if he just replaced all the glowplugs within the last 1000 miles should I still go ahead and replace them all? I will look into the 3.55 and I ordered a Blackstone kit for the oil to check that out. Thanks again and I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Chris

 

[icanfixall]

What plugs were used 1000 miles ago? If they were not Beru Motorcraft that are sold by Ford and Nappa I would replace them. Autolite and Champion are the worst plugs by far. Most here will agree with that.

 

[mgraveman]

my old chevy has good wear on the pedal at 37k, but it has manual brakes. Probably has more. Also, a five speed conversion may not be too bad.

 

[beretzs]

Just pull one of the glowplugs, if it is not a motorcraft gp, replace them all, I know it sounds like a waste of money, but it will be a huge investment in not haveing to ever get a swelled gp out of your head and the motorcrafts seem to last a long time. Scotty