Ford Pickup = "Found On Road Dead"

[hobbyfarm]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

I had an uncle who got over 400,000 miles out of a 300 inline six in an E150 van.

Most of the mechanics around these parts drive Chevy. Even the line mechanics who work at the Ford dealer!

I love it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Me, I drive a Dodge Ram, the closest thing to a Mercedes pickup! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Nasty135]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My wife currently has a Lincoln Town House )</font> <font color="blue"> </font> Now that is funny!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

My advice is to jack up the radiator cap and park a new truck underneath it... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Hey, We have a 1986 CHEBY astro van with 308,000 miles on it 4.3 v6 never had a valve cover off,no timing chains etc, just oil changes every 3k. We did however just pull the trans about 8months ago for a rebuild,the pump gave out... It has been a goodin'...

Vroom Vroom ....

 

[slowrev]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

The 300 inline six is a GOOD engine, perhaps the best Ford ever made. No complaints there from me. If I got a Ford pickup it would be with the 300 and a manual bulldog tranny.

Ben

 

[hobbyfarm]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had an uncle who got over 400,000 miles out of a 300 inline six in an E150 van. )</font>

BTW,
That van was originally a phone company truck for about 200,000 miles. Who knows how they treated it.

 

[JimR]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Holy socks Jim, how often do you look under the hood of your car? It would sure seem there would be signs that things are rusting. I know that when I was doing some work back in Maine I was amazed at the condition of the cars there and it wasn't limited to Ford for sure. I was driving from California, a 1963 truck, no rust at all, folks thought it was amazing. I got out of there before winter. It's scary what happens to vehilces back East. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

PS I changed the plugs on my 98 van at 101,000 miles and got them out not only easily but was amazed at how little the electrodes had worn. The van was a Ford. )</font>

I bought this truck a few months ago. It was the best that I could find used out of 6 pickups. The rest of them, ALL FORDS, were in much worse shape for the same or more money than what I paid for this one. Salt is a big issue up here. So I will go on to say that none of my 3 Chevy Blazers that I owned have had these types of problems. All 3 of them had plows on them. The first I sold with 137K on it. The second had 175K on it. I puled the second trucks motor with 165K because the wife spun the crank bearings after an oil line broke. All of the bolts came out when I pulled it. That truck was a 1995. So GM must be doing something right. That was about 2-3 years ago. I personally think Ford is using cheap metal in their truck motors. None of my 3 Chevy S10's had any engine block, cylinder head or exhaust manifold rot like this POS has. My local recycler told me that mine wa much better than some of the ones he has seen. I got my used valve cover from him today. Well it's time to get back to my motor fun.

 

[_RaT_]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

It's interesting how many people must come from the East or the Midwest even and buy used vehicles out here. I see license plates on vehilces from all over back there pulling a flatbed trailer with an older vehicle on it to presumably take home. Anything from the 50's, 60's or even 70's on the trailer. Theres no doubt, they all last longer without the salt, something you just don't worry much about out here.

 

[Nasty135]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

JimR, My stepson bought an old Nova from a guy local and after getting it home found a ton of rust front to back even inside under the rear seats /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gifand then we noticed on the title it was a Massachusettes car....Ugh!!! Bad rust...

Hobby,

Well the phone company used to change the oil every 3k and had a very good maintenance routine, But just this year they have gone from 3k to 7k changes in my region /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif,

Even if the driver was hard on it ,it was maintained well by the mechanics, most of the guys didn't abuse them though, just a few knuckle heads

So beware of those auctions from here on out, at least in the old bell atlantic foot print.... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Dargo]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( No real Ford fan here neither, My wife currently has a Lincoln Town House /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )</font>

Hey, I have one of those cop cars with icing! Or, is it a taxi cab with accessories?! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Anyway, I've gotten 250k on each before burying them. Don't take that wrong, I am about as disloyal to any auto brand as possible. I own at least 1 of each of the following; Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, VW, Lincoln, Toyota, and Honda. That pretty well covers the spectrum.

Anyway, on the Ford 5.4 liter engines, if you happen to own a 1999 model, tighten your spark plugs if they haven't been spit out yet. For a long run during 1999 Ford only had the plugs slightly more than finger tight on tens of thousands of 5.4 liter engines that went into their pickups and Expeditions. Once the plugs work their way about half way out, compression blows them the rest of the way out. You cannot helicoil the aluminum heads, and a set of heads will run you between $1500 and $1800 bucks! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Other than that issue, I'm not aware of any specific problems with the Ford 5.4 engine.

 

[Junkman]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

I have installed heli coils in the aluminum heads of Corvairs many times without any problems. Properly installed, they last forever.

 

[HGM]

Re: Ford Pickup = \"Found On Road Dead\"

Well guys, everyone has their opinion as to what they see.. Dargo hit it on the head about the torque. Unfortunatly it wasnt limited to the 5.4L though. The problem was magnified due to the thread depth on the plugs, even the Motorcraft plugs have been changed to maintain more thread contact with the head. It is not a recomended practice, however the head can be Helicoiled. I personally know of many in the Atlanta area that have them. The tech that is doing it has saved many people the expence of new heads. Again, it is how they are installed and how the guy that does the next tune up installs the plugs. Alot of these issues come in with new plugs that werent torqued.

Although its slightly off topic,Nasty also made a very important point about the maintenance, if you let any component sit in the heavily salted air,water,dirt,whatever, it will rust... So the idea of a 100,000mi tune up on the cars in the NE area would probably be a bad thing. I'm not going to solve the Ford-Chevy-Dodge thing, dont even want to get into it, I'm just trying to help explain the situations I have seen personally. Your's may be different. I got 150k mi on the plugs in my '00 Ranger, change the oil every 7k miles, have no rust,sludge or driveability issues and get 23 miles to the gallon.. I cant complain.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif