Other than a worn out piece of crap that will nickel and dime me to death, what kind of diesel can I expect to get for $5,000 or less?

I've been asking some questions on various diesel forums trying to figure out what kind of truck I'm going to buy next. I've been beating around the bush basically. I've gotten a few replies, some have been helpful, and some haven't. I'm not trying to be rude, or impolite, I'm just trying to cut the crap and ask what I should have to begin with.

I know very little about diesels. I know text book stuff about how an engine works, and I've worked on my 300 straight 6 to keep it running. I'm on my second straight 6 now ('94 w 218K miles), and I could kill what ever bone head that decided that Ford should stop making them. The only naturally harmonically balanced engine design ever created. Idiots! I ran the thing out of oil twice, and then put another 100K miles on it. Unfortunatly, this truck will not survive the winter, so I'm going to have to get another.

I have a toddler in the house, and we are trying for a second one, so my next truck will need to be an extended cab. I use my truck, and beat the crap out of it, but I don't make a living with it like a lot of you do. I drive it about 50 miles a day for work, haul my firewood, pull a few logs (maybe an occasional tree) out of a ravine so that I can cut it, haul a few dead dear every year, put a dog box in the back on occasion, get stuck in a snow bank (need to upgrade to a 4x4), and haul a small camper (6000lb max rating, but most likely 3000 lbs fully loaded) a few times a year. I do the regular maintenance (change oil, grease the U joints....) and I drive 15K to 20K a year. I drive my trucks until they die on me. Then I beg, borrow, and think about stealing in order to get them running again, and drive them some more. I treat my truck like an Amish man treats his horse. I don't trick my truck out, I just make it a useful tool. I don't need the power of a tricked out diesel, but the long life span and durability would be a plus for me. Besides, I've always thought that all trucks should be diesels, just never been in a situation where buying one was an option.

So, tell it to me straight. Can a reliable diesel 4x4 extended cab be purchased for less than $5000 without having to spend thousands more to repair it? If so, what are your recommendations, and if its not too much to ask, why?

Thanks,
Mark

 

you will have to look hard

 

a good relieable 4x4 extended cab would be kinda hard to find for under 5,000. if u find one under it will probably need some stuff done to it or have 300,000 miles on it. there are some out there that someone might not know what there value is, but they are far a few between. for 5,000 i would look at a 1st gen dodge, or a f-250/35 from the late 80's to early to mid 90's. good luck with your search.

 

Well for under 5k you can probably find a a somewhat clean 6.9/7.3 IDI(stands for Indirect Injection) these were put int ford F-250s and F-350s from 83-94, in the latter years the had turbos on them. If your looking for reliability, cost effectiveness, and something that is easy to maintain look no further.

One reason the IDI is such an amazing motor is that it is all mechanical, the only computer in that truck would be for the E4OD transmission, which came along later in the production.

The IDI isn't the strongest motor in the world. Mines an 87 and it is only rated for 170hp and 320ftlb. But if you add a turbo, open uptur exhaust and intake a bit you'll have a solid truck that will keep up with the PSDs. For around 5k you can probably find a clean extended cab, for possibly a crew cab, with 4wd. If it were me I'd stay away from the 83-86, but that's just me, the reason being is the head gaskets from 83-85 weren't very good, so more then likely your gonna have to redo them, 86 is when they changed the desgn of the gaskets. Also because the 83-86 and a screw in style Glow Plug Controller, this unit was prone to burning out and staying in the on position thus causing the GPs to burn out. They fixed this problem in mid 87 when the started installing the 7.3s style solid state GP controller. But if your looking at the 7.3L IDI be very careful due to the fact that the 7.3 is prone to Cavitation due to the thinner cylinder walls then the 6.9(7.3 is a 6.9 block bored over)

When you goto look at the truck check to see if the coolant smells like oil or fuel, and start it a few times. If the seller says to use Ether or Starting fluid just say thank you and walk away from it, this could mean the GP system is shot. And if the seller had used starting fluid many times it's possible there could be internal issues and possible hydrolocking.

I hope this helps I'm your search if you need any more info or have any questions feel free to ask

 

Thank you very much! I've been digging around for almost a month now, and these are the kinds of answers I've been looking for. Thanks to all of you. I should have just asked the question to begin with I guess.

One other question that I can think of right now. Is it worth my time to look for a 7.3L turbo? I know that I'd rather have a turbo diesel, but I wasn't sure if the stock IDI turbo was worth having or not. I've noticed a lot of guys on here are adding after market turbo's to their 7.3L. I have no idea what an after market turbo costs. So I'm not sure if I should take the approach that I can add it later, or if I should be more picky while I'm looking.

From what I am seeing on C.L. there are a number of F250s available, and once in a while I'll see an early Dodge CTD, but not very often. I wasn't sure if I was just seeing someone else's junk, or if there was a chance that these trucks could be decent. I looked up the values on KBB and the 94 F250 should be right around $4500, and the 95 F250 and Dodge CTD should be a little over $5K. My searches would indicate that either KBB is off about $1000, or most folks are really not wanting to sell what they have. There seems to be a fair number of the F250 trucks out there with an Automatic. The results that I've seen with the E40D in a gas engine is enough to scare me away from it, so I've restricted my searches to the 5 speed, and that seems to have knocked out about 75% of the trucks on the market. It sounds like I'm doing the right leg work. As usual, it's just hard to find someone who wants to sell a good reliable truck. Go figure right?

Thanks again,
Mark

 

I have a cousin here, in Texas thats selling a 92 crew cab 7.3 non turbo 2wd. But judging by your description of getting stuck in snow banks, youre far away and dont want his 2wd.

 

i know this is in the ford section but get a 6.5. dont get me wrong i have nothing against idi ford diesels but you might be a little happier with a 6.5. my truck that is in my sig i got for 5800 dollars. it had 142000 and was very clean. its a exteneded cab and its 4 wheel drive. i bet you can find a 6.5 for cheaper if you look hard enough.

another thing is these trucks are still in use. good luck trying to find a 6.9 government city truck or company truck in a town with more than 15000 people. which means lots of parts. plus it will have a little more power.

dont buy into all this garbage of the 6.5 is unrealiable. if you do regular maintenance and replace the things that need to be replaced they will run forever. plus if it breaks down we can help you fix it. its not a very complicated engine. just my 2 cents

 

Hell I have my Dodge for sale for $4500, come buy it

 

I don't mean to be rude, but isn't this the Ford 6.9L-7.3L forum? I understand everyone is trying to help but this I the ford forum and I would imagine he's talking about the ford truck. Like I said I'm not trying to be rude

 

It was just a couple of extra options.