[AT] Ford F250 Diesel makes steam. UH - OH !!! -- Now Fords

[Indiana Robinson]

>> Cecil Bearden wrote:
>>> I was at my local Ford dealership a while back looking at he new 08
>>> Super Duty trucks that came in.  An F350 was in the shop and almost
>>> every service procedure required removal of the Cab!!!  They made the
>>> cab come off quickly by quick attach wiring and mounts....  However it
>>> added 4 hours to every service bill..
>>>
>>> I bought a 95 F350 power stroke because of the Power...  Now, the dealer
>>> re-flashed the chip and it has no power or mileage...
>>>
>>> My 97 Exepdition needs plugs again after 30K miles since I did not
>>> install premium plugs.  It takes 8 hours to change them..  Changed coils
>>> twice..
>>>
>>> My 02 F250 had 2 sets of plugs before I learned the value of premium
>>> plugs..
>>>
>>> My next one will be assembled in a junkyard.  Then maybe I can get some
>>> service and mileage.
>>>
>>> Cecil in OKla
>>>

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I never know which way to jump...
I keep looking at my old tractor hauler, a late seventies 3/4 ton 4x4
with smallish almost wrecker style flat bed and 351 engine.The 4x4
parts are perfect The front axle was fully rebuilt in a specialty shop
shortly before I bought it. Son Scott always is amazed at how smoothly
my lockouts always work. The transmission works fine and the truck
handles well too. It doesn't use any oil.
Quoting my great grand father... "It is as ugly as a bulls ass tied
shut with a chain but it is hell for stout"... (he had just built a
display counter for the family store about 1900)
The PO's sons (apparently all dipsticks) painted this poor old truck
with an old mop or something and painted over most of the trim, inside
and out. It would take 300 coats of Turtle Wax to make it shine. The
cab is basically solid and the only rust is a small hole in the floor
and a few holes up above the corners of the windshield. First thing I
ever owned that rusted at the top. They will be an easy repair if I
ever get to them. It does need a windshield.
The big pain is the little crap that gets bad, like the heater
controls, air conditioning etc. I simply do not fit up under a dash
anymore...  I am seriously considering cutting out most of the dash on
the passenger side and making a panel that will fit in its place that
will remove in about 5 seconds and allow full access.
That is one option, another is trading it and taking a chance on
getting something less reliable. Yet another option is just to bite
the $$$ bullet and taking it to an independent full time mechanic
friend of mine and letting him make all of the little repairs it needs
under the dash. Even if he charges me a fair bunch it would still
likely be less than 2 or 3 monthly payments on a replacement truck. I
haven't made a monthly payment on a vehicle since about 1972.
I actually don't use this truck all that much since we keep a 1/2 ton
for errands and a big old IHC farm truck for heavy hauling. I would
probably never wear it out hauling tractors. A 1/2 ton is just too
light to pull a couple of M sized Farmalls as an example. I also have
a 32 foot long goose-neck horse trailer that I wouldn't hang on a 1/2
ton truck.
-
What ever I do it will probably be wrong...   ;-)
-
BTW, That old Ford V-8 is finding an increasing number of tanks of
fuel that it does not like... Too much ethanol I guess. The pumps now
have a sign giving a percentage but add the statement that it could be
higher.



--
"farmer"

"Good clean muck never hurt nobody!!!"
Morris Moulterd


Hay and Straw Exchange (Buy it, sell it and trade it.)
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HayandStrawExchange


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com