Hey everybody, my first post here and have couple questions. I am thinking of buying a 1997 Ford f150 it has a 4.6L 4x4 off road package auto trans and 180,000 miles on it, and I am wondering about the reliability of this year f150, this is going to be my daily driver and I am wondering about trouble areas besides the normal consumable, the guy says he has no problems and never has, and he uses it as his daily driver, this remains to be seen, (I haven't looked at it yet) but when I do go and look at it what trouble spots should I concentrate on? Any input would be really appreciated. Thanks Justin.

 

No one has any thoughts?

 

Welcome to the site..

Higher mileage trucks (or cars for that matter) are always hard to give a 'thumbs up' on.. If it were me looking to buy, I'd want to see any repair history (major/minor) like trans work which is a big ticket item if its at the better end of its service life.. If it's had regular interval services, then a higher milage unit that was cared for may give up some extended life.. Same goes for the rest of the power train,, any service/supporting dcouments to trail it's care to date? and who did the work.. Original owner? How was the truck used,, towing, hauling, or just an average driver.. Any mods? exhaust, oversized tires ect. All of these need to be considered, especially in a higher mileage rig. The trucks are a solid platform, some had issues like plug problems, some of the early builds had some injectors fail.. Have any pics?

 

I agree with Hayapower. It may even be beneficial to get a Carfax account for a month so you can check up on the repair history (assuming he had a repair shop do any major repairs) for this vehicle or any other you look at.

 

I just bought a 03 F150, with 83000 miles on it, I looked at the carfax for this truck and was pleased to see that the original owner had it serviced regulary. I would be very cautious on buying a vehicle with that many miles on it, the 4.6 is a very dependable motor, and I feel that Ford trucks in all are very trustworthy, but unless you know for sure that this truck has been very well maintained I would be very cautious.