Purchased '04 F250 w/ Problems, Need Advice
 

Hey y'all,

I'll just start by thanking you for any and all help offered. I'll be happy if I can just get a response to this.

A couple weeks ago I purchased a 2004 F250 Lariat from a used dealership outside Atlanta for what I would consider a steal. I got 10k for my 2010 Wrangler and only have to pay a few grand off. Despite the many problems I now have I promise it's much less than the laundry list of **** my Jeep needed. I'll just list the stuff I've noticed so far in no particular order:

• drink holder not secured in dash (I just need 2 screws to fix this but I'm not exactly sure what size I need)
• one screw holding up a sun visor claw is not correct (I have one correct one so I should be able to get the correct piece at Ace)
• 1 plastic plug missing for headboard above passenger visor (partsgeek?)
• possible coolant leak or maybe this sucker just burns through coolant, I could use guidance on this one for sure
• I replaced the cab marker lights to LEDs and now none of them work. I'm thinking that the wiring became dislodged behind the dash but I would love some help with this (appropriate youtube videos to access wiring behind dash or proper wiring techniques)
• the light control panel on my dash is loose and won't fit completely into place (again, appropriate youtube videos or install techniques would be great)
• while installing the new cab marker lights I peeled back just a bit of the headboard cloth. I definitely have trauma from dealing with this during my childhood and would like to avoid it peeling back any more. Is there some sort of adhesive I can use to get it back in place?

I would consider all of the above to be minor problems compared to the next one:

• driver side hub lock is bound in place. It's hard to describe it but it seems like it took some sort of damage in a collision. It is not a matter of using my man hands like one friend recommended over the phone. This thing is lodged in place and will need to be replaced. It is so damaged I can't tell if it is locked or not and I believe it is preventing my 4x4 from engaging properly.
• if the hub lock is not causing the problem with my 4x4, then also please consider why my 4x4 would not be engaging properly. This became a problem yesterday when I couldn't climb a hill to get home from camping

I appreciate any and all help y'all can offer. I apologize if I sound like a rookie, but that's exactly what I am. I'm hoping to get some advice from more experienced truckers. The cab marker light issue and the hub locks seem to be the biggest issue right now, but I would like to at least get a little bit of knowledge from this post. I'm operating with a 2008 user manual at the moment and there seem to be some incongruities between it and my truck.

Thanks again!

A lot of times when a vehicle has problems no one can seem to find and repair OR when they do know it will cost some $$$ to repair it they will unload it.

That's when we get a real steal buy.
As far as your vehicle,,,,,,,,,,,,some one has to start at the beginning and go down the list. It is definitely doing to take some $$$ to get it straightened out, be prepared.

Thanks for the heads up Hanky!

Do you have recommendations for any of the problems I'm facing? Even just a youtube link could help. Thanks again.

What engine do you have in it? Assuming it is the 6.0L - where is the ICP sensor located?

You are likely to cause more problems than solve if you try to follow an 08 manual for your 04.

With the 4x4 issue, maybe start by replacing that hub? Not sure why you would wait and run with a damaged hub.

Are you getting any white exhaust smoke when starting up, or when driving?

For the coolant, tee in an air hose into one of the small hoses to the degas bottle. Pressure it up to 15 psig and see if it holds. If it doesn't hold, then roll up your sleeves and look for the leak. If it holds pressure, then a loss in coolant could be from a failed EGR cooler. Park on a slight hill, nose down, and pull the EGR valve. See if coolant is in the intake manifold. Usually EGR coolers need to get hot before leaking very much.

The caps on the degas bottles are know to leak, or the sealing surface warps a bit to cause the cap to leak. If the degas bottle doesn't hold pressure during the test, you can inspect the cap sealing surface and maybe even replace the cap. That said, if you are losing coolant, it would be noticeable if it were coming out of the cap. When leaked coolant dries it typically leaves a whitish mineral scale residue. Another known leak point as these vehicles age is the "Y" under the degas bottle - where the climate control heater return flow ties in. Most people just upgrade that to a stainless steel part. Of course, you need to look the water pump over closely to make sure it isn't leaking and same with all hose connections.

Bismic,

Yes I am running a 6.0. Probably pretty stupid of me to run 4x4 with the hub lock bound. Prior to this event I actually wasn't aware they had to be locked to run 4x4. Also, the coolant leak seems to be a user error. I guess it seemed lower than it actually was due to an incline I was on. When I checked it again yesterday it was at a normal level. I'll take the coolant advice into consideration if the problem does eventually arise. I'm not using the 2008 manual for anything other than to become acquainted with a few of the systems that do align. I apologize for my lack of knowledge surrounding the truck, but that's why I'm here.

No problem at all.

The vacuum system ONLY runs the climate control and operates the hubs (note that the braking system does NOT use vacuum). Without vacuum, you have to lock the hubs manually for 4x4.

Good deal on the coolant!!

Yeah I believe the hub locks are only manual but I could definitely be mistaken about that.

Hey. i can't figure out how to create my own thread on this site, but my questions goes pretty much along with this. I'm looking at buying a 2010 F250 turbo diesel with a 6.4. It's listed for just a little over 10k which sounds like a steal to me. The truck body has 160k miles on it and a new engine was put in and has 50,000. It has an exhaust leak that needs fixed and says it's a little dirty but still runs fine. The body and everything looks in good condition. Is there some unknown cost factor problem I'm not seeing. As far as what I know its not all that expensive to fix and exhaust leak and fuel injectors if needed from running dirty fuel. Any thoughts and suggestion would be helpful. thanks!