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redraven I never said I expected it to be perfect. I knew I would have to put money into it. but did not think I would have to sink 1200 in it already. I did not get it inspected as It was a meet at a gas station type deal. It drove ok to me, but then as I drove it I could hear more clicking noises.
Im not looking for sympathy from any of you, I don't expect anything to be perfect. Im just sharing my story that's all. I have seen Explorers have over 220K on them which is a reason why I bought it to get me through a couple years until I save up to buy a new one.
Well, you already knew it needed a timing chain, why are you acting like it was a huge shock?
How is the title misleading? I'll never buy a cash car again. Not worth it.
I learned my lesson, I see why people finance newer. But I hate borrowing alot of money on a car. Yes I hate fixing cars that are paid for, I think long term I'll drive this a year or two and save up more. Im saving $50 a month alone just on insurance. The ford is $50 less than the Jeep.
Yes it may need more repairs in the future. But I'll have a repair fund aside.
Why don't you cut back on lifestyle a bit and try to save to buy a slightly better one in cash? You can easily get under 100k miles if you can scrounge up $6k. If you eat out a lot, you can pretty much get there on that alone plus the sale of the Explorer.
Saying you'll never buy a cash car again simply due to replacing a timing chain is exactly the kind of over-reaction that keeps most Americans broke their whole life and always beholden to megabanks, living paycheck to paycheck and wondering why they can't get ahead.
I had a new Jeep, but... after listening to Dave Ramsey I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of my new car and drive a "beater" to cut down on debt. So I did.. I got my dealer to buy my Jeep back for what I owed. 11K dollars. So with that off my plate I took out a 4K loan with my credit union to buy me a cash car.
So I found a 2003 Explorer with 168K miles on it for $2100. I took a risk... only to be lied too by the people who sold it to me. here in Texas you have to get an inspection when registering it... So it passed inspection but the mechanic told me it needed a new timing chain. which it does. because there is a clicking noise underneath the hood.
I didn't hear it when I bought it... but when I drove down the road the clicking noise got worse. so now... I have a guy doing it for me for $1250. Im $3,350 into this nightmare.
I didn't wanna risk buying another cash car with the rest of the money out of the 4K. so I just decided to fix it. anyone have a similar story? this just sucks.
Who held the gun to your head and prevented you from paying a reputable independent shop to do a pre-purchase inspection?
And how do you know you were lied to? Perhaps the seller no more heard and recognized the rattling timing chain than you initially did.
Why don't you cut back on lifestyle a bit and try to save to buy a slightly better one in cash? You can easily get under 100k miles if you can scrounge up $6k. If you eat out a lot, you can pretty much get there on that alone plus the sale of the Explorer.
Saying you'll never buy a cash car again simply due to replacing a timing chain is exactly the kind of over-reaction that keeps most Americans broke their whole life and always beholden to megabanks, living paycheck to paycheck and wondering why they can't get ahead.
Bingo. My truck is paid for, but has begun exhibiting symptoms of head gasket failure. The cost to fix it? $4,000 if I am lucky and the heads aren't warped. $6,000 if they are. I paid $24,000 for the truck and it's only about a third (or less) into it's life expectancy.
In my case, I bought the truck because this particular F250 doesn't hold value like the Dodge and Duramax because of head gasket problems. I bought it under the premise that the repairs had already been done (and they have... by the dealer).
Will this scare me away from it? Absolutely not. I can pay this $4k and should have another 10-15 years life left in it with nothing left (major) to repair. $4k broken out over 10 years is $33 per month. Still cheaper for me to fix it and keep it than to buy and finance a brand new car for $40-$50k.
Don't think just because they are more expensive that they are any less prone to mechanical failures. Things happen. Our 2014 Venza last year had a plethora of mechanical issues that cost us time off of work on many occasions in less than 10k miles. And that car was over $40k. I said it before... but things just happen.
We went over 200k on a 98 Explorer 4.0 V6 with the auto transmission and only replaced the thermostat once. We never had another issue. I'd fix it and move on. Timing chains/belts are WEAR items.
Bingo. My truck is paid for, but has begun exhibiting symptoms of head gasket failure. The cost to fix it? $4,000 if I am lucky and the heads aren't warped. $6,000 if they are. I paid $24,000 for the truck and it's only about a third (or less) into it's life expectancy.
In my case, I bought the truck because this particular F250 doesn't hold value like the Dodge and Duramax because of head gasket problems. I bought it under the premise that the repairs had already been done (and they have... by the dealer).
Will this scare me away from it? Absolutely not. I can pay this $4k and should have another 10-15 years life left in it with nothing left (major) to repair. $4k broken out over 10 years is $33 per month. Still cheaper for me to fix it and keep it than to buy and finance a brand new car for $40-$50k.
Don't think just because they are more expensive that they are any less prone to mechanical failures. Things happen. Our 2014 Venza last year had a plethora of mechanical issues that cost us time off of work on many occasions in less than 10k miles. And that car was over $40k. I said it before... but things just happen.
We went over 200k on a 98 Explorer 4.0 V6 with the auto transmission and only replaced the thermostat once. We never had another issue. I'd fix it and move on. Timing chains/belts are WEAR items.
That is an extremely expensive head gasket job IMHO. Is this a dealer quote? Are you getting new heads for $1000 each? Can't these heads be surfaced at a machine shop if not too badly warped?
To me the "art of the deal" would center around if I could get upgraded parts - the gasket set, maybe head bolts - that would be better than stock, would have a reason to think I only have to do this job once. An example would be the GM Northstar engine, the head bolts tend to pull out of the block, but, if you put "Time-serts" or some prefer Helicoils in the block and then re-assemble, apparently experience shows the engine then is durable. How many years/miles did the original head gaskets last, how many years/miles did the 2nd fix last?
Around here anyway, there are a lot of old Ford trucks from the 70's, a little hunting will find a decent to surprisingly good specimen, the old 351 and 460 iron V-8s are amazingly durable if you keep good, clean oil in them and don't overheat.
That is an extremely expensive head gasket job IMHO. Is this a dealer quote? Are you getting new heads for $1000 each? Can't these heads be surfaced at a machine shop if not too badly warped?
To me the "art of the deal" would center around if I could get upgraded parts - the gasket set, maybe head bolts - that would be better than stock, would have a reason to think I only have to do this job once. An example would be the GM Northstar engine, the head bolts tend to pull out of the block, but, if you put "Time-serts" or some prefer Helicoils in the block and then re-assemble, apparently experience shows the engine then is durable. How many years/miles did the original head gaskets last, how many years/miles did the 2nd fix last?
Around here anyway, there are a lot of old Ford trucks from the 70's, a little hunting will find a decent to surprisingly good specimen, the old 351 and 460 iron V-8s are amazingly durable if you keep good, clean oil in them and don't overheat.
No. This is an independent shop quote (and the cheapest) and is pretty standard pricing for this truck. It's a 6.4 Powerstroke. The cab must come off the frame to remove the heads. The truck already has $800 worth of Elite Diesel H11 head studs that typically make sure this never happens twice.
The aftermarket gaskets are junk and don't hold up. The dealer failed to deck the heads, so that caused the gaskets to fail again. Typically this is a one and (if fixed correctly) done type of deal. I just happened to be the lucky recipient of poor dealership work.
If the heads can be machined, the cost is around $4k for the entire job. If they're bad, it's $1k per cylinder head and they need to be replaced in pairs. I'm lucky in that the head studs are already installed, all of the EGR deletes (EGR issues are what caused the initial set to blow), DPF deletes, and the tune are already on the truck. The initial cost was over $10k. (He only paid for the aftermarket parts. Ford covered the headgasket replacement)
Labor (including machining the heads): $2,200
Parts: $1,550
Fluids: $200
Original head bolts lifted at 60k miles. The studs didn't lift this go around. An imperfection in the mating surface allowed the gasket not to seal properly and blow again. 122k miles when it started.
No. This is an independent shop quote (and the cheapest) and is pretty standard pricing for this truck. It's a 6.4 Powerstroke. The cab must come off the frame to remove the heads. The truck already has $800 worth of Elite Diesel H11 head studs that typically make sure this never happens twice.
The aftermarket gaskets are junk and don't hold up. The dealer failed to deck the heads, so that caused the gaskets to fail again. Typically this is a one and (if fixed correctly) done type of deal. I just happened to be the lucky recipient of poor dealership work.
If the heads can be machined, the cost is around $4k for the entire job. If they're bad, it's $1k per cylinder head and they need to be replaced in pairs. I'm lucky in that the head studs are already installed, all of the EGR deletes (EGR issues are what caused the initial set to blow), DPF deletes, and the tune are already on the truck. The initial cost was over $10k. (He only paid for the aftermarket parts. Ford covered the headgasket replacement)
Labor (including machining the heads): $2,200
Parts: $1,550
Fluids: $200
Original head bolts lifted at 60k miles. The studs didn't lift this go around. An imperfection in the mating surface allowed the gasket not to seal properly and blow again. 122k miles when it started.
My point with all of that is that you need to research ANY vehicle before you buy and determine if the risk is acceptable. With a used vehicle (and even new, although not AS risky) you are assuming some level of risk. It pays to know what you are getting and figure out if the value you are trying to obtain is reasonable before spending any money.
In my case, it's still worth it despite the money because I did my research up front. I didn't anticipate this work (doing it twice is unheard of in the Powerstroke world) but bought the truck considering that I didn't know how the work was performed and under the assumption that there was a slight possibility I may have to do it again. Look before you leap.
No. This is an independent shop quote (and the cheapest) and is pretty standard pricing for this truck. It's a 6.4 Powerstroke. The cab must come off the frame to remove the heads. The truck already has $800 worth of Elite Diesel H11 head studs that typically make sure this never happens twice.
The aftermarket gaskets are junk and don't hold up. The dealer failed to deck the heads, so that caused the gaskets to fail again. Typically this is a one and (if fixed correctly) done type of deal. I just happened to be the lucky recipient of poor dealership work.
If the heads can be machined, the cost is around $4k for the entire job. If they're bad, it's $1k per cylinder head and they need to be replaced in pairs. I'm lucky in that the head studs are already installed, all of the EGR deletes (EGR issues are what caused the initial set to blow), DPF deletes, and the tune are already on the truck. The initial cost was over $10k. (He only paid for the aftermarket parts. Ford covered the headgasket replacement)
Labor (including machining the heads): $2,200
Parts: $1,550
Fluids: $200
Original head bolts lifted at 60k miles. The studs didn't lift this go around. An imperfection in the mating surface allowed the gasket not to seal properly and blow again. 122k miles when it started.
Wow. But now I agree with you, if you like the truck, do the repair, since you have good reason to think it won't need doing again. Having to take the cab off the frame to get the heads off though - remind me not to buy one of this model truck!
Good luck with this, though! Hope it turns out well, and you and the truck "live long and prosper".
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