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I bought an old 90s F150 several months ago with rather high mileage(by standards today). I bought it because I wanted a truck to haul stuff and to get me back and forth to work and school. The truck has done what it was supposed to do for the time that I have had it until recently. After doing some code reading and checking for other problems, I am now looking at a list of problems. I am now having to look at replacing the torque converter, the alternator, the battery, the EGR valve, and some additional things. Right now, the truck isn't being driven much and it's either pay thousands for someone else to fix it or fix it myself and eat the time and labor spent or find something else all together. I asked on another forum but I think it's easy to say when someone is a fan of a certain brand, it's easy to look past everything, including the real costs and time unless you genuinely find a value in what you have on a sentimental level. Especially on an old pick up truck with high mileage at that. In the end, I am the one who bought this truck ignoring the small things when I was in the purchase process. I thought I knew what I was doing when I bought it. Now, I have to look at the bigger picture and what it will really be worth or if it will be worth it all.
Is it worth the fixing myself or should I find something else and just walk away from the project all together?
Actually, lets get a few things cleared up First. If you sold it, would you replace it? If no, then sell it as is (or donate it for tax deductions, whatever). If you were going to replace it, would you be buying Another cheap truck? If yes, then fix it ~ ALL older cheap vehicles generally have been neglected and will need time and money thrown at them. If you were going to replace it with a Newer vehicle, then sell as is and get your newer replacement.
Assuming you want/need a truck, the cheapest path nearly Always be to fix what you have (yourself). I haven't personally tone a torque converter, but the other 3 are a grand total of 2 hours in labor, add in another hour for the things unlisted (and maybe a 4th for actually doing some Preventative labor, like flushing all the fluids, lubing everything, adjusting cables, etc...) A morning or afternoon, not exactly a huge deal, and probably $200~250 in parts. The TQ could lead into a whole other mess of issues or be a simple addition of friction modifier, and that's where you gamble a little, but you're going to be out that money if you sell and are honest anyway.
My perspective is one of a guy who's always fixed what he's had because that was the only available option if I wanted to have something nice. I have always had more time than money, folks with more money than time will probably tell you to sell and buy something else.... you have to decide for yourself though.
That's mainly what I am worried about. The torque converter. Some have incidents where the converter has lead to bigger problems like replacing the whole transmission. Thats an even bigger expense and I definitely will be out of a truck for awhile if I decide to take that on. The others can be fixed with not much grief. A trip to a parts yard and a new battery can easily fix those things, but the torque converter is the biggest problem of all of it. I am looking at a little newer(OBD2 readable) smaller trucks for my daily get around however(some times a full size is not needed as much).
'90s F-150s are a dime a dozen these days. If you really don't need it and would only be fixing it to sell, just sell it as-is because you're going to spend more fixing it than you'll get after it's fixed.
If you need the vehicle and plan to replace it if you sell it, it really just depends on what you know about the condition of the vehicle beyond what needs to be replaced. If it's in decent shape and you have reason to believe that the drivetrain will hold up awhile longer, you might as well fix it because you could end up buying something with it's own set of problems. But if it's ratted out and burns a quart of oil every hundred miles you might as well ditch it now. Like I said, '90s-era trucks are a dime a dozen.
And keep in mind that you might not necessarily need to fix everything right this minute if you aren't using the truck that much. Spread it out a little to make it easier on the budget.
I don't think there's really any right or wrong answer here, just do what makes you most comfortable.
If you want a newer, smaller truck then just sell what you have as-is and buy the other truck. Heck, if you have another vehicle with a trailer hitch, why not a $300 utility trailer? Only covers the hauling needs, but that's most of what people do with casual trucks anyway (yes, I know we're ignoring all the honest work trucks, that's not this poster).
About the only thing I've really NEEDED a truck for in the past few years is to haul a few ton (over several days) or river rock for a landscaping project. Everything else could have been done with my wifes 2001 Jetta and our utility trailer. The truck was just easier when we wanted a dozen bags of mulch or 20 bales of straw. Even when it was needed, I have trucks I can borrow with a little advanced notice.
If it's a Second vehicle, do you need it? If it's the primary, would you be willing to add a few extra minutes each time you needed to haul something but have a better "daily" vehicle?
Or, just sell the 150 and buy a Ranger, Frontier, Tacoma, etc...
OP, you didn't say what kind of shape the truck is in, if you have a good place to work, how well you like this particular truck, etc.
Would depend on all this for me.
You could certainly farm out the torque converter job and DIY the rest. Depending on your budget, since the tranny has to come out to do the torque converter, you *could* slap in a rebuilt transmission at this point for the same labor cost. This only if the truck is otherwise "cherry" and you intend to keep it long term.
How do you know the torque converter is on its way out?
How do you know the torque converter is on its way out?
I meant to ask this as well. Actually what I was going to ask was if you are strictly going by the scanner codes to determine what the truck needs, or if you had done some additional diagnosis. Sometimes the codes themselves only give an indication of where the problem lies.
The truck is in fairly good condition. The underbody is rusting. Some paint chipping but overall paint is in decent condition all over. 180,000+ Miles. Interior has no rips or tears but dash does show some slight cracking and rattles. Has an automatic 4x4. Flareside.
Too bad you haven't given enough info for anybody to give you any decent help. The 90s saw various engines phased in and some phased out. Same with transmissions. If it's something like an E4OD transmission, it will code up torque converter when it can be dirty fluid or clogged screen. You can also have a shift solenoid going south that will code the same. The early E4ODs did have issues with the shift piston cracking but if it's a 4x4 with the 4x4 transmission, it won't have that issue. Don't assume the correct transmission is in the truck. My 91 Bronco came from the factory with an E4OD that was designed for 2 wd only. The 4x4 is different in the fluid pickup and some of the internals. I went thru 3 transmissions in 15,000 miles before Ford figured it out that it was the wrong transmission. That was when it was new. If the fluid has been changed with any kind of regularity the E4OD is a great, long life unit.
I'll warn you now, replacing the alternator with a rebuilt unit is a major mistake on any Ford truck. The rebuilders never replace the finals in one and they never test them either. All they care about is output and rebuild so it will charge. That's great except when you turn the key off on a Ford, the wire from the alternator to the battery is a direct wire. The battery will drain down over night leaving you wondering why it will test out fine but the battery is dead in the a m. The problem is the finals act as a gate and allows the electric flow to the battery from the alternator but when the key is off, it is supposed to close the gate and stop the flow back to the ground in the alternator. When the finals fail, you have a ground issue in the alternator but it will test out as being fine. Best way to tell if the finals are bad, when it's dark, engine off, key off, disconnect the large wire going to the alternator. If you see any arcing of electricity, the finals are bad. ALWAYS buy a new unit.....and that can be a problem on an old Ford truck. I looked a long time before I could find a new one for my Bronco. I got it at Rock Auto and it was made in the USA. The price wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be.
Before assuming the EGR is bad, make sure to run all of the little vacuum lines first. Any leaks can code up a bad EGR. The transition to the evap can is one of those that there are no replacement parts. Duct tape can work wonders.
If it is an EFI unit like a 5.0, NEVER put anything like Seafoam, throttle body cleaner, NOTHING down the intake or expect to have to replace the upper manifold gasket. If you need to clean the throttle body, remove it from the engine and then clean it. The intake gaskets will not stay together with any chemicals on them. The throttle body can cause surging, odd idle, low idle, sticking gas pedal, and other issues. If it hasn't been cleaned in the last 2 years, it needs it now. Cramming chemical crap down it will result in an uncontrollable high idle.
If it's an early unit, it may have the TFI ignition on the dizzy. It can cause the engine to run great when cold and quit when hot or the engine to stumble at full operating temps.
Now you have a clue as to why- year, model, engine, transmission, mileage of the truck. They're all different and sometimes different in the same year model.
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