RADARmaintainer

Hello everyone! This will be my first post of many (hopefully) on this site. I'm looking at a '92 F150 XLT Lariat Supercab long bed 2x4 with a 5.8L and an E4OD transmission. It's a pretty solid looking truck with 167,000 miles on it and a well documented service history. It has a bit of rust in the cab corners and front fenders but otherwise looks pretty good. The carpet looks shot and it looks like he cut holes in the trim panel behind the seat for larger speakers. He also admitted that it had a slight oil leak and that the transmission leaks a little; but it's an old truck so that's to be expected. I'm not able to look at the truck in person until Monday and plan to buy it same day if everything checks out. His asking price is just $1500 which seems like a great deal, reason for selling is he's moving soon and can't take it.
What do I need to look for when I go check it out on Monday? Are they're any quirks or unusual wear items on these trucks compared to any other? I'm not too worried about small things, just big ticket items. Are there any more areas I need to check for rust? Sorry for the book guys I promise my future posts will be shorter. I also apologize for the pictures, there the ones from the sales page.

fltdriver

https://www.f150forum.com/f10/what-l...6-f150-278425/

That thread will tell you what to look for with these trucks. I picked mine up for about the same price. Just point out everything that you notice, any codes that show up after the test drive (https://www.f150forum.com/f10/how-re...es-obdi-10907/), and try to talk him down- you should be able to get it for less.

Consider in the fact that you will want to do some stuff to it as well:
Possibly stiffer springs in front to level it ($67 moog 824) and bushings ($40)
Tune up, new plugs, wires, belt, idler pulley, tensionor pulley, coil, cap, rotor

RADARmaintainer

That thread should be a sticky! That's a pretty good write up, thank you for the link. I didn't even think about using a vacuum gauge. I will definitely take a vacuum gauge with me when I go look at the truck. I've worked on cars before that seemed to be running good but actually had serious issues. I was working on my old 5.0 Mustang and it was running silky smooth but on further inspection it had a stuck valve on #8 and a blown head gasket between #3 & #4. The thing would fire right up and fall into a nice idle but was popping out of the exhaust a bit. I decided to go ahead and do a compression test since it had 260,000 miles on it. I couldn't believe it was running that smooth with 0 compression on 3, and 4 and with 8 bouncing between 90 and 0.
I also appreciate your tips on where to look for rust, every vehicle is different. I come from a warmer climate (southeast Oklahoma) so I'm not really used to dealing with rust yet either. I talked to the owner again this morning and he mentioned that the belt was squeaking and the oil pressure gauge quit working. Should I be worried about the oil pressure gauge?

fltdriver

The gauge could be the sending unit or the gauge on cluster itself, both are common failures at 20 years. Either way it's more of a on/off signal than an actual gauge, they don't register variations vary well and it's best to have an aftermarket gauge if you are really concerned about your oil pressure. Both are easy fixes and installing aftermarket is quite simple as well.

I've got 305k miles on my 94 with the original engine and trans, neither one rebuilt, she leaks a little oil (about a quart or two between changes) and very little tranny fluid. To me it's not worth the time to fix as it only costs me about $3-5 every 4-6 weeks to top it off.

Take a socket set with you and pull the belt, check each pulley for grinding feeling or noise to locate the bad component, you can figure that into your haggling.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

1500 doesn't seem bad. If the box looks that good all over that's 1/2 the price right there. There will be things wrong that maybe the owner doesn't even know about so maybe a little negotiate is in order.
The most common things I find on these trucks is rusty steel brake lines that are ready to go, leaky gas tanks, and rusted oil pans. Other than the body rust which is mostly obvious.
Pay particular attention to the driver's floor pan, they rust from the inside out so if you see anything at all from underneath, there'll be a lot under the carpet. And the cab mount (cab structural), if they rust out it's almost not worth fixing.
And the rear spring mounts rust out because they catch dirt/salt.

RADARmaintainer

Wow; thanks for all the help guys! Thats interesting info about the floor rotting from the inside out. I think Im going to rip the carpet out & cover the floorboard in roll on bed liner if its not already rusted. I'll do the same with cab mounts, inside the fenders, and around the spring perches if I can. I plan on driving the truck during the winter to keep my Mustang safe from the salty roads. That being said I dont want the truck to rust to the ground either. I want to fix the spots that are already rusty & prevent further rusting as much as possible.

truckie1885

My brother did the bed liner in his bronco. Just to warn you it makes the cab like 10x louder