Hello, I am Toopie. We own a 2003 F150crew cab that we bought brand new. The truck has 233000 miles but has never given us a bit of trouble until the last year or so. Started with the blend door sticking and sometimes it would be stuck on cold or sometimes on heat. We had it changed by the Ford dealer who also changed the door and the heater core. Drove it home and it would not produce heat. Air conditioning seemed to work fine. Brought it back to Ford and they said it was low on coolant, so they filled it. It worked temporarily. What happens is this: Driving along, the heater is not working. But then, all of the sudden, the temp guage will peak, the red light comes on and then the needle goes back to normal. light out and then the heat works. I must mention that a year ago we had a check engine light that indicated the No. 1 cylinder misfire due to radiator fluid leak. After several thousand dollars to Ford, consisting of thermostat r & r, changing valve cover gaskets, brought it home and light came back on. I said forget this and put some K Seal in the over flow and after a day, the light went out and never came back on. Back to now, during that time the temp guage still intermittently pegs doing its usual stuff. Ford keeps pushing for an engine change to the tune of $4010, not including labor.
I would love to know if anyone has had similar issues with a truck of this age. I love this truck; it is in pristine shape; no rust, paint is like new and the interior is not even worn. I wonder if I should just keep driving it until it is dead. I don't know if changing the engine at this stage is worth it.

 

Ask yourself this, can I buy what i have for $4-$6,000? If the rest of the truck is as pristine as you say yeah I'd drop in a new crate engine. Even if you replace the tranny you're still money ahead. You now have practically a new truck. Remember; Devil you know vs Devil you don't know. I have one with 390,000 miles body in excellent shape. If my engine blew tomorrow I'd pop in a new Ford engine. I would NOT have that one rebuilt. Now if you're tired of it and just want to get something newer then no I wouldn't spend a dime on it. If you may be interested in selling it I would be interested if you're not too far away and the price is reasonable.

 

Welcome.

 

I live in SC but I don't want to sell my truck. I am thinking the same; I don;t want or need a new vehicle. We only put very few miles on it now as we have two vehicles and retired. I could be driving my truck for ten more years; if I live that long, lol

 

Welcome.
Had you checked out the ( 1997 - 2003 Ford F150 ) section of the site ??
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