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First off. I bought a used 2004 F150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab from the dealership I work at in July of last year (2019). It had 166k on the clock, but I wanted it because it had the 281 engine instead of the 331 engine. I didn't feel like re-threading spark plug holes. It came with a color matched fiberglass bed cap with locking sides and rear. The truck is used to drive to work and home, and to drive up to Door County Wisconsin every week (320 miles round trip in one day).
The first time I had the truck up on a lift, I noticed something upsetting. The passenger side inner frame rail was completely rotted away. There was a gap about 2 inches tall and about 16 inches long in the frame. Long story short, the dealership and I went half and half on a frame shop sleeving it. That takes care of that problem. Winter came late in Wisconsin this year, so I never had a good chance to try out the 4WD system until we had our first snowfall. It is a manual transfer case type. The first time I put it in 4H, the light flickered on the dash. IWE solenoid was rusted and had totally failed. Replaced that with the newer version from Ford that has the plastic cover on it. That takes care of that problem.
I walk out of work one day and go and start up my truck. Immediately it throws a couple of codes and starts bogging down on idle. I looked back to see lots of smoke and actual liquid fuel coming from the tailpipe. Pulled it into the service bay and had a technician look at it. Fuel pressure at the rail was down to 14 psi when the pump was activated. Turns out, an injector stuck open and dumped raw fuel through that cylinder and out the tailpipe. So I told them to replace the injectors and spark plugs on it. 8 spark plugs and 8 injectors (Motorcraft) plus one COP module came up to $299 (parts employee discount) and labor was about $750. That fixed that problem.
I live in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood. Most of the people living around here leave their car doors unlocked at night. I leave mine unlocked because I don't have comprehensive coverage on my insurance and I would rather have someone just open my door than break an expensive window. After driving home from the dealership one night, I received a call from my other job and was told I was being laid off due to lack of work available. I was extremely upset and I did something I would usually never do. I left my truck unlocked, in my circle driveway, with the keys laying on the floor. Around 3AM that morning, someone wound up stealing my truck out of my driveway.
Long story short. Police found the truck 2 days later with 530 miles on the clock, no fuel in it, and absolutely ZERO interior or exterior damage. I got lucky. The problem is, someone died from a heroin overdose while they were driving around in my stolen truck. But wait, there's more.
While driving around town, I noticed that my transmission would randomly rev up to 3800 RPM's and then slam into the overdrive gear. It only does it around 30 MPH or so. I talked to a transmission tech at work and he said it is common on these trucks. He said it is usually the overdrive band going bad, or the entire transmission going bad. My fix was just driving with overdrive off when in the city.
I know that was quite a bit to read, but does it get much worse than that?
I have 195k on the truck as of right now. It averages about 12.9 on the freeway and about 9.3 in the city, but I have a heavy foot according to my insurance company.
Man, hate to pile on, but it's not bad luck - just bad decisions. Nothing that happened wasn't completely preventable, except for the injector failure.
It always amazes me how many people (myself for sure included) barely inspect a vehicle before purchasing. ESPECIALLY a higher mileage truck from the rust belt. I bought a 2000 Tacoma (I've wanted one of those since high school 20+ years ago) that turned out to have football size holes in the frame. A simple glance underneath would've saved me thousands.
I've bought and sold about 20 cars, trucks and motorcycles in the last 10 years and only ONE time did someone actually crawl underneath and look around. I've even sold a couple cars that the buyer never even drove!! Another time I sold a motorcycle to a guy who never even came to look at it. Sent a buddy with a trailer and $3500 cash and it was on it's way.
Sorry to hear about the bad "luck", keep your chin up.
And tell your insurance to kiss off - your mpg's are right in line with what these trucks were built to do. I've NEVER achieved more than 13 mpg, even when I was on a road trip, cruising 65 with cruise control on.
I have basic insurance because I am what they consider an "At Risk" driver. I haven't been pulled over in 5 years but my last tickets were street racing, illegal lane change, participating in a street racing event, and unnecessary use of acceleration. I pay almost 100 a month for liability only.
Ironically. I have only had one accident and it wasn't my fault. I was hit in the side of my 08 Ranger by a city plow truck. It totaled the truck instantly. What makes it ironic is that my airbags never deployed. 6 months ago, I received a notice from Ford that my Ranger is part of the Takata Airbag recall.
On the lighter side when he said, I live in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood.
I thought.....Dammit he's knocked up the Mayors daughter ,,,,,,,,,,,He He...........sorry it's the devil in me !!
I always lock my trk even when only going in to pay for my gas..........Hoping it will get better from here !!!
I have basic insurance because I am what they consider an "At Risk" driver. I haven't been pulled over in 5 years but my last tickets were street racing, illegal lane change, participating in a street racing event, and unnecessary use of acceleration. I pay almost 100 a month for liability only.
Ironically. I have only had one accident and it wasn't my fault. I was hit in the side of my 08 Ranger by a city plow truck. It totaled the truck instantly. What makes it ironic is that my airbags never deployed. 6 months ago, I received a notice from Ford that my Ranger is part of the Takata Airbag recall.
don't (didn't) you only have front airbags on that Ranger???...front airbags only go off in a front end collision not being hit in the side...anyway glad you survived it and hopefully good choices and good luck will come to you...
I have basic insurance because I am what they consider an "At Risk" driver. I haven't been pulled over in 5 years but my last tickets were street racing, illegal lane change, participating in a street racing event, and unnecessary use of acceleration. I pay almost 100 a month for liability only.
Ironically. I have only had one accident and it wasn't my fault. I was hit in the side of my 08 Ranger by a city plow truck. It totaled the truck instantly. What makes it ironic is that my airbags never deployed. 6 months ago, I received a notice from Ford that my Ranger is part of the Takata Airbag recall.
Well then, there you go. You're still paying for your past ignorance and lifestyle mistakes. You poor baby. Street racing is a very serious offense, whether you want to agree or not. If you get busted for street racing, you'll be treated as a driver who takes stupid risks and endangers others - and you deserve the reputation. If you're driving dangerously, you should have to pay more - you're endangering others on the road. I get that it was years ago, but to be totally honest - I wouldn't want you driving thru my neighborhood. I lost my sister due to f u c k head street racers and I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for your insurance premium woes. You made mistakes, deal with the consequences.
02-05-2020, 02:27 AM
I might have the worst luck with my 04 XLT 4x4
