Hello guys

Im currently looking to buy a 2002 ford f-150 super crew.

I found one that looks really good, almoast no rust on the frame and overall the truck looks great with aproxemetöy 160k miles on it.

The thing is that the car is pretty far away, and when the owner was taking it for a test drive after it standing still for 2 weeks, he said that it had some random missfires at half throttle. (Never at full throttle or low throttle) Not all the time but it happened randomly a handfull of Times during the 10 minute drive.

later the same day when he went for another drive to take a video of the problem it dident happen at all.

so my question is, do I dare to buy this truck and drive it the 750 miles home or shuld i back away from the deal?

Another inconvenience is that i live in sweden and getting parts for this kind of truck aint the easiest.
so if the car breaks down on the way home i have no chance of changing plugs/coils on the side of the road.

do you think it will make it home?

Br

 

It's really about price$$. What's he want for it? My truck will SOMETIMES get a mystery misfire on a cold start but goes away on its own....no hit...no fowl. I've gotten water in spark plug well number 4 sometimes after it rains and the engine may rattle a little but goes away on its own. There's parts for these trucks all over eBay.

 

It's a low grade misfire. A bad coil. Make a appt w/dealer in the sellers area. Have the tech Mode 6 for cylinder history. Replace the faulty coil, drive it home.

Nice find!

 

He wanta about 8k usd for the truck.
i dont know about the prices in the US, but here in sweden i think that is a good price.

It has the king ranch package as well, and i wouldent be surprised if that is the only 10th gen in all of sweden with that package.

 

Hmm maybe it could be because of the Rain.. it has been raining heavy for the last 2 days, that would explain why the problem was gone at the second test drive.

 

i would do that, but dealers in sweden usually dont have coils in stock for this kind of car.

 

Do you have a OBD II code reader? Any way to get a set of coils before you go pick it up? Even a cheap set off Amazon (they have a high failure rate, but would be able to get you home if it is just a bad coil).

It could be something as simple as a loose connection on one of the coils or injectors, a bad coil or plug, or could be something more. Or could be something like water (or heaven forbid, coolant from a leaky intake manifold or leaking coolant hose) that is causing the misfire.
Really hard to say though without access to the vehicle.
You may get there, start it up and drive home with no issues as well.

 

Given that it’s not constant, something that can be fairly easily be replaced is responsible . You’d have to figure out what that is and then get parts. Only you can decide how much you’re willing to do/put up with make the purchase. Based on your very brief description, I’m going to guess and say you’ll make it 750 miles home. Probably going to use a lot of very expensive gas.

 

You dont want to drive any vehicle 750 miles with a misfire....
It will wipe-out your cat converter, I promise you that....
& theyre very costly.

my bread & butter was replacing cats.


if youre not capable of diagnosiing it there & repairing it before the drive.
towing it home.
verifying timing chains are solid & no compression issues.
Its a huge gamble

 

Yeah don't drive it unless you can disconnect the injector on the misfiring cylinder. You can't not knowing which one it is. Leaving the injector connected for 750 miles will fuel soak the cats and eventually burn a hole through them...may even implode.

If it's that clean and you really want it, purchase all 8 coils for it only from here https://www.rockauto.com/

They are DENSO/Motorcraft coils. They are same Ford spec coils as original https://www.rockauto.com/

You'll save $12 per coil that way.

Swap them out on the drive home if it starts missing horribly. The miss is at cruising speeds. If the truck is clean, it's worth it.imo.

EDIT: Didn't see Slaters post before submitting mine.