To sell or not to sell that is the question. I have my 90' F150 5.0L 86k miles 4x4 XLT lariat. I bought this truck for $1500 and I put in $1300 into it so far. I did a laundry list of thing to it : New battery and clamps, new fuel tank, fuel filter, cleaned injectors, new fuel pump, new spark plugs, new brake master cylinder, cleaned throttle body, new IAC valve, a used bumper from the junkyard including a spare tire. Now i'm at a crossroads because it needs the oil pan gasket replaced and I know I will take care of that myself in the spring and save $900 to do it myself. But it needs a new lower intake manifold gasket and that is going to cost me $800 but they will do all the gaskets with that price including the head gasket and valve cover gaskets. Now should I get that fixed and sink another $800 into the truck OR should I sell?? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
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You've already replaced a lot of the parts on it, so you wouldn't expect them to break. The truck only has 86k miles, even if it is pretty old. If the engine and transmission are in good shape and if the frame is still solid, I'd think that $800 is a small price to pay to keep it going for what could be many more years, especially considering the price of cars is pretty high right now.
If it were me, I'd fix it and keep it running if the engine, transmission, and frame are in good shape.
I would sell instead of throwing good money after bad. Its 31 years old. All rubber components are going to need replacement due to age.
Do you think with replacing all that in the truck that I could squeeze more life out of it though? The engine fires up on command even when its below 0 and the shifting in the automatic transmission is extremely good still. But if I were to fix it could I still get lots of life out of it?
Man that is hard to say. Like I said at that age, it is really rolling the dice. It may go for a while but there is a lot more to an truck than the engine and transmission.
I did get my trusted mechanic to look it entirely over and test everything on it and those 2 problems are the only thing he sees wrong with it. He to has an 89' and has restored it himself so i'm glad he know the ins and outs with it.
Well that is a real positive to have someone like that you can call on. I read every post you made on this thread and I feel like you really like the truck. If so, replace what is needed and keep it. It is your money and nobody knows what the truck is worth to you except you. I would personally set a limit though and say if the repairs start adding up to more than "x" amount per month, it would be time to move on.
yeah I 100% agree. looking at today's private sales it seems that its a buyers market right now so selling would be really hard. I do like this ugly old truck though I've sold 3 other vehicles that now I regret doing and now kicking myself for it and I really don't want to do it lol. I sold my 93' mustang 5.0 manual trans, my 2000 ranger FX4 manual, and my 84' S10 so I've made some mistakes for sure.
Well, with that being said, I would say keep what you have my friend. And I hope you have a LOT more miles....MILLIONS....of smiles and enjoyment out of it. 🙂
With an old car/truck, people think more about the money they are spending on repairs, and forget about car payments.
Go down to Ford dealer, and see how much payments are for a new F150.
After you recover fro the shock, compare that to the $800 for this last month and $800 for that this spring.
Thanks. I was thinking the same. I also think that when you buy a used vehicle from someone typically 98% of the ones out there will eventually have an issue that needs some attention but like you said a new vehicle is just insane to buy. Then not to mention expensive insurance costs and yearly taxes are very expensive.
I would have it fixed. The weigh the months you get out of it before something else goes out vs. a car payment. If the total of the next repair is cheaper than those months x car payment, I'd hang onto it. Not having a car payment is a wonderful feeling that I hope to keep the rest of my life!
Thanks for the comment. I agree its been really fun fixing the things I can fix on the truck myself as well. It's not a pretty looking truck on the outside but on the inside of it everything still looks like its brand new. I knew when I bought the truck that it mostly sat for a long time because there is not one rip on the seat and the tires had 80% tread on them and they are tires from 2005 and had the receipts to prove it lol.
Hey no problem! It sounds like you have brought it up to speed but might still run into some age related things. Still, ugly but owned beats pretty with payments! Were the tires badly dryrotted or were you still able to get some use out of them? I've honestly seen some really old tires with a few miles left in them where the dry rot did not get to them.
I blew one of them and replaced it but still rolling on the 3 that it came with and so far no slow leaks and holding pressure so thats good. I did notice something I would call cool but when I cleaned my bed I removed the thick rubber mat and noticed a cut out section on my bed, not entirely cut out but 3 sides of a square cut out and so I pried it a little bit and its an opening to my fuel pump so that was pretty nice.
Some folks might gripe about that, but I've worked on enough older vehicles that I would call it cool too. Found a small patched hole in the inner fenderwell on the 71 chevy I had when I was trying to replace the heater core....took the patch off and it gave quick access to the bolt I needed to get to 🙂
Yeah work smarter not harder right lol
If it ain;t rotted or slammed, I would fix it up. Especially if you like it!
How long have you had the truck? How many miles did you yourself out in the truck?
I purchased it last year and only put maybe 200 miles on it.
30 plus years old with a massive list of issues. Likely going to have more issues which means even more money. Even if you do all the work yourself it is still going to cost more than the truck is worth. I would recommend parting the truck out selling the parts online. You will probably make more money doing that than selling the truck as a whole. Doors for $300 a piece, wheels $100 a piece, seats in good shape $150 a piece, trim pieces, interior parts, brake system parts, etc... Parts add up to a lot of value especially if they are in good condition.
I did do most of it myself though and I know I spent my time which is worth something but I enjoy working on it. The only thing I just don't trust myself with is going all the way down to the head gasket. I live in an apartment so I subjected to wyomings weather in the winter and don't want to do it unless I had a garage and some time lol.
I can feel your predicament. If I had the space, I’d be more inclined to keep more cars as projects. But I live in the city, so space is hard to come by.
On top of that, you are dealing with the weather!
Yeah it sucks. This week its suppose to be -8 and this will last till about early May so either I get my mechanic to fix it or just wait till I have the time. I can wait on the leaky oil pan gasket but not for the lower intake manifold gasket or else i'll get the chocolate shake mix and that won't be good for me or my mechanic.
@sean90 If you can find somewhere covered to work on it then go for it. If you can find a service manual for the truck then you will have no problem tearing it down to the head gaskets. Think of it as big kid legos. The first time I ever worked on a car I pulled the engine in my subaru and replaced the head gaskets, timing belt and pretty much every other preventative maintenance item on the list. I had literally never done an oil change before that. I fixed it and put it back together and it worked great. It is still running. If you can get motivated and you enjoy working on the truck then keep it. If it is something enjoyable than it is worth the money. Also don't think you need a garage (unless it is actively snowing) I did everything in my driveway. Having somewhere with at least a roof is nice though.
yeah giant legos lol. The problem in wyoming unfortunately is the wind cause most days it 20 to 30mph winds and here and there it will climb to 50 to 90mph winds. Its almost impossible during the dead of winter. But when it warms up definitely will consider on doing it myself
Keep it for another 30 years.
someone will buy it as a collection.
Show our kids there was a kind of transportation tool called Body-On-Frame TRUCK
absolutely LOL! Grandfather has a 67 F150 that's been beat to hell and back but that would be a good one too.