so i am buying this truck it has a 302 engine in it and 66,000 original miles on it. what should i be looking to see what is wrong on this truck. ( for exampl are these stong engines and trans) the body is in great shape it was a california truck very litle rust. any info would be great.

 

The 302 was a great motor seeing it is a 86 might need a new exhaust. Also make sure the odometer hasn't flipped over already they go to 100,000 then flip back to zero. My says i have 24000 on it now when in reality it has 124000. Just do a simple car fax to see.

 

you should look for leaks in the breaks, leaks in the cooling system, any leaks in particular. also exhaust problems. and youll probably have to do some catching up with maitnence and what not. had to do alot for my 91 f150

 

The exhaust is a common weak link, and it tends to rot out. Check it out.

The 302 was probably the worst of the 3 choices (300 I6, 302 V8, and 351 V8). It's not a bad motor, just worse than it's other counterparts. It has nothing on the bottom end, and you'll be revving it to 2500+ to get any oomph out of it, so it's not super with towing. Kinda odd to see it in a 250, most of them have the 351 or 460. Reliability wise they're fine. Puts out about 180hp, like 270 pounds of torque

Check the coolant. Is it the color of mud/rust? There's an indicator you'll have a lot of catch-up maintenance to do.

Examine all the underhood hoses, and look for rotty/collapsed lines, or evidence of dried fluids, indicating a leak.

The brakes on my '93 pooped the bed a few months ago, the T over the rear axle let go and I ended up rear-ending a minivan. Check all the lines, they're easy to see. They run right along the frame rails. If they look rusty to the point you can chip bits off, plan on replacing them.

Make sure you test-drive. Is the steering straight or does it pull to one side? Any hesitation/missing in the motor? Is the transmission quick and smooth? Slow "catching" of gears or harsh shifts indicate either neglect or bad seals/valves.

 

Simply use common knowledge when checking it out, rattles, shakes, knocks and put your hand by the tailpipe some people have doctored motors up that burn oil by putting synthetic in them because it doesnt burn if it has synthetic and is sending oil into the cylinders your hand or a sheet of paper over the tail pipe should figure that out. Overall 302 is a great motor i dont see how it can be a weak link just be happy it isnt a 400M now thats a weak link. Ive hear of and personally encountered 302s well over 250k i had an E-150 that had 256k on it before sold as far as i know its still going down the road.