Looking at buying a truck for my son and found a F150 with a V6...From what I have viewed,it looks to be a pretty dependable engine...Lots of those trucks for sale with over 150k for sale...

Just looking for experience and or opinions...

Thanks

 

we had a 99 e150 with the 4.2 for our delivery truck at work ad she held up well.5 years she never let us down. all we did was oil changes,brakes and normal maintanince stuff. we sold it with around 85k we needed a bigger box truck. we sold it to a contractor ans last i knew she was still running strong.

 

I had the 4.2l V6 in my '99 F150 with a 5spd stick and some other goodies. The engine held up very well! I never had any problems with it at all. I just did the normal maintainance schedule and it worked fine. I put 106k on it and it never ever let me down.

I went to a '03 Ford Escape... boy, what a mistake!!!!! That Duratec 3.0l V6 was plagued with issues from day one. I got more check engine lights out of that thing than I ever seen. I practically had the engine rebuilt by 60k. I had issues with the timing, spark plugs, air filter, maf sensor, iac went out 4 times, burned up 3 trannies, ate brakes at every 15k, had coolant leaks at 30k, 4x4 didn't work more than I could count... and when it did, it got stuck on and when I would make a sharp turn it would buck or the tires would go screeeech... thing practically lived in the service shop. I was not the only one that had these problems, there is a forum out there that has a bunch of people that own Escapes and they are the most problematic vehicle I've seen yet.

Now, back to a F150, which is a '07 with that 5spd stick, rwd, regular cab, 8' box... and I've got to say, I'm glad I'm back at home, cause this thing has not given me an issue yet at 2,500 miles. Right now my Escape had already a check engine light.

Why did I get rid of it?! Friend's influenced me to buy a 4x4 suv... next time I'll listen to my own ideas... like keep the reliable truck.

 

Buy it!

 

Not a big fan of the Ford V6.....

 

I have a 1999 F150 V6 with about 120k miles on it. I have replaced minor parts totalling a few hundred bucks but it has been reliable. I don't know if I would buy one with 150K on it. You might end up putting a lot of money into it depending on how well the PM has been over the years not to mention that it is pretty costly to fuel up now a days.

 

This particular one has 79K on it...It is an XL model, nothing special, this guy is the second owner and it has a check engine light on...But seems to run like a top... I checked and smelled the oil looked a little dirty and smelled normal.

It use to be some type of work truck before he bought it, has a bed liner with paint all over it. It seems to be pretty solid, really...it is AT and shifted nicely, I will check it out in CARFAX...Looks like a good project for a kid (Dad) to put a few bucks in and fix up...

On a side note for info...CARFAX is well worth investing into when looking for a used car...Saved me a few years ago from buying a lemon...Really a good deal..

Thanks all for the opinions

 

Much prefered the 4.9L straight six. Smooth, quiet, plenty of torque and bulletproof reliablilty. The 4.2L is is just a bored out version of Ford's 3.8L, a cheap entry level engine. The six works hard to move these trucks and most folks find that fuel economy is no better than with the 4.6L. Do a search on the V6 Forum about the intake gaskets on those engines. For a few years Ford used plastic gaskets (like GM did) and they would crack after repeated heat cycles allowing the engine to hydro. I believe these were fixed under recall. Make sure the truck you're interested in is not one with the plastic gasket or that the recall work was done to the vehicle.

 

I agree with Steelers that the fuel enconomy is junk with the 4.2 ltr. A bigger engine would have been better. I don't think the '99's had the plastic gaskets but I would check to be sure. I have read a lot of horror stories about F150's and Windstars and their bad head gaskets. It is not a bad truck as long as your son (or you) has the $$ to put in the gas tank every week. It is costing me around $60 to fill it up right now. Gas is around $2.53/gal.

 

What year is that one you are looking at?