I want to know what ya'lls version of "Dependable" is! I don't hear of many catastrophic failures ('05 injector failures notwithstanding) of either engine until well north of 200K miles. I also don't hear of a lot of people talking about being stranded too much with the 5.4L (or any other engine). Seems pretty dependable in my book.

 

I would expect at a minimum you'll need chains and tensioner's in the next couple of years and definitely time to change the plugs. So I would try to get him down another $1500 to account for the work you'll surely need to do on it or at least give you a 1yr / 12K warranty included.

 

I don't know how a private seller could even give a 12k/1yr warranty on a truck with that many miles. $1,500 off, maybe but I don't see him letting the truck go for $5,800 when book value is $8-10k.

I do need to factor in a plug change. Is there a thread on how to DIY this? Since it's the 4.6L and not much worry about broken plugs would it be that difficult to do? The plugs are only $30 or so. What are your thoughts about www.rockauto.com for parts?

 

I agree, the 5.4L won't leave you stranded. The maintenance can be a PITA and they are excessively noisy, but outside of that I wouldn't call it "not dependable." If you have an 05, swap the injectors. That's about the only recurring cause for failure. The 4R75E transmission seems much more prone to problems than the engine is.

 

The majority of people that have problems with their trans never changed the fluid every 30k miles like they should have.

 

Bought it for $7k. Here's some better pictures http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=1c13a2356c