I hope this is the right place to put this thread.

This is not about me, but about someone I know that has a hard time getting rid of anything. My father. I'm trying to convince him to get a new 2004 F150 or a new car or something. His 1997 F-150 XL Supercab 4x4 is falling apart and he's terrible at maintaining anything.

First off, Whenever you accelerate higher than 60 km/h or if you accelerate more than a little on the pedal, you can hear what can only be described as a clatter/rattle/metal on metal vibration sort of thing from the front of the truck, Sometimes you can feel it in the pedal but not usually unless you go over 60km/h.

Second, For some reason and it's getting worse, if I let go of the steering wheel for a millisecond, the truck will swerve to the right. I can feel the steering wheel jerk to the right at least once a second. Some tell me it's a simple front end alignment needed, some tell me it's a bushing problem or an axle problem. It's not the tires, the beads and tires are in great shape, that's been checked, because it was a free check. I won't help with this truck any longer because of the longer list of problems accumulating. I actually get scared if I'm in this truck or driving it at over 80km/h because the truck shakes, windows rattle, OMG, It's terrible.

Third, I can hear a rubbing sound when I go slow, like the tires rubbing on something but it's not coming from the tires, although it is coming from the front end. And, it even happens when the truck isn't moving.

Fourth, WHOA, another one. When the truck is idling, it goes rough once every 3 seconds or so.

This truck is 7 years old and is his primary vehicle and it has only 109,000 km's on it. Oh yeah here's a big one. when the trucks oil was changed (Ford's regular oil change). It was done at 92,000k. He didn't change the oil again till about 102,000 km's to 103,000 km's. He did however just add a litre of oil in once a week or so. Not very smart I told him. Only after this long oil change did the third and fourth problem come. Another problem is the gas tank keeps this almost farting sound every 5 seconds when idling no matter what the tank is at for fuel. It's annoying but I was told it's just a hose or something that's clogged.

What do you guys think? Should this truck be traded in? He reads this site and I believe that if he sees some responses that show that theses could be big problems and if it's smart for him to do a trade in, he just might. I don't know why he loves that truck so much.

Oh yeah, I have my own car and trust it a lot more than this truck. I don't want him to be on the side of the road paying for this truck, He bought it used and has 2 years left of payments on it.

 

I don't mean to sound harsh, but why would you want your dad to buy a brand-new truck? Even new vehicles need regular maintenance, and it doesn't sound like something he's into.

Besides, he's undoubtedly upside-down on the truck he has.

 

Simply because some problems would have been able to be looked at by a machanic if the vehicle would be under warranty. He's a good guy but he drives all his vehicles into the ground. At least with something new he could take it in if something went wrong and would be more aware of what maintainance would need to be done. He doesn't believe in spending a dime to find out what's wrong and he likes to fix everything himself even if he doesn't know how.

I want him to get a new vehicle but it's not because I want to drive it around everywhere, it's because I don't want to see him paying for something that doesn't work a few months from now which is where it's heading. It can be a brand new or slightly used Heritage f150 or 2002+ F150, it doesn't matter, or a car. He makes enough money and from the deals I've found for him, he would actually pay less for a new one.

 

That sounds like a real piece of sh*t. I don't know what's worse, having your family driving an unsafe vehicle or passing it on to a hopeful used car buyer.