I just purchased a F-150 with 160,000 miles on it. It runs great no knocking or anything. Does anyone recommend a easy and low cost method to really know the condition of my engine and trans?

 

drain motor oil and see what comes out (metal or thick oil or anything out of the ordinary). and check tranny fluid color and level.

 

Drive it for another year & that should help you decide!........

 

You can check for some basics of motor health by running an oil sample at Blackstone Labs: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/. It costs around $20. This will tell you if there's any fuel or coolant getting into the oil.

This can find serious problems that you might not be aware of otherwise. They once found a few percentage points of fuel dilution in the engine oil of one of my cars. This was causing excessive engine wear, but there was no outside indication of the problem-- no noticeable drop in fuel economy, no smell of fuel in the oil, no CEL. The problem turned out to be a leaky fuel injector. Replacing the injectors solved the problem.

I don't know if a trans fluid analysis is available for your trans-- is the fluid a nice clear red with no burnt smell? While not scientific, that will tell you a bit about how the previous owner cared for it.

 

It's yours. Drive it! There is no point doing anything else. It may be worth doing a plug change and a trans flush if you don't know when they were done last. While the plugs are out a leak down test can be done to see how well the rings still seal. If it still runs ok, I wouldn't mess with it. It is a used truck after all. FWIW my '97 F-150 has over 300,000K on the original engine and trans (4.6W and 4R70W).