someone help me before i am forced to switch to chevy
 

:(i had a mustang that i just junked, i had it for 2 months and the transmission died, it had 80k miles, whatever i said i just moved on, now i have an f150, ive had it for 3 weeks and yesturday it stalled as i was pulling into a parking space, im in college i cant afford to keep buying new vehicles. so here it is its a 97 f150, 2wd 4.6l its got 150k miles on it. it drove fine before that then stalled at like 5 mph and wont restart, i can hear the starter ingaging but it wont turnover the motor. it didnt stall with a bang or anything like that, whats wrong with my truck. i dont want to jump ship to chevy but im so sick of replacing my fords. please help me.

take the belt off then try to crank it.

If you buy an 11 year old Chevy with 150k on it dont expect better. If you drive old cars expect to have to fix them (and you better maintain them if you want them to be dependable).

I'd suggest dropping the hint at home that you want a OBDII code reader for Christmas. You're going to need one regardless of driving a Ford, GM, or Dodge. The reader works on all of them.Once you have the codes pulled, then folks here can tell you how to fix it, otherwise, it's a guess at best. If a reader is out of the question, if you can get it to any Auto Zone, they will read the codes for free. Or you might offer beer for trade for coming by the house and reading them but I've never seen that happen yet.
Here's a basic one:
http://www.autobarn.net/equ3030.html
It reads the codes and you can erase the codes once fixed. You probably don't need anymore info than that anyway.

ive been buying 30 year old high milage monte carlos since i got my license and they never gave me a prob. (except rust holes) 90's vehicles just suck. i can fix anything on my chevys but i liked the f150 and decided that id get one. now im 4 grand deep in what is turning out to be a big mistake. anyone else got any ideas?


ps. thanks labnerd im gonna pick one up, good lookin out

I myself have a 37 year old Mustang that runs perfect. I've rebuilt the whole car almost though. First thing you need to do is get a breaker bar with a socket that fits the bolt on the crank shaft pully and see if the engine is seized. If it wont turn you need an engine. If it does then you probably have an electrical issue.

Probly your battery since it stalled at a low speed and wont restart. That would be the best place to start since you said it was driving fine up till then.

Are you getting gas at the cylinders, do you have spark at the plugs, did a CEL come on. You need to check out the basic's and let us know what you find out so we can get you through this problem. I bought an Equus Scanner, love it, and I was able to diagnose alot of different vehicles and problems with it, including my 1998 F150. When you say the starter is engaging, is the starter gear engaging your flywheel and not turning over the engine at all. Have you checked your battery for correct voltage.
At this point, we need more info to assist you.
If you are going to bail out on Ford, Chevy would not be my 1st choice. Unless your engine is seized, your problem is very fixable.
Let us know,
TJKinCNY

Sounds like something simple, these 97 trucks are tough and the 4.6 is almost indestructable (unless totally abused...).

I have had them all-Dodge, Chev, imports and I will tell you-they are all the same, the imports needed as much repairs as any of the rest. The Dodge was downright crap (it was beautiful to look at though) the Chev was a repair weekly vehicle...

Ford even said that the 97 truck on it's debut was a 10 year truck, yours is 11 so not bad...

Check out your options..I for one would only buy another Ford.

Sounds to me like something simple, electrical at that. Check the battery, alternator and solenoid. These items go in a group usually many times with the starter. Not that driving the Monte's are a bad thing, just don't give up so fast on the Ford.

First off, I wouldn't consider any vehicle that's over 10 years old with that many miles "new". Who knows how the previous owner took care of that kinda vehicle. It's a gamble, that's why they're cheap.

How long ago did you get your license? 2 years ago? How many monte carlos did you buy? Why aren't you driving those instead of the F150?

If your Chevy had the same problem, how would you go about fixing it? Follow the same steps and you should be able to figure out the Ford.

- NCSU

Hey Big Daddy;
since it layed down at low speed i wouldnt think it's an engine issue,and at this point a scanner is not going to be much help.If it just quit running and rolled to a stop i would guess electrical or fuel,when you hit the starter does it try to turn over the engine??? Have you CHECKED the simple things that make all vehicles run? 12 volts [spark],air, fuel, compression?Without this info you would need a guru.If you know that your batt. and stater are in good shape I would next step to JETHATS advice

buy a chev it should do better then 150,000 miles without any work :rolleyes: see ya :wave:

its new to me, you knew what i meant, iv had 3 monte super sports, an 86, an 88, and the big boy 72. the 88 was my first one i broke the frame after jumping off a railroad track, the 86 was next, i hit a 10 point buck a 65 an then skidded against a tree, and the 72 i sold when i moved from northern mass to florida becasue i couldnt afford the gas to drive down. and the montes didnt really have very complex electrical systems or computers and deffinatly no efi. its apples and oranges

So what you said earlier, is irrelevant because as you said, it's apple to oranges. If you buy old cars, you will have to pay to maintain them.

Jumping off a rail road track? Brilliant.

Selling a car because you can't afford to drive it, then buying an F150? Genius!

So you've had your license for two years and destroyed three vehicles, or are there more? As a Freshman in college I'd seriously consider getting rid of the truck, and not worry about a ride for a year or two. If you need transportation to go to work, go buy a cheap, lightly used car from Carmax. They'll give you a warranty so you won't have to worry about this kinda stuff while you're in school.

It's all about priorities.

- NCSU