Here is what I came up with using what I said. I used a Silverado Chevy and a Lariat Ford. Same miles, added no options.

1998 Chevrolet C1500 PICKUP-1/2 Ton-V8
Fleetside Extended Cab 61/2'
50,000 miles

Average Trade-In Average Retail
Base Price $11,825 $14,200

Mileage Adjustment
50,000 miles add: $550 $550

Options and Equipment
Silverado Trim add: $550 $550

Total Price $12,925 $15,300


1998 Ford F150 PICKUP-1/2 Ton-V8
Styleside Supercab "S" 6 3/4'
50,000 miles

Average Trade-In Average Retail
Base Price $9,925 $12,175

Mileage Adjustment
50,000 miles add: $550 $550

Options and Equipment
Lariat Trim (XL) add: $1,000 $1,000

Total Price $11,475 $13,725

1998 Ford F150 PICKUP-1/2 Ton-V8
Styleside Supercab XL 6 3/4'
50,000 miles

Average Trade-In Average Retail
Base Price $11,175 $13,525

Mileage Adjustment
50,000 miles add: $550 $550

Options and Equipment
Lariat Trim (XL) add: $1,000 $1,000

Total Price $12,725 $15,075

I used to difference Ford models, an "S" and an "XL" which I don't know what the diff is. The XL and the Chevy are pretty close actually.

 

"I used to difference Ford models, an "S" and an "XL" which I don't know what the diff is. The XL and the Chevy are pretty close actually."

HUH???

I'm not really sure what you're comparing, but if it is an XL model Ford to a Silverado Chevy, you're way off base. The XL is entry level, no frills while Silverado is top-of-the-line. Naturally there is going to be a disparity between the two.

STX's values are a range because of varying conditions of used vehicles. If you want a relative comparison, look at the top end which would be similar vehciles in comparable "best" condition. I see the Fords consistently having higher values than the other brand.

 

I'm not sure where your getting your numbers from, but if you will take a look at your own references you listed in your original post the numbers just flat out don't support what your saying. I have no question you can pull out a newspaper and find plenty of examples of a Chevy selling for a grand more than a comparable Ford, but obviously those numbers are pretty subjective. If you will look at the numbers overall both on the low end and the high end if anything it appears Ford's may even have a better resale value depite on average (especially in the past) selling for less brand new. When you compare heavy duty models, there is no comparison whatsoever, Ford clearly holds it's value better. Consumer Reports has been comparing resale value and depreciation for years, I don't have the numbers here in front of me, but the differences between the two are nowhere near that drastic.

 

Must be gaslines you been testing and sniffing all them fumes done made you pareniod.

I have a '99 F150 5.4L with now over 198,000 miles. Trouble free miles. No door cracks, no piston slap, no headgasket failures, no oil leaks, no problems. And yes I drive it with a very heavy foot approximatily 60k a year with only routine maintenace and very few minor repairs (radiator hoses, battery, brake pads, that type of thing)
I WAS a cheby guy tell this thing 'flipped' me. I now own a '99 Expy 5.4L as well (also trouble free at 31,500 miles)

So get out and live a little. You are spending to much time 'buried' in these threads reading tails of pain. Remember many people find their way here when researching problems they have had with their trucks, others find it because they are true enthusists. Not much representation from the millions of middle ground types that are happily and quitily enjoying their ownership experiance out there.

 

Probably very true. A lemon exists everywhere, just hate that I have one with the paint issues. Mechanically, if it stays sound, I will be happy. Mine is a quality control issue anyway, not a failure.

 

I usually just read posts here about the F150 and don't make many comments but I have to weigh in here. I purchased a new 1999 F150 SC with the 5.4 litre engine in August of 1999 so my truck is 3yrs old and has 35,650 miles, a hair under the warranty. After reading the posts that have come up lately about head gaskets, this past weekend, I decided to check mine to make sure I didn't have a problem as I intended to take the truck in for a few small warranty repairs. Unfortunately I found a leak in the passenger side gasket although the leak was minor.

I delivered the truck to the dealer Monday morning asking him to take care of the following - all of which I have seen similar posts on F150Online.

1. Door cracks - I don't have any but I am asking him to do the re-inforcement fix as I don't want them to show in in 10K more miles or 100K more miles
2. Intermittant wiper/washers - the bad dielectric grease story
3. Drivers side power windows that make the rumble going up - he replaced the passenger side about a year ago when it was doing the same thing.
4. apparent head gasket leak
5. rough idle - he said this was normal last time I brought it in but I thought I would have it looked at again - just for fun.
6. Strange sucking sound on heavy acceleration

Look guys - I love my truck. I really don't care about the resale value as I typically buy a vehicle new and drive it till the wheels fall off. I fully expected this truck to go 200K+ miles as my everyday vehicle and then I would swap it out with the toyata T100 I use as my hunting/fishing truck that has 240K miles on it. Other than the problems listed above, I have had to go to the use of Mobil1 synthetic due to the piston slap issue and have lived with the rough idle since about 5K miles on the truck. What really bothers me about this is that the dealers hands are tied in helping me out as Ford's re-imbursement policy to dealers on warranty issues is very specific. According to the dealer (BTW, the dealer servicing the vehicle is not the dealer where I purchased the truck, the original dealer sold the dealership to someone else) is that from a warranty standpoint, he can't investigate the rough idle and expect to be re-imbursed on the idel issue unless my check engine light comes on. Ford's official statement on piston slap is that it is "normal".

I paid about $21K for the truck and I feel the quality and the customer service/relations issues at least in my circumstance have been **** poor to say the least. My wife drives a 2000 Toyota Avalon and with 40K miles on it and the only time if has been to the dealer is for oil changes so I really don't have a good comparison with other dealers and manufacturers. After spending that amount of money on a truck, I don't feel comfortable that I will get what I expected out of the truck and if I could take back the purchase I would and I would buy a Tundra, fully understanding that it would cost me several thousand dollars more for a comparible truck.

Also, the dealer did call me today and let me know that the head gasket was bad. Said he had already replaced the window mechanisms, fixed the wiper switch and that the sucking sound was air pockets in the heater core feed line and that a restrictor was placed in the line to prevent it from reoccuring(he said this was common on the 1999 F150s). He indicated that there was a machining flaw in the block and that more than likely either the head or the whole engine would be replaced - they would be measuring things tomorrow. I didn't think I would ever be happy to hear that a dealer had to replace an engine in a vehicle of mine with 35K miles but a full engine replacement would suit me fine - I just want a truck I can depend on. I also believe that if they don't replace the engine now, they will be doing it later as I expect a recall to be forthcoming from everything I have read.

I am pleased to see some people appear to be very happy with their trucks and that gives me some level of comfort that things may work out and maybe mine will. I will let you know that I have griped enough to Ford (emails to Bill Ford do get answered - don't ask me for his email address) that they have given me an extended warranty on my truck to 5 yrs or 75K miles so that is at least one positive - I will keep the truck at least that long.

 

Friends '98 f-150 5.4 had 140,000 on it when he sold it. Im sure I put 15k on it myself. He probably put 40k-60k on it with a 4,000lb trailer since he owned a lawn service company. BTW, he bought it when he was 18 and sold it when he turned 21. He didnt drive it like an old man, thats for sure. Abs sensor went bad at 70k. Oil changed every 3k. Piston slap? Never happend. Bad head gasket? Never went bad. The only reason he sold it was to buy his wife a car.

I think there are always lemons. Always defects. Always things we think should be taken care of. It just doesnt happen. It occurs in cars, TV's and hamburgers. We have 2 choices.

1. Accept the unfortunate reality that nothing will ever be perfect and few people will accept responsibilty at the cost of their own wallets (ie the big corporations).

2. Get over it and sleep well at night.

My uncle has a '00 Suberban and a '98 camero. Both have had alternator problems and a couple sensor problems. What are you gonna do? A vehicle has thousands of moving parts, is continually subject to the elements, and the pedal is mashed everytime somebody cuts us off. Perfection is unatainable and the idealistic thougths that $30,000 buys perfection is unrealistic. You cannot buy happiness. Your best hope is to attempt to pay off unhappiness, and $30k just isn't enough.

Thats my 2 cents and a dime's change, so buy whatever rocks your dock.

 

As usual it's the same old story, we all love our trucks... Period... With that said, Ford's customer services for the most part across the board still completely sucks. I doubt Chevy or Dodge's customer service would be much better... Despite not caring much for the Tundra all-around, I too would atleast consider one if I was buying a new truck strictly due to Toyota's better customer service. Over time Ford will either turn the corner and improve there customer service, or you can bet they will lose there position as the best selling vehicle on the road.

 

I just traded my '95 F150 in on a '99 F150 with the 5.4L. All this talk of oil leaks, blown head gaskets, & recalls makes me a bit nervous. I've had the truck 2 months, & I like it so far. I have it scheduled for some warranty work next week, as it has developed a tick that sounds like a leaking exhaust gasket, plus the steering will clunk at times.
I only have a 4 month warranty, so could you folks give me some pointers on where to look for potential problems, like what area to look in for the oil leak, & how to tell if the head gasket is leaking.

Thanks,
Tracy

 

You guys who take the position that s*&T happens and it's best to just live with it have me shaking my head. My 99 F250LD had the door cracks and head leak at 18000 miles. I should just accept this??? Are you nuts!!! I paid thirty grand for a truck that I expected to take me well over 100000 miles. Then I begin to have these problems. Then I find this website and discover that there are many many people who are haveing the EXACT SAME problems. I understand completely that perfection is un-obtainable but when my imperfections surface I do whatever it takes to make things right and I expect nothing less from those I deal with. If you are willing to accept this crappy manufacturing and customer service today you better be prepared for what you will get tommorrow because it will only get worse.

 

Let me be honest here guys. I have a 2000 F-150 XLT 5.4 L with Piston Slap, roof rain channel paint is cracked, just discovered a real axle seal leaking, rear end clunking, and just had the upper ball joints replaced with only 24,000 miles on this vehicle. BTW all these issues are documented by the garage in which I bought the truck. Ford was generous enough to give me a 5 year 75,000 bumper to bumper warranty to cover the piston slap issue.

This should not happen with this new of a vehicle. I really like the truck but Ford's quality is going down hill in my opinion. In my opinion they should just recall the whole truck.

Ron

 

Ron, who is not being honest?

1. I just posted what MY experiance has been (very many trouble free miles)

2. why should the whole line of 600,000+ 2000 F150 trucks be 'recalled' ? Recalls are excercised only for specific issues, not intire vehicals. I am sorry you got a truck that is sub par as it sure sounds like you are unhappy with it. Where was yours assembled? You have to understand that with hundreds of thousands of these being producsed (with many subassemblies coming from verious suppliers and other plants that any modern vehical is an incrediably complex undertaking. Yes problems get by and qaulity is always easier to talk about then it is to produce.

That said, perhaps you could see a lawyer who specializes in 'lemon-law' and try to get some lemonade.

 

Petrol,

These symtoms that I described are what some other F-150 owners experience and not just specific to my truck. For example why should any of us tolerate a $30,000 truck with piston slap due to poor engineering work by Ford?

These issues that I'm experiencing are not assembly line problems, there due to poor quality control and engineering. Just read the issues with the F-150 here and notice that we share many of the same problems with our trucks.

BTW my dream ever since I was a younging was to own a F-150 supercab and just last year I finally was able to purchase a $30,000 plus F-150 XLT only to find out I'm not the only one dealing with these same issues. It's pretty hard to digest when a man spends his hard earned money to find out that these problems exist and Ford continues building trucks knowing the that the issues exist.

Ron

 

Ok, I don't own a 5.4 I have a 4.2. I have had a leaky head gasket. I have owned a number of cars/trucks and never had a leaky or bad head gasket. So here's the two problems I see.

PROBLEM 1.
Ford's engineering is not doing so well these days (i.e. door cracks, bad head gaskets or heads or blocks across the line 4.2, 4.6 and 5.4, and other common problems)

NOTE: That is not a quality control issue it is an engineering issue. That means either it was not designed correctly so it could be built in production or it just was not designed and tested correctly.

PROBLEM 2.
Alot or most people just "deal" with the problem and don't DEMAND it be corrected. When that happens why would FORD try to correct the problem by redesigning to correct the problem when it will cost them money. It cost them much less to deal with the "FEW" who do demand them to correct the problem.

Very few people change when they don't have to, when they are not forced to. Why would anyone expect Ford to change if people don't force them to correct the problem.

You can not tell me that if 90% of the people with problems were going to their dealer and forcing them to fix the problem, or by law suits or what ever means that Ford would not change and fix their continuing problems. They would indeed change because it would cost them less money to make a product correct then have to pay out to fix all the problems or lose the unhappy customers.

That is with any business. If you make subpar product and have bad customer service you will not survive unless you have customers "bending over" and saying thank you

So it makes no logically sence to me to "just live with it"

If I had a problem and I was the only one to e-mail Ford complaining about it, most likely they would not pay much attention to it, I mean it's only one e-mail. but if everyone on this site sent an e-mail for the same problem on the same day (25,000 plus people on this site) you bet it would open some eyes. The more people that speak out the better the chance for change. Think about it.

Oh, and if your the type that don't mind bending over, don't forget some vasoline

 

01 XLT Sport Said

That's assuming all 25000 members have the same problems you do, which they do not. A fraction does. I don't think anyone is suggesting problems with your vehicles aren't serious. The fact is the vast majority who don't have problems will ever post on a site like this. The folks who do tend to be very vocal about it.

Head gasket leaks are not an engineering issue when the vast majority of trucks don't have the issues. That is a Quality Control issue with bad blocks /heads leaving the manufacturing plant.

Every brand has its share of issues. Check out other boards for that.

Owner of two trouble free F150's. Off soapbox...