Hello everyone,
I just recently purchased a 1990 extended height Ford E-150 panel van with a lot of miles on it (~200K.) It has the 4.9 inline 6 cylinder, auto transmission, and dual fuel tanks.
I intend to use it for my part-time business. I deliver pinball machines and video games for collectors. (Full-sized arcade games that is, i.e. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the like.)
The high mileage concerned me a little, but it seems that the van has been reasonably well maintained, and it's running well. Although I'll be using it to pull a trailer with some weight in it, it will be almost entirely highway driving with very few starts and stops, so it shouldn't be too hard on it. I'm on a tight budget, so if I can get a year out of it before I have to buy something newer, I'll be happy. :-)
Anyway, not surprisingly given the age and mileage on the van, and what I paid for it, it does need some work... I know that it needs rear brake work - there is a good amount of corrosion on the brake lines on the rear axle, and some leakage from them, so I know that those lines will need to be replaced, and I think the wheel cylinders may be leaking. It probably needs other brake work int he rear as well. The front brakes seem to be in much better shape. From a quick visual inspection I couldn't find any leaks, and they seem to stop the van fine, with no pulling or pulsing. It also needs both fuel tanks cleaned out, a new fuel pump in the front tank, and new fuel level sensors in both of them. The place I purchased it from replaced two of the three fuel pumps (main and rear tank), and they did the rear tank pump while I was there observing. They and I agreed that the reason it was going through fuel system components so quickly was no doubt a result of all the crud in the tanks clogging everything up, so hopefully cleaning out the tanks will be a more permanent solution to this. It also sounds like it has a small exhaust leak near the manifolds, although I haven't been able to find it yet. So it could need one or both exhaust manifolds replaced, or a new gasket, or it could just be a loose exhaust fitting somewhere.
The above are the only things that seem to be obviously wrong with it, but since I plan to put some miles on it, I'd also like someone more qualified than myself to take a good critical look at it and try to identify anything else that may cause trouble in the near future, and let me know what else I need to do to it.
My dilemma is that I just recently moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, and don't really know enough people here yet to get a recommendation to a local mechanic. I've tried the mechanic that my fiance's mother uses ("the only honest mechanic in town" is what people here refer to him as), but unfortunately, he seems to be pretty well booked most of the time. I've had the van for two weeks now, and he hasn't even been able to get it in to take a look at it. Although I can afford to be somewhat patient right now, given that I'll be using it for my business, if it breaks down in the future when I have deliveries scheduled, I need someone I can rely on to deal with it quickly, not someone that may take a few weeks just to be able to look at it.
So, my question is, does anyone here know of a reliable mechanic in or around the Battle Creek, Michigan area who could help me out, or better yet, are any mechanics from the area members of the newsgroup that would like to take on something like I described above?
I'm really looking for someone that is used to dealing with commercial use vehicles and who understands that downtime costs money, and who can do the work quickly for a fair, honest rate. (And by "fair" I mean fair. I'm not one of those people looking for someone to work for pennies on the dollar. I just don't want to get ripped off either.)
Thanks in advance for any advice!
- Jeff
gamemover.com
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