should I rebuild the engine or trade it in????? advice please

I own a 94 Ford F-150 XLT, 4wd...all the goodies. She has the 5litre v8.

302 I believe.

The truck has 188000 miles on her. Still runs good but she is tired. The questions is should I trade her in or have the engine rebuilt?? I truly love this truck and looking at the prices of new trucks am leaning toward having the engine rebuilt and staying with old faithful.

Some questions regarding a rebuild:

I am assuming I will notice improved performance but what about improved fuel ecomony?? Can I expect to see a gain in efficieny?

What is a good price bracket for an engine rebuild? How much is too much to pay for this service? what would be a fair price to pay to have it done by a competent person?

What type of warranty is typically included or is that something that is not typically offered?

Need any advice you could proffer.

please respond or email me directly at snipped-for-privacy@carolina.rr.com

Thank you in advance :)

Reply to
MARK GILES
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Performance: Definite improvement. How much improvement depends on whether you do a routine rebuild or take this opportunity to goose it up a bit. Economy: Nope, probably no improvement there. How much: I'm thinking around $2,000 to $2,500. Warranty: Not sure. Advice Profered: You like your truck so go with the rebuild. jor

Reply to
jor

|I own a 94 Ford F-150 XLT, 4wd...all the goodies. She has the 5litre v8. |302 I believe. | |The truck has 188000 miles on her. Still runs good but she is tired. The |questions is should |I trade her in or have the engine rebuilt?? I truly love this truck and |looking at the prices of |new trucks am leaning toward having the engine rebuilt and staying with old |faithful. | |Some questions regarding a rebuild: | |I am assuming I will notice improved performance but what about improved |fuel ecomony?? Can |I expect to see a gain in efficieny? | |What is a good price bracket for an engine rebuild? How much is too much to |pay for this service? |what would be a fair price to pay to have it done by a competent person? | |What type of warranty is typically included or is that something that is not |typically offered? |Need any advice you could proffer.

Mark i could have written this post myself. I have that exact same identical truck, with only a little less mileage. I am wrestling with the same problem. Engine smokes, uses oil. ABS and brake lights come on sometimes, and the airbag light flashes constantly. But it drives good, and tows well even with that little 5.0.

I thought I found the solution 2 weeks ago, in the form of an immaculate F350, crew cab, long bed, 351W with E40D. High mileage, well cared for, bargain price. But it gets 10 mpg, and when I tow it gets really expensive. So now I'm looking at the '94 with a fresh eye.

Biggest question in my mind: Once I get a new motor (reman long block) in it, and all new hoses, water pump, sensors as needed etc., will it then nickle and dime me to death as other things fail - window motors, switches, and such? At what point do you settle for a newer truck and move one? We would both be interested in what others have done in this situation.

Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

For me it was something I had been looking forward to! :)

I got my engine re-built and picked an economy cam for it. Was also told to get EdelBrock chain and sprockets.

Bought it new in '75 and the gas mielage slowly dwindled until after the re-build... now it has more power than when new and better gas milage both, no kidding on that... yep it's possible especially when the original engine had a gas guzzling "smog" cam in it. The truck passes the smog test better than it ever did too. Win win win

All that for some bucks and an opportunity to work on the pickup without that pesky motor in the way. ;)

You could put a stroker kit etc in your 302 and make a powerhouse out of it if you wanted to. ;)

Not what I wanted.

Nickeled and dimed to death? ...as compared to what? Monthly dollared to life? ;)

Alvin in AZ ps- done a bunch of stuff to my pick as improvements pps- none that you can see from the outside, BTW :) ppps- I'm not one of those weirdos with all that shit all over their pickup! All the weido-shit is inside my head. :(

Reply to
alvinj

Just keep in mind that you will still have a high mile used truck, not the new one.

Reply to
351CJ

I'm sure some nickle-dime parts will fail. It happens to the best of them. To me, I think the most important thing is the body condition. Rusted out? Dented up? Interior ragged out? If not, I think it's worth a rebuilt engine. When you add the price of the engine , and then tack on a few future $$$ for small parts here and there, I think it will still be quite a bit less than the price of a new truck. I've been slowly rebuilding a 68 F-250. I've already put a rebuilt engine, new front end, and many, many small parts. I'm still way, way short of new truck price. And I don't have to bother with that pesky smog test, being my truck is over 25 years old. "Texas law". One thing...If you stick a rebuilt engine into a older truck to sell only, you might be hard pressed to get all your money back. Depends how much of the work you did yourself.I would only stick an engine into a truck I planned to keep and drive for quite a while. MK

Reply to
Mark Keith

Yeah good point! Forgot about that one. :)

Costs of fixing something up "right" so you can use it "back up" are cheaper than payments but for resale they don't work out so good. ;)

My pickup ('75 F150 just went past 200K miles on the odometer) runs better, rides better, is quieter, gets better gas milage has a better clutch, more powerful engine and better steering than when it was new. I'm not kidding about any of that either. Worth it? To me... yes, every minute and every dollar. :)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

Flip a coin for the rebuild. There are pro's and con's both ways.

But don't ever take a trade-in to a car lot. You'd just be giving it away.

And if you're gonna do that, I'm always in the market for a free truck, worn out or not :)

jm .02

Reply to
Wheeler.Dealer

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