I have been reminded of several things recently:
1.) Quit whining and count my blessings… a life path I have often advocated in my writings.
B.) There are many folks out there that have sympathy. They know how attached a man gets to a truck and how miserable he is when it’s not running. I even got a generous donation to PayPal. That was a huge pick me up. Thanks!
c.) It’s a Dodge. It’s a fucking miracle it ever runs at all.
IV.) I should have a Gatlin Gun in the back at all times.
Just for fun, I’m linking to a story from the last time the beast gave me a heart attack and burned my savings. Here’s the interesting part. Is my truck awesome because it hasn’t had any serious maintenance issues for seven years? Or… Is my truck a complete shitshow because this is the second time it blew out catastrophically for no reason and with no warning to the tune of many thousands of dollars? Can both be true at once? What’s the over/under for repairing an ’08 with 190K on the clock? If you’d asked me on Friday I’d have said she had a good 200K left in her. If you’d asked me on Saturday I’d be sitting in a tow truck cab fuming.
You place your bets and you takes your chances!
Take A Ride On The Death Wobble Express
My ‘rule of thumb’ is a vehicle is going to cost me $100 a month in maintenance, if nothing goes wrong in a year I should be saving that money because it will, eventually, cost me that.
Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I don’t but generally I may be pissed but I’m not that surprised.
I’m not one to criticize a person’s choices, but I can say that my 2000 F250 has 285,000 miles and the only major repair I’ve ever had to make was a rebuilt tranny (transmission, not guy who thinks he’s a chick; that word only had one meaning in my youth) at about 180k.
Not bad for a truck that’s old enough to order a drink at a bar.
I’ve owned vehicles from all the “big 3”. I’ve had pretty good luck with GMs, but I swore off Government Motors after the bailout in 2009. The Chrysler products I’ve had I’ve loved for purposes of looks, power and drivability, but reliability just flat sucked. The last one I owned I bought new in 1987 and sold as soon as the warranty ran out because there was no way I could afford to keep fixing it on my own dime.
At any rate, maybe I’ve just been lucky with mine, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s Ford trucks all the way.
I’m looking at a bad tranny at 190K miles. That’s about when yours croaked too. Are we having about the same experience? Admittedly mine croaked with a sudden and annoying betrayal of my trust. I’d have preferred a small breakdown to a “kaboom” breakdown but is it not true that we both wore out a tranny at just under 200K.
You’re right that Fords (especially older ones) have a good rep. When I bought my Dodge, I wanted a Ford F350 but the truck model year I was searching for was around 2008. Ford had “growing pains” with diesels of that era so I expanded my search and got a Dodge. The older Fords were OK but a little before 08 they switched engine supply lines. (There was a lot of “California won’t allow this or that diesel” happening right at 08 so I can see why they were forced into it. It was also the transition time between old “it’s a diesel… run it” and the newer “it needs DEF to save polar bears” engines.)
So Ford diesels before and after are great but around 08 they had a tendency to crater with no warning and for no reason. For a few years everyone was pissed about it. That time has passed. I’ve actually heard good things about newer Fords; I think they finally got the “make a diesel engine” thing figured out… though it’s now the DEF versions.
But life is what life is and I had to buy from among what was on the market at the time.
Incidentally I think the best solution to everything would be a Cummins (Dodge) engine with an Allison (Chevy) transmission in a Ford (actually made by ford) body and suspension. Every brand is imperfect in its own way.
Mine wasn’t a catastrophic failure. The transmission was making these weird “whooshing” noises whenever it shifted and sometimes it would shift hard or I’d have to back off the gas and hit it again to get it to shift, but I got it fixed before it outright failed.
But no worries since then so perhaps once you get past this hump, you’ll be good for a long while.
I understand exactly what you mean about taking the best choice available at the time and I don’t keep up with all the ins and outs of the various year models and which ones were best. Unless I total it or the frame rusts through, I can’t imagine I’ll ever get a different truck. Even if I’ve gotta put another tranny in or even drop a rebuilt engine, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a whole new truck. It will have to be unrepairable for me to not repair it is what I’m saying. I’m the same way with my bike…I’m fully expecting it to last until I’m flat not physically capable of riding anymore.
Anyway, good luck with your repairs and, as summer comes on…keep the shiny side up.
I thought at one point Ford gave up and installed International Diesels. Chevy used Izuzu. I had an 85 with a diesel which I loved but it had issues. Really, if the truck is otherwise in good shape, and it sounds like you maintain things, it’s always cheaper to replace parts.
Because you are looking at a small mortgage to replace it these days.
Today the JD 4850 15 speed powershift suddenly decided that not moving forward between 7th & 8th, nor any gear for that matter, is going to be it’s career choice of the day.
Thankfully I’ve an excellent mechanic on speed dial. He also will usually drop everything to come to the rescue.
1997 Dodge diesel with Banks something something. Apparently it’s a nice truck I bought at a used lot. Turns out it used to belong to a (now) friend “Hey, that was my truck!”
Takes a while to get to 50 but when it shifts to overdrive, 17 mpg at 65 mph on $3.10 diesel beats $3.25 gas.
Life is meant to be fun, with more than just moments of joy.