'99 Ranger pickup with 250k...Should I buy it?

[dsmith41]

A good friend of mine has a 1999 Ford Ranger Supercab 4x4, manual trans with 250k miles and he will give it to me for $2500. He bought it with 225k when he worked at Carmax a few months ago.

He bought it because he had a Carmax mechanic look it over and he said one of the bolts or straps or something or rather that holds the engine to the mounts was different than from factory. He said this likely meant the engine was not factory either so it had less miles on it than the odometer was showing.

My friend has had no problems with it in the past 25k miles. The throwout bearing could be going bad but that's not too tough of a fix I don't think. Then again it could just be some kind of clutch rattle that is harmless. The clutch seems to be in great shape and isn't slipping at all.

Bluebook value for the thing is like $4000 but that sounds high to me. I was wondering how many of you would take the plunge on a 250k mile truck for $2500. Also, is there an easy way to tell if the engine is original? I'm sure there has to be a serial number somewhere but I don't know where.

Eta: My friend is a meticulous maintainer just like me. Oil has been changed every 4k with M1 Clean 5000 since he has owned it. Coolant flush was done and manual transmission fluid was changed. First thing I would do is change the fluid in both diffs. The 4wd STILL works!

 

[daves87rs]

Sounds a bit high to me.

 

[tomcat27]

why do you think the throwout bearing is going bad? they usually make a scraping sound when the clutch is pushed in. a rattle may simply be the springs on the clutch plate. as far as an easy fix... by who? pulling it yourself can be a one or two evening project. paying someone can cost some coin. perhaps its a different engine. perhaps its simply a newer motor mount. it's not a bad idea to do a compression test on the engine....

 

[dsmith41]

I forgot to say, I'm doing a compression test on Thursday. We have a compression tester at work.

 

[Johnny]

I'm sure it's a nice little truck, but for being 12-years old with 250K, that price sounds a little steep to me.

 

[Chris142]

$2500 sounds ok to me. Heres the KBB values for that truck with 250k on it.

Condition Value

Excellent $3,740
Good $3,415
Fair $2,865

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
I'm sure it's a nice little truck, but for being 12-years old with 250K, that price sounds a little steep to me.


That's what I was thinking, I don't think I'd pay more than $1500 for it. With a truck that old/mileage, things start failing much sooner than later.

 

[crazyoildude]

$500.00 tops in good condition

 

[rjundi]

Overpriced....

Even at that little money I would not want a worn and likely near worn out truck in age/mileage.

There are so many Rangers out there, why this one?

 

[The_Jeff]

If the mechanic noticed a different engine in, that shows they did not pay much attention to detail.

Even worse, he's a general purpose used car mechanic, and doesn't work on fords all day.

I don't get why someone would drive a 4x4 that many miles per year... most couriers use base 4 cyl 2wd pickups if they use them.

 

[UncleS2]

In a word: No.

 

[JDD]

I would pass. The manuals can be a bit balky on those and not that long lived. as others have said, there are better deals to be had out there. Too many miles and not enough known history. It sounds like a $1000 truck at best.

 

[dsmith41]

Okay, I'm leaning against it.

 

[MNgopher]

For the year truck, the mileage is high, but not excessive. Figure 11 years, thats about 22,000 miles a year. I've had a rear wheel drive truck and driven lots of miles for work, and won't be going back again. 4x4 only.

I'd agree that $2500 is a bit high. Unless the truck is in perfect condition and you knew everything about the maintenance history (which you do not, only the last 25k), I'd pass.

The flip side is that pickups, even the Ranger, still have utility as a work truck even at high mileage, and thus command higher pricing than you'd see out of a car in a similar state. My general rule of thumb is if its a pickup and it runs, its worth a grand. Someone will usually bite.

For what its worth, I'm selling my '99 F150 4x4 with 192,000 miles on it to a relative for about $2500. In this case, all the maintenance and driving history is known, he and I have done nearly all the work on the truck (he is a mechanic by trade). I'd knock a pretty high amount of for unknowns given the unknown history in your case.

 

[chet2]

i would pay 1500.00 tops

 

[Scienceman]

Probally a great truck, but even I will say it just don't seem like something to jump on.

 

[addyguy]

Too high IMO. $1500 maybe.

 

[CErnst]

the good friend that works at carmax wouldn't go by the name JWAD00 on other forums does he?

I think I read a thread on ranger-forums.com about him picking up a ranger that had high miles...but that may have been a different ranger as it was a year or so ago.

All else aside, I'd pick it up if I knew the other guy kept up on maintenance. There really isn't much to the Ranger. If it is a 2nd vehicle...I wouldn't even worry about downtime. Then you can show up at the meets (which I've yet to make one).

 

[crw]

Not to thread jack, but what's with the KBB, NADA, Edmunds, etc., price guides?? They're all over the map! Go to each site and plug in your data, and get pretty big differences. If I'm buying, I use Edmunds because they are the lowest! KBB is insane.

 

[crw]

Having said that, once you're over 200K, throw out the book and just go on what you can see.

If your friend has put on 25K in the last few months, has he ever stopped driving? Then again, he probably knows this truck pretty well by now, and if he is a good friend, he probably doesn't want to sell you a problem. So it could be worth looking into.