Tips on Buying a Used Truck

Originally Posted by ChrisSlicks

The 1500 Ram's had all kinds of issues with warped heads in that time period. Avoid with a 10-ft poll. You just don't know what your getting.

The thing to look out for on the older F-150's is the issue with the spark plugs. The bore is fairly shallow which allows some of the threads to be exposed inside the combustion chamber. Over time these exposed threads oxidize making removal very difficult, and over time the plugs have a tendency to work themselves loose, especially after the plugs have been replaced once (high mileage vehicles). 99's and earlier had a piston slap issue with the 5.4L. 2004's had an issue with a defective window regulator that allowed the door glass to potentially fall off the tracks. Other than that they were pretty reliable.

Older Silverado's had noisy valve-trains (owners complained of knocking), electrical gremlins and some door rust issues. The rust is less of an issue depending on where it has lived its life.