What do people think of 94 Ford F 150 trucks? Someone I trust a lot told me to stay away from American Trucks from the 90’s.
Well, there’s a jillion of them around me here in farm country and most are happy with them. They also take a real beating on a daily basis due to weather extremes, mud, loaded stock trailers, one ton haybales, and the dust bowl syndrome.
Ask the person you trust how many 90s era Ford trucks they’ve owned.
He’s been around cars a lot; I think we put his kids through college. I guess I would rephrase my question to ask about recurring maintenance and repair problems. Would I have to watch out for any recurring maintenance problems with this kind of truck? Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Just like any used vehicle, a lot depends on how it was driven and maintained by the previous owner.
The engines are solid and time tested.
The transmissions are good but many times people overlook transmission fluid changes. Some of this era of Fords would develop a torque converter shudder at times and this usually occurs when the trans shifts into OD around 40-50 MPH. The feeling is similar to running over those rumble strips on the side of the road.
Changing the fluid generally solves this problem and only in rare cases would a new torque converter be needed.
My 94 Lincoln has been doing this for about 150k miles. I consider it a built it alarm to let me know when a fluid change is due as it gets a hint of this at about the 30-35k miles mark.
This era of Ford also uses the TFI-IV ignition module and these were prone to heat related failure at times. It’s not that big a deal IMHO; they’re relatively inexpensive and easy to change.
The only engine fault I can think of is on the 5.0 and 5.8 and this involves the timing chain cover. Sometimes if coolant changes are neglected and age is added in, the timing cover may leak a bit of coolant; generally on the right side. It may give the appearance of a bad water pump, but what happens is that the aluminum rots out there a bit and allows coolant seepage. It’s not real common but it can happen. It’s also not that major a deal IMHO. A local salvage here sells new covers for about 40 bucks and if a guy was ever going in to replace a water pump that would be a good time to pop the cover and take a look at it.
Yes, they have a few quirks but so does any vehicle out there. It does not mean they’re rolling junk.
I live here in the wide open spaces, and darned dusty spaces, of OK and the trucks around here get whaled on to put it bluntly along with accumulating a lot of miles. If the trucks were problematic people would not continue to buy them.
You should see a dust storm and snow storm at the same time! Brown snow and it makes a real mess. It’s called “snud” here. 
Hope some of that helps you out anyway.
My brother bought a 1999 F-150 at a very good price that had gone over 100,000 miles a couple of years ago. The truck now has over 150,000 miles and he has had very few problems and no engine or transmission problems. I’ve ridden in the truck and it is very smooth and quiet–some cars don’t run as smoothly and quietly as this truck.
A friend of mine who works for a farm implement dealer has had Ford pickups provided to him to use for company business and personal use both for almost 30 years. He gets a new one about every 5 years as these trucks see a lot of mileage; and much of it out in the country on dirt and mud roads, etc.
He currently is driving an '04 and he would have nothing but a Ford truck.
Another friend here works for a large natural gas company and they use Fords exclusively; also involving high mileage and rough conditions.
The biggest problem they suffer is deer junmping out in front of them and tearing up nose sections.
Thank you. I appreciate the information.
Thank you for that detailed answer. I do appreciate the time it took for you to write and respond.
MP
Believe it or not, we have quite a few deer here in Northern VA. Our problem though is politicians. They don’t just put dents in your bumpers. They tag your wallet as well and put one heck of a dent in them.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
MP
i have a 93 f250 got it with 250,000 miles on it and it is still going now, this thing took a beating everyday from apac