My boyfriend’s newer 2009 Ford F150 Platinum Edition vehicle has been sitting forever; (7 months) because mechanic says he needs a new engine at $8000 we can’t afford it. Also the tires are shot, wires poking out, he put a lot of highway miles going to work at 75K. My question is should we fix it and then trade it in? Or not fix it and trade it in as is? We can afford a remaining car payment for less than a year but the vehicle is already paid off so we weren’t wanting to add more bills.
If it was my truck…I would just put a used engine in it and drive it until the wheels fall off. There is no way I would invest 8K in a 2009 model truck…Platinum Edition or otherwise. What were the circumstances that caused the engine to fail at 75K? Most engines in that range are just getting broken in good.
Which engine is in this truck, the 4.6L or the 5.7L? Both are plentiful as used and as remanufactured, which should be much cheaper than ‘new’.
To be honest, I wonder about the maintenance habits of your boyfriend. Allowing the tires to get that worn out tells me that this truck has suffered from a lax of critical maintenance. And, at 4 years old with 75,000 miles on it, the only maintenance the engine requires is basically air filter and oil changes. The first spark plug change is not due until 100,000 miles, and the coolant should be good for 5 years min. I’m curious what happened to the engine.