Truck rant. And don't know what to do.

[dodge man]

I can’t see the entire truck but what I can see, it looks pretty solid.

 

[N80]

It runs. AC still works. Bumper is bent. Hood is crumpled where a branch fell on it when it was still my daily driver. Driver’s seat is butt sprung. Dents and scratches on all 4 sides. Rear window leaks whenever the bathroom caulk or duck tape peels off. Smells like heck on the inside. Tailgate is bashed in on the inside from hauling big rocks…..that I forgot were back there.

Perfect farm truck.

It also survived being my teenage daughter’s daily driver when she was in high school. Probably it’s hardest years!

 

[dodge man]

So what your saying is it’s got character and just broken in?

 

[N80]

So what your saying is it’s got character and just broken in?

Yep.

 

[Oaktree]

People will pay for it. What I don't like is that they will take 1 popular feature; say, Cruise Control; and put it into a "package." When "building" a truck it might show as $235. Yet when you add it to your build it says "Must buy package 1234". That package is a bunch of garbage that you would never want yet costs a thousand dollars or more... plus the $235 for the option you would like.

I always hated that too. Seems like a lot of manufacturers are pushing special order these days...does the same "package" BS apply with special orders too?

 

[deserteagle71]

I always hated that too. Seems like a lot of manufacturers are pushing special order these days...does the same "package" BS apply with special orders too?

It sure does! It is no longer possible to spec out a vehicles exactly like you want it. Every option is part of a "package" which gives you a lot of stuff you don't need or want.

 

[danny8118]

Background: I have been a Nissan guy since 1984. Brand loyal all the way. And I've had great cars and trucks along the way. Then, in 2003 it was clear that I needed a full sized 4 door 4wd pick up. Nissan did not make one at that time so I bought a new Ford F150 Super Crew. I was never real happy with it. Steers like a yacht. Bounces and wobbles like a '75 Cadillac Fleetwood. Braking is always questionable. Rear window leaked from the get go. AC went out, to the tune of $1000, with only about 50k miles on it. Fit and trim in the interior is a joke. I still have it. It is my farm truck. Beat to heck but still running and I love it for that.

I replaced it about 4 years ago with a 2015 Nissan Titan 4 door Pro-4x model that I bought used with low miles. It has been an absolute turd. I love how it tows and it has great torque. Steers well. Brakes okay. But, transmission had to be replaced because it would roll away in 'Park' and would frequently not allow the truck to start because it 'thought' it wasn't in 'Park'. Entire head unit/nav had to be replaced because the volume and several other switches quit working. Its got a cacophony of squeaks and rattles. I mean bad. The interior trim is garbage. The five speed tranny always up shifts waaay to soon and downshifts waaaay to late. "Tow Mode" does not help with that. The heater switch failed which I fixed myself. The rear diff is leaking. The ride is terrible on anything but smooth interstate. The trim on the driver side window doesn't fit and there is constant wind noise in my left ear. Now the blend doors for the heat and AC have gone bad and my wife and I just rode home from dinner in an expensive truck freezing because of no heat. Because of the nav/head unit being in the way the entire dash has to be removed to replace the little electric motor and lever that moves the blend doors. This has been a known issue with these trucks since 2005 and still is on a 2015.....kind of like leaky rear windows in Fords. The cost of repair? $1000.

So this was the last straw. I have to get rid of this thing....and I usually keep cars until they die or get killed. Am I bashing Nissan? Yes, I think so. But, I've been a loyal customer since 1984....I've owned 10 of them and still have an Infiniti coupe that I love. My track car is an old 350Z. So maybe I have the right? Did I just get a lemon? Maybe. Doesn't matter. I've lost my faith in them.

I know that asking what brand of pickup to buy is probably worse than bringing up politics or religion but at this point I don't even have any idea where to look. Maybe I need to subscribe to Consumer Reports but in years past they did a lousy job of evaluating trucks because they always compared them to cars.

I will buy used. I need 4 doors, 4wd, minimum towing capacity of 8000 pounds. Toyota has always had the quality reputation but also the price tag to go along with it. I'm interested in brand neutral advice. And I know someone is going to tell me they have a Titan that has 600,000 miles on it, gets 40 miles to the gallon and still has that new car smell. I guess that's unavoidable.

I will certainly look at Ford and I did when I was looking to replace my F150. Two things turned me off from the Ford 1) I'm not interested....at all...in the V6 Eco-Boost. 2) It was almost impossible without a VIN to tell the exact towing and gearing specs and trim levels on Fords at that time and even then it was questionable. So I gave up.

Anyway, open to sage advice. And thanks for listening to the rant. I feel better already........but that might be the bourbon.

I bought a Ram 3500 2004 new. I use it to haul cattle etc. and to pull a 36 foot 5th wheel RV. Only have 150000 miles on it. Drives and rides great. I'll keep it till it breaks, then probably fix it.

 

[N80]

It sure does! It is no longer possible to spec out a vehicles exactly like you want it. Every option is part of a "package" which gives you a lot of stuff you don't need or want.

That's been going on for decades and I hate it. They often connect the stupidest things to like if you want the off-road package you have to get leather seats and lighted vanity mirrors.

 

[N80]

I bought a Ram 3500 2004 new. I use it to haul cattle etc. and to pull a 36 foot 5th wheel RV. Only have 150000 miles on it. Drives and rides great. I'll keep it till it breaks, then probably fix it.

That's what I'd do. In my situation though it had a major failure at around 50k miles. Whole new transmission!

 

[Jstpssng]

That's been going on for decades and I hate it. They often connect the stupidest things to like if you want the off-road package you have to get leather seats and lighted vanity mirrors.

That makes perfect sense to me... why would you want to climb back onto cheap vinyl after crawling around in the mud?
Although it seems like velour would be better... That's what I want in the back seat for my dog to climb into.

 

[Dftodd]

That makes perfect sense to me... why would you want to climb back onto cheap vinyl after crawling around in the mud?
Although it seems like velour would be better... That's what I want in the back seat for my dog to climb into.

Makes as much sense as putting carpeting in trucks

Don't get me wrong. I really like the heated/cooled leather seats in my truck. But really would love to have vinyl instead of the carpeting.

 

[Jstpssng]

Makes as much sense as putting carpeting in trucks

Don't get me wrong. I really like the heated/cooled leather seats in my truck. But really would love to have vinyl instead of the carpeting.

I do prefer carpeting, as it tends to breathe better. Water doesn't get trapped against the floorboards as easily, slowing the rust disease, and the truck doesn't smell as badly.

I also have rubber mats to keep most of the dirt, snow and water off the carpet.

 

[greggyy]

We have different types of trucks down here, Jap ones mainly now as ford and GM went by by, but they all are 1 tonne plus, I cannot work out how you have such huge utes, but many are half ton....that is nothing.

Anyway, no carpet in real utes, I do not like getting of the tractor and having mud and dung on the boots then go into something with carpet....heck no ! That is wrong. Carpet is for office workers I thought ? or the dual cab weekend warriors ?

 

[Tomtint]

I have a few trucks now..Had probably 50over the last 30 years. Is there one thats a do everything perfect truck...Probably not. I think they will all have quirks and problems at some point. I had a really nice 17 F350 platinum diesel that I thought I would keep forever..But the sunroof leaked, made the interior smell musty and no matter how much I tried to clean and dry it..it still smelled so I got rid of it. Outside of that it was perfect. Buying used is a crap shoot. People get rid of cars for a reason,,and not knowing that reason is the gamble. If I were to buy used, I would probably look to a used lease return, Brand wise, today, I would look at the Fords and maybe the Toyota.

 

[Tomtint]

Makes as much sense as putting carpeting in trucks

Don't get me wrong. I really like the heated/cooled leather seats in my truck. But really would love to have vinyl instead of the carpeting.

I bought a new F450 Limited..It had a vinyl floor...I had it swapped out to carpet.

 

[greggyy]

Don't mind if I borrow it for a few days do you ? It may come back broken, it will def smell different ! he he

 

[N80]

Cheap carpet is as good as vinyl. Easy to clean. But, I have Weather Tech liners in my Nissan anyway. In the old Ford, the oem carpeted floor mats are still in it. I don't even wipe the mud or cow poop off my boots when I get in. The underside of the truck is literally covered in cow poop. I don't own cows but to get to the back half of my property I drive across my brother-in-laws pasture. Getting all the cow manure out of the way was one of the worst parts of replacing the fuel pump.

As far as buying used I have had really good luck over the years. Some great I have probably bought more used than new. It can be a crap shoot but on a low mile used car you skip that initial depreciation and if you know what to look for and do your research you can come out on top. Apparently with this Nissan my luck caught up with me.

My wife reminds me that I whined and complained about the Ford from day one and I still have it. So I might still be driving this Nissan 10 years from now.

 

[Grumpycat]

I think you are discounting the Ford EcoBoost engines. The 3.5L EB has had issues with cam phaser wear. Can't help think it is a oil issue but people go off the deep end when their engine needs internal surgery and don't make sense. They can't understand how "full synthetic" is not a motor oil performance specification. "I used full synthetic and my engine failed! Ford is crap!" Ford has a very specific WSS specification for motor oil, several different WSS across their line of engines.

The 2.7EB has been a delight. Oddly it is the most peppy of all F-150s at non-hooligan speeds. Better than the 5.0L Coyote or 3.5EB.

Oddly Ford will not rate a 2.7EB to tow the same as they rated lesser HP 3.5EB in the past.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I think you are discounting the Ford EcoBoost engines. The 3.5L EB has had issues with cam phaser wear. Can't help think it is a oil issue but people go off the deep end when their engine needs internal surgery and don't make sense. They can't understand how "full synthetic" is not a motor oil performance specification. "I used full synthetic and my engine failed! Ford is crap!" Ford has a very specific WSS specification for motor oil, several different WSS across their line of engines.

The 2.7EB has been a delight. Oddly it is the most peppy of all F-150s at non-hooligan speeds. Better than the 5.0L Coyote or 3.5EB.

Oddly Ford will not rate a 2.7EB to tow the same as they rated lesser HP 3.5EB in the past.

If I recall automotive lore, Ford started the 3.5L ecoboost by taking a Mazda 3.0L diesel design, stroking it, gasifying it, slapping Warner turbos on it, and keeping the over-built lower end. The problems with the original engine (which I have the first year of in my truck) was timing chain stretch in 2011 (fixed in 2012 and anybody who got OEM work done on their 2011), phasers wearing and sticking, the timing chain guide wear from flopping timing chains, the gasket failing on the fuel pump thereby allowing the fuel pump to fill the block with fuel (whoops), carbon build-up on the backside of the intake valves from a lack of fuel washing the intake valves off, and slugging the engine with water from the intercooler, hydrolocking the engine and blowing a rod threw the block.

When we first heard about the slugging problem, over on the F150 forums back in 2011, I suggested everybody drill a 16th in hole at the bottom left of their intercooler as all turbo engine from before tree-huggers cared and racing engines have bleed holes in their intercoolers to blow water vapor out the bottom so as to not slug the engine with water under the right conditions. Ford cannot drill holes because of environmental concerns, but we can.

In my case, I added a big catch can and rerouted all of the engine's crankcase vent to that rather than dumping those gasses back into the intake, thereby limiting the carbon on the intake valves issue.

In 2018 Ford redesigned the 3.5 completely solving the original problems.

Anyway, the 2.7L I believe is a complete copy of the new 3.5L except it has a smaller, lighter block. Because of the lighter weight block somewhere somebody thought that it should not be rated the same as the 3.5L and (even if it is the same block as the larger 3.5L), I'm guessing for marketing reasons likely held the big tow numbers off for the 3.5L.

Anyway, my prone-to-explode (not really) original ecoboost 3.5L has been a real workhorse in my F150 and I'd be tickled pink to have another—especially since I know how to mitigate the flaws of the original design and the redesign is turning out to be claw-hammer reliable.

 

[aczlan]

If I recall automotive lore, Ford started the 3.5L ecoboost by taking a Mazda 3.0L diesel design, stroking it, gasifying it, slapping Warner turbos on it, and keeping the over-built lower end. The problems with the original engine (which I have the first year of in my truck) was timing chain stretch in 2011 (fixed in 2012 and anybody who got OEM work done on their 2011), phasers wearing and sticking, the timing chain guide wear from flopping timing chains, the gasket failing on the fuel pump thereby allowing the fuel pump to fill the block with fuel (whoops), carbon build-up on the backside of the intake valves from a lack of fuel washing the intake valves off, and slugging the engine with water from the intercooler, hydrolocking the engine and blowing a rod threw the block.

When we first heard about the slugging problem, over on the F150 forums back in 2011, I suggested everybody drill a 16th in hole at the bottom left of their intercooler as all turbo engine from before tree-huggers cared and racing engines have bleed holes in their intercoolers to blow water vapor out the bottom so as to not slug the engine with water under the right conditions. Ford cannot drill holes because of environmental concerns, but we can.

In my case, I added a big catch can and rerouted all of the engine's crankcase vent to that rather than dumping those gasses back into the intake, thereby limiting the carbon on the intake valves issue.

In 2018 Ford redesigned the 3.5 completely solving the original problems.

Anyway, the 2.7L I believe is a complete copy of the new 3.5L except it has a smaller, lighter block. Because of the lighter weight block somewhere somebody thought that it should not be rated the same as the 3.5L and (even if it is the same block as the larger 3.5L), I'm guessing for marketing reasons likely held the big tow numbers off for the 3.5L.

Anyway, my prone-to-explode (not really) original ecoboost 3.5L has been a real workhorse in my F150 and I'd be tickled pink to have another—especially since I know how to mitigate the flaws of the original design and the redesign is turning out to be claw-hammer reliable.

IIRC, the 2.7L and the new 3.0L EcoBoosts have CGI blocks like the 6.7L diesel.
The 3.5L EcoBoost had/has a "normal" block.

Aaron Z