97 F-250 question

Ok I have a chance to get my hands on a 97 F-250. My question is what should i be looking for when i go take a look at the truck? The truck is stock and auto. The guy wouldnt give me alot of info over the phone but I'm going to see it friday when hes back in town. I just want to make sure I dont have to have deep pockets to keep the truck on the road.

Any oil/fuel leaks, see how rusty the oil pan is, check for engine blow by by pulling the oil fill cap off. Be best to take half the intake boot off between the air box and the valve cover because if you dont do that it wont show any blow by because the motor is sucking it in. Flat head screw driver to loosen the hose clamp. Also see how it is on cold starts stuff like that. Any odd sounds things like that.

Moving to the appropriate forum.

There's not a whole lot that goes wrong on these trucks. Basic diesel-truck once over.

Give the front end a good shake-down. The TTB D50's are hard on ball-joints/tie-rods, and like to chew tires in the process.

Also check rad support for rust....nevermind I see you are in NM, probably isnt an issue.:doh:

If you want to buy one fron the northeast I can help.

Pretty much exacly whats said above will do. 7.3s are pretty basic diesel engines. The startup will tell alot. And its idle. Definately test drive it. Sometimes they can idle fine and rev fine, but be total broken dogs under load down the road. Check firewall for soot in case of up pipe leakage. Dont let it detour you just know thats usually kind of a costly repair and hinders truck performance as well untill fixed. So asking price would have to come down. Then of course like said, all the obvious stuff. Fuel and Oil leaks being one of the main things.

Check to make sure the airbox isn't broken and the engine hasn't sucked in dirt.