breakin down the years on these trucks. 97-02

[robuilt]

So as ive posted, I'm in the market for a "new" truck. I'm looking at the 97-02 trucks.


Now I'm VERY familiar with 92-96 F150s but not so much on 97-02 Expeditions and/or F150s

I've been doing research on various forums from Thanksgiving day to today but haven't found all the info I've been looking for

Were there changes or improvements over the years of this era? For example, cylinder head changes, transfer case changes, things like that? I dunno.

Specifically, was an XLT Sport trim model offered? i love the painted bumper/trim look.

In a nutshell, what should I look for? What should I stay away from?
P.S. I did read the Sticky: What to look for when buying a gen 1 expy thread. Very helpful. I am aware of what to inspect on a used truck but i would also like info on which models/trim levels are most reliable.

Thanks,

and again, i appreciate any info you can share

 

[Thermo]

robuilt, gee, where to start with this.

The 97-98 years had the least power of the 1st gen trucks, but they also had the 2wd option. In 99, Ford went to the PI (Power Improved) heads which netted more power, but they also tossed out the 2wd option in the transfer case and only gave you AWD, 4HI, and 4LO in the 4x4 trucks.

As for the "Sport" trim package, that was only offered in the 2000, 2001, and 2002 models for the 1st gen trucks. Before that, you had XLT or EB (Eddie Bauer). Both came with chrome bumpers. The big differences was the EBs tend to come with air ride suspensions (not all) and the XLTs tended to come with a standard spring setup (again, not all, some got air ride).

As for what to stay away from. Hmmmmm. The big one for me is to look at the passenger rear corner of the engine. If you are going to spot a problem, it will be hear. You have 2 major issues that will be found here. The more obvious one is oil leaking down the back of the block on to the starter. This is a sign of a bad head gasket and it is going to cost you about $1000 or so to have someone pull the heads off and replace that gasket (unless you can do it yourself, then you are looking at about $150 in parts and 12 hours of your time). The other thing that I would look for is the exhaust manifolds. There are normally 2 indications that you can look for to raise your concern. The first is missing nuts on the manifold bolts (common failure item). This tends to lead to the exhaust gaskets failing which will cause a black soot to form at the front and rear edges of the exhaust manifold. This is a problem in that if you let it go for a long time, it will pit the gasket sealing surface which will require replacing the head (about a $1600 repair if a shop does it for you).

Beyond that, most of what you are going to find are going to be fairly minor problems and a test drive will show most of these.

 

[robuilt]

Thermo, very helpful. thank you!