So we had a local dealer service our F-250 two weeks ago that included an oil and filter change. During the service they found that it needed a new torque converter and "transmission pump" thingy. We had not noticed any problems. We also had new shocks put on as the old ones were the original. Total cost: $3578.56. Last Thursday night we headed out to stay at Gulf State Park on the Alabama coast. Slept at a Cracker Barrel that night. Got up early and crossed into Florida when suddenly my truck "chugged". I had just slowed down to cross railroad tracks and started to accelerate again when it happened. My wife noticed that the oil pressure gauge was fluctuating. We never had a warning light come on. I immediately pulled into a church parking lot. I opened the hood and checked the oil level --- EMPTY!!I crawled under the truck and found that oil had sprayed out all over the entire bottom of the truck from the rear of the engine back. It also sprayed all over the back of the TC and the enclosed cargo trailer we haul or scooter in. Everything was soaked in oil.We got it hauled to a local Ford dealer and are awaiting details. Luckily for us we had our scooter with us and we rode it back home, about 376 miles. But of course we canceled our trip and had to give away all the cold/frozen food items we had packed.We already have vacation plans for two weeks in Durango and Yellowstone for late June/early July. Question is: Hope for the best with the 1999 F250, 167,000 miles, or will we be making our trip in something new, gas this time.Del

I hope things improve for you. You mentioned switching to a gasoline fueled vehicle. I know that diesels are supposed to last longer, that is not my question, but I do wonder what is the difference in repair costs in the case of a total engine failure? Is that your motivation for making the switch?

Is the oil leak something that was caused by the work on the transmission? If so, the cost should be covered by the dealer. 167K miles on a diesel engine is not extensive. If it is repairable for a reasonable amount, you could likely get another 100K out of the truck without too much expense.

I have calculated the cost of the original deisel plus all the repairs and extra costs of servicing ... and I do think that buying a gas truck will actually be less expensive up front and to maintain. I know that I will be losing fuel milage and hill climbing strength, but I do not do a lot of that, so no big loss there.I have done all of the required maintance on my 1999 and still have had around $5000 worth of work done on it. If I had gotten the 250,000 miles or so that I read so many other people getting, I probably would stick with deisel, but my 167K is not much more than a gas truck my inlaws have used to pull their RV, and it is also a 1999. They have never had a major item need replacing.However, I am not dead set against a deisel. Just not sure they are the best.

Good luck finding a truck that will work for you or with fixing the current one. It sounds like the repair might not have been that good. There are horror stories I've heard when dealers didn't do very good work.I was set to go gasoline, but I found a truck that I wanted that happened to be diesel, so I bought diesel again. Since I regularly go across the Cascades, it's probably a good call. My diesel barely even shifts to go up the mountains.

Maybe the dealer did not tighten the oil drain plug and it went loose or fell out, or the filter was not threaded on properly??

Not a good start to Summer | Good Sam Community

Desertboy
Explorer
May 27, 2014
My question is how would they even notice those other things during a routine oil change? With that said I feel for you, and I'm truly sorry you had these problems. I hope you get it all worked out soon. I wish we had a thread on here where we could build a network of all the trusted mechanics around the country. That would be very nice indeed.
Raften
Explorer
May 27, 2014
Please post the source of the oil leak when you know it. I don't know about automatic transmissions since I have manuals but does not a torque converter contain a lot of oil and could have leaked. A loss of a lot of motor oil seems more likely, Could you smell tranny fluid?

Our summer has not started well either. Within 6 hours of closing on a new house someone broke in and took the fridge, microwave, and shower head. Had we gotten there that night instead of the next Am we would have walked in on them. Mostly glad that didn't t happen because I would have had to deal with the police over a gun issue. My dogs would have gotten involved also.
Francesca_Knowl
Explorer
May 27, 2014
delosholly wrote:
So we had a local dealer service our F-250 two weeks ago that included an oil and filter change.

Does anyone besides me think that there's a clear connection here between this sentence and the fact that so soon afterwards you had oil everywhere on the rig except in the crankcase????

Could be that they were so busy looking for other services to sell you they forgot to tighten something during your thirty dollar oil change- and didn't get back to it during the extra $3500.00 of "necessary work" they were able to upsell you.
mike_mck
Explorer
May 27, 2014
delosholly wrote:
So we had a local dealer service our F-250 two weeks ago that included an oil and filter change. During the service they found that it needed a new torque converter and "transmission pump" thingy. We had not noticed any problems. We also had new shocks put on as the old ones were the original. Total cost: $3578.56.

Last Thursday night we headed out to stay at Gulf State Park on the Alabama coast. Slept at a Cracker Barrel that night. Got up early and crossed into Florida when suddenly my truck "chugged". I had just slowed down to cross railroad tracks and started to accelerate again when it happened. My wife noticed that the oil pressure gauge was fluctuating. We never had a warning light come on. I immediately pulled into a church parking lot. I opened the hood and checked the oil level --- EMPTY!!

I crawled under the truck and found that oil had sprayed out all over the entire bottom of the truck from the rear of the engine back. It also sprayed all over the back of the TC and the enclosed cargo trailer we haul or scooter in. Everything was soaked in oil.

We got it hauled to a local Ford dealer and are awaiting details. Luckily for us we had our scooter with us and we rode it back home, about 376 miles. But of course we canceled our trip and had to give away all the cold/frozen food items we had packed.

We already have vacation plans for two weeks in Durango and Yellowstone for late June/early July. Question is: Hope for the best with the 1999 F250, 167,000 miles, or will we be making our trip in something new, gas this time.

Del

Do you trust this dealer? $3600.00 seems a bit high.
I understand a trans needing work at 167K miles but I just replaced my trans. Ford reman trans was $2100.00 and I paid $500.00 for the install. Torque Converter was fine. For a 1999 7.3 167K is nothing. I've got 248K on my F550 and it has worked hard for a living. I would be looking to the dealer for why the oil drained and reimbursment
2oldman
Explorer II
May 27, 2014
Isn't the torque converter bolted to the rear of the engine? It's a near 100% chance this was the dealer's blunder.

Moral of the story is never leave the immediate vicinity of the shop who just did major work before you do extensive test driving. However, 2 weeks should have been plenty of time. Perhaps this problem started then, and wasn't noticed.

OP - please keep us posted.
woodhog
Explorer
May 27, 2014
Maybe the dealer did not tighten the oil drain plug and it went loose or fell out, or the filter was not threaded on properly??
jimh406
Explorer III
May 27, 2014
Good luck finding a truck that will work for you or with fixing the current one. It sounds like the repair might not have been that good. There are horror stories I've heard when dealers didn't do very good work.

I was set to go gasoline, but I found a truck that I wanted that happened to be diesel, so I bought diesel again. Since I regularly go across the Cascades, it's probably a good call. My diesel barely even shifts to go up the mountains.
delosholly
Explorer
May 27, 2014
I have calculated the cost of the original deisel plus all the repairs and extra costs of servicing ... and I do think that buying a gas truck will actually be less expensive up front and to maintain. I know that I will be losing fuel milage and hill climbing strength, but I do not do a lot of that, so no big loss there.

I have done all of the required maintance on my 1999 and still have had around $5000 worth of work done on it. If I had gotten the 250,000 miles or so that I read so many other people getting, I probably would stick with deisel, but my 167K is not much more than a gas truck my inlaws have used to pull their RV, and it is also a 1999. They have never had a major item need replacing.

However, I am not dead set against a deisel. Just not sure they are the best.
TucsonJim
Explorer II
May 27, 2014
Is the oil leak something that was caused by the work on the transmission? If so, the cost should be covered by the dealer. 167K miles on a diesel engine is not extensive. If it is repairable for a reasonable amount, you could likely get another 100K out of the truck without too much expense.
TomG2
Explorer
May 27, 2014
I hope things improve for you. You mentioned switching to a gasoline fueled vehicle. I know that diesels are supposed to last longer, that is not my question, but I do wonder what is the difference in repair costs in the case of a total engine failure? Is that your motivation for making the switch?

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