My trusty truck (two blown spark plugs notwithstanding ) is fast approaching 200K, and is starting to show signs of age. Two problems in particular are the current focus of my concern.

1) Rust.
Shit. While giving the truck her semi-annual bath, I noticed some surface rust on the driver's  door. It's on the inside, on the bottom edge. The outside panel comes under the edge of the door and is bent up about 1/2" to make a seam. There's a line of rust all along this seam. What should I do? Wire brush, prime and repaint gonna do it for me? It looks like surface rust only. No such indication on the other door.

2) Drip, drip, drip.
Piss. When running the defroster on a cold setting, I get a little drip on the passenger floor mat. How tough is it to find the little condensate drain hose so that I can blow it out?

I've got a handful of other little things, but none of which bother me as much as these two. I need a new ABS sensor on the pumpkin, and probably a new power lock actuator for the driver's door. I've got a turn signal relay that's apparently cheating death.

Do nothing...

You are a pretty bright dude, so you know that cars/trucks are long wearing disposable assets that depreciate to somewhere in the lower 3 digits.  At that age and mileage, it's time for only the essentials that will keep it going until the unavoidable day that it heads to China in peices to be reborn as Harbor Freight tools.

Serously, if you want to put the time into it, make sure the rust is not coming from the other side of the door seam.  If it is, it's a lost cause.  If it's not, you could sand it off and spray truck bed liner on it fairly easily and cheaply.

0% financing+other incentives on new trucks makes pouring big bucks (or little bucks on the minor things) seem silly.

Hold out for the 2008 or 2009 ( there may be no 08 ) F150.  Rumors of the high MPG diesel range rover engine and hydraulic launch assist hybrid make it worth waiting for.  

Yeah you'd be back into payments but if you nurse that older truck along for awhile longer it'll be plenty of time to save up some $$$.


Otherwise I'd make sure the drain holes on the bottom of the door are clear of debris that might hold in water.   Pull the door panel and if you can you might be better off spraying some of the rust converter paint down in there.   Not sure about the defroster drain you're referring to but in my old 93 Merc I went ahead and drilled a small hole in the rear floorboard after unsucessfully trying to find the source of a recurring pool of water.  Having that drain hole drilled seems to have worked and the carpet and padding have stayed dry (apparently anyhow) since doing it.


The ABS sensor is no biggie, the brakes will function fine without it they just wont work as ABS and the little blinking light might drive you insane but that's about it.

I don't plan on replacing this truck in the foreseeable future. Why should I? It still looks good, runs great, and does everything I need it to. These little things I mention are annoyances, at the most. I've been looking at the ABS light for over a year. The rear ABS still works just fine, and the light will continue to glow until it burns out or I uncork the $30 and 10 minutes for a new sensor. Probably the former. I want to remedy the defroster drain because I don't want mildew and shit in my dash. The rust just bugs me because it's rust. I hate rust on vehicles.

Drive her 'til the frame breaks, those things just give it character!
Another 100K easy.


THIS is a rust problem. What you have is graceful aging.

I'd bet that if you have a small town dealer close by the service guys would probably just tell you over the phone what to look at to fix the dripping.   I've asked questions before about my old 93 Merc and the service guys were usually pretty helpful.  

I will say this though, I just bought a new 2007 F150 4x4 supercab last month, and I love that truck.

Quoted: I will say this though, I just bought a new 2007 F150 4x4 supercab last month, and I love that truck.

One of these days I'll be doing that too.  My 99 F350 has been such a great truck though I suppose I should wait until something goes wrong first.   I suppose with only 105K on the odometer I'm still about 5 years from another truck.  

Quoted: Quoted: I will say this though, I just bought a new 2007 F150 4x4 supercab last month, and I love that truck. One of these days I'll be doing that too.  My 99 F350 has been such a great truck though I suppose I should wait until something goes wrong first.   I suppose with only 105K on the odometer I'm still about 5 years from another truck.

Well, if you want to hang on to it, don't go test drive a new one.
standard MP3/CD player now. I picked it up with towing package and 4WD for $23,000 at 0%.

Drives like a Caddy on the highway, but can still handle moderate off-road.
THe last F150 I had was an '81. It's amazing how much they have changed.

WOW, looks like you have even more room than my F350 does inside.   I do still like the abiity to carry about 2 tons in the bed though


Nice truck btw.