About to buy 4x4 2003 E250

[winmag4582001]

#1. It's in Boulder CO and on the market for 14 days........ There's your sign. Something like this wouldn't last a day on CL out here if it was worth $12k. That's telling me it has more cancer than described, or in rough shape.
#2. Rust never stops. You can slow it, but never stop it.
#3. Emissions are all the same in states. Must be at or below the emissions standards for the year of manufacture. 1981+ is what that applies to. To sell his van in Boulder county Colorado, he WILL have to sell it with the "seller's emissions". That is law out here!

Food for thought:
Tall barn doors rattle. They are annoying, they are loud, especially when they are side tall doors.
Looks like some sort of fleet vehicle. Ask for all the conversion paperwork and history.
The seller doesn't seem knowledgeable about this type of vehicle. Why would you buy something just to find out you have no skill to finish it out? May be some deeper issues possibly?
In Colorado in emissions counties, no emissions equals NO VALUE! Again, it's the law here.
I'm just seeing too many red flags on this one. Low price for what it is, no emissions, slight rust problem. If it was truly a good rig, Boulder Off Road, Colorado Camper Van, Key Fleet or Denver Fleet would snatch this up, clean and service it, then sell it for $18,000.
That's just my .02

And it has a SF rear axel......

[maxswasser]

Originally Posted by carringb

For 6K, you could have this infinitely better van, albeit 2WD.
https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/...561160261.html

The van posted, besides being a beat up rust bucket, has the inline 6-cyl. That means it has the worst of both worlds....The passing power of a 60's Westy van, and worse fuel economy than a V10.

Even though the van only has 60k, they're clearly very rough miles, which probably meant lots of low speeds and idling. I'd take something with higher miles but taken better care of, any day of the week.

For what you'd spend on initial repairs, you could buy the van I posted, and U-Joint it, for probably the same overall cost. And get a passenger seat....

It's actually the 5.4 L. The guy really just doesn't have any clue. How can you tell how rough the miles were? Just the look of it?

[maxswasser]

Too rusty for me. Thank you all for your generosity of time! If it hadn't been for you all, I may have walked away with something falling apart. Is it worth my time to take it by Boulder Offroad for a second opinion?

One torque arm was replaced due to rust, the other looked like it was about to fail catastrophically. The engine bay was shockingly clean. Couldn't get the doghouse open, and didn't bother. Muffler was about to blow. The heat-shield along the exhaust was in tatters. I'm sure somone with a good garage space could make it beautiful, but I didn't think I had the resources or space to do what needed to be done.