2006 EB50 w/ Rust Price Check?

[El_Viajero]

Been lurking on this forum and finally have a question of my own

Looking at a 2006 SB50 Sportsmobile with the 6.0 Powerstroke.

Vehicle spent it's life in California/Nevada/Texas, but there is undercarriage rust (I think from California beach time?)

It's got 120k miles and they are asking $46k. No bulletproofing on the engine and no maintenance history. I'm interested but kinda concerned by the rust (and confused about where it came from) and the lack of maintenance history. I really want a diesel to tow (need to tow 8000# pounds) but I hear so many conflicting stories about the 6.0 Powerstroke it seems like I would need to budget $8-13k for engine work. And an unknown $$ for rust repair/remediation.

Am I over-reacting? Price seems reasonable but there are a lot of unknowns.

[marret]

Awful rusty for a SW vehicle. Unknown 6.0 status. Too many unknowns and rust for me.

[Twoxentrix]

I’m with merret, but I would be more concerned about the engine. If it had not been treated correctly with regular fluid changes and additives in oil & fuel you could be destine for disappointment sooner than later.

[Steve C]

FWIW, I've seen similar vans with a little more rust recently go for around 38K-40K. Honestly that undercarriage rust doesn't look terrible, but I'd be sure to look closely at all the body panels and sheet metal including the roof where the pop-top rests. Your estimate of 8K-13K for 6.0 work seems light, seems more like 10K-18K? As far as needing a diesel, the V-10s have great reputations as do the older 7.3s... For me, piece of mind of owning a cleaner van with a "potentially" more reliable power plant would be worth spending an additional 20K up front...

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by El_Viajero

...Vehicle spent it's life in California/Nevada/Texas, but there is undercarriage rust (I think from California beach time?)

If the rust might be from beach time, you should also inspect the roof drip edge. If they used the van to go surfing, the salt water from a board can do a number on the roof drip edge.




Herb

[JWA]

As a former body shop owner and a current E-Series owner living in Ohio.....

I don't see any significant body or frame rust that would bother me. There is an added metal tank held in place with metal straps that's rusty as can be but that's not a part of the body as Ford built it---it would be "easily" rust removed and protected with POR-15 if this follows you home.

The 6.0 engine I know nothing about other than what I've read here---not the best choice IMHO.

Good luck with this---please let us know how it goes!

[Grampswrx]

I would buy it for the pinstripes alone!

Just make them an offer at $40k and see if they take it. The rust isn't the worst I have seen and you know that you are going to be heavy into the motor, so that's a given. There aren't that many people out there with $40k cash for an older rig who don't have $75k+ for something more modern and those people usually go with the more modern rig.

[arctictraveller]

The rust looks to be mostly surface rust, and I wouldn't be very concerned. The under carriage looks to have many years left in it if you simply treat it with something like Coroseal and some paint or POR 15. As for the 6.0, in the boat business we always had what we called a run down account. Every charter check had a portion of the proceeds put in a special savings account for the time when a repower was needed. Hopefully you could get lots more miles out of the engine, but planning for a lot of expensive repairs makes sense as these motors are well known for being very disappointing, especially with no maintenance history.

[BrianW]

That is very minimal rust and and I would not be concerned at all about it. Thin straps and aftermarket things will always rust faster than frames, etc., and make things look way worse than they are.

[BCam]

Even though the rust doesn't look like a problem, it doesn't mean that you can't use it as a bargaining point. At the very least, figure out how much it would cost to have it professionally treated and go from there.