Bacho
Yellow Skull
The intent of this thread is to document and illustrate some of the issues that may be encountered with these trucks.
I had been looking for a truck for several years put started putting in more effort due to our family growing. I love my Sprinter van but its limited in towing and only has 2 real seats. I wanted a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab long bed diesel. As everyone knows the market on these has gotten out of hand. I tried a gas burner a couple times but hated the way they pulled and frequent stops at the has station.
All Craigslist trucks were insanely priced with few options available. I looked in insurance auctions and nearly made a purchase when a co-worker pulled history on the truck with his premium co-part account, the damage was originally much worse than than the current auction even though it was still in a wrecked condition. I confirmed with a trusted body shop owner than the insurance auctions are full of flipped wrecks with lipstick applied. So that was out.
I monitored equipment auctions In the region. Prices were some high and some lower. You can waste half a day easy trying to be ready to bid only to have an insane price. Most of these trucks were very well used and abused and pulling $20-25k. Talking 10 year old trucks with 250k on the clock. Many of these were oil industry trucks.
Next I turned to FB and made a fake account. I eventually found a 2011 Dodge 2500 SLT CCLB with 4x4 and the 6.7 with 290k asking $14k. It was obvious it had been a work truck but still had an intact interior and looked worthwhile. I loved the fact it is pre DEF. I called the owner who flat out said the truck needed some work. He pointed out a few things not in the ad. Said the brake light had come on and someone had stolen the front driveshaft in the previous days
he assured me 4wd had worked fine the previous week. Rust was my prime concern, He said the truck had come out of TX. I asked it this was an oil field truck, he didnt seem to know what I was talking about. Anyways, it still sounded worthwhile so I drove a few hours down to Macon to have a look.
On arrival it was obvious to me the truck had come out of the oil fields. That said it ran great. Not a hint of blow by. Drove very well. Underneath didnt show a hint of leaking fluids. Had brand new tires. I was impressed with more big the 4th gen cab is. The interior was filthy and smelled like a cheap motel room (I have determined this smell comes from rotten flesh and Fabuloso but that’s another thread) and the AC was inop. The front driveshaft was indeed missing, but it was obvious it had been that way a long time. Considering the options and what else $14k would buy (not much) we made a deal.
I had been looking for a truck for several years put started putting in more effort due to our family growing. I love my Sprinter van but its limited in towing and only has 2 real seats. I wanted a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab long bed diesel. As everyone knows the market on these has gotten out of hand. I tried a gas burner a couple times but hated the way they pulled and frequent stops at the has station.
All Craigslist trucks were insanely priced with few options available. I looked in insurance auctions and nearly made a purchase when a co-worker pulled history on the truck with his premium co-part account, the damage was originally much worse than than the current auction even though it was still in a wrecked condition. I confirmed with a trusted body shop owner than the insurance auctions are full of flipped wrecks with lipstick applied. So that was out.
I monitored equipment auctions In the region. Prices were some high and some lower. You can waste half a day easy trying to be ready to bid only to have an insane price. Most of these trucks were very well used and abused and pulling $20-25k. Talking 10 year old trucks with 250k on the clock. Many of these were oil industry trucks.
Next I turned to FB and made a fake account. I eventually found a 2011 Dodge 2500 SLT CCLB with 4x4 and the 6.7 with 290k asking $14k. It was obvious it had been a work truck but still had an intact interior and looked worthwhile. I loved the fact it is pre DEF. I called the owner who flat out said the truck needed some work. He pointed out a few things not in the ad. Said the brake light had come on and someone had stolen the front driveshaft in the previous days
he assured me 4wd had worked fine the previous week. Rust was my prime concern, He said the truck had come out of TX. I asked it this was an oil field truck, he didnt seem to know what I was talking about. Anyways, it still sounded worthwhile so I drove a few hours down to Macon to have a look.On arrival it was obvious to me the truck had come out of the oil fields. That said it ran great. Not a hint of blow by. Drove very well. Underneath didnt show a hint of leaking fluids. Had brand new tires. I was impressed with more big the 4th gen cab is. The interior was filthy and smelled like a cheap motel room (I have determined this smell comes from rotten flesh and Fabuloso but that’s another thread) and the AC was inop. The front driveshaft was indeed missing, but it was obvious it had been that way a long time. Considering the options and what else $14k would buy (not much) we made a deal.
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Surprisingly there wasn’t a CEL displayed, I tried to pull codes at this point and only got an exhaust pressure sensor code.
Small cans would have to do. I put 50psi in the system and gave it a try, nothing.
