Questions on Buying an Used Truck - 2000 Dodge 2500, 4x4, manual, 85K miles
 

Hey guys,
i have been a way for a while stuck in communter land with small cars with good fuel economy but am wanting to get back into the diesel game again.

i found a 2000 Dodge Ram 2500, 4x4, manual quad cab short bed, red with Topper, 85K miles, newer bridgstone dueler AT tires, plastic insert bed liner, red, for sale for $14.5K

the dealer ship just took it in on trade and the keys were locked in the service office so i couldnt hear it run but the body looks great no rust, and the frame is still painted black, maybe a southern truck?? i live in the denver area of CO.

my question is what do you guys think of this truck/deal on paper? prices for dodge trucks in this area are crazy high and this deal looks palatable if i could get it for $12-13k, KKB is about $12K

i have no pics and there are no pics on the dealer website yet, its red. i have the sales guy asking the service techs all about the truck but is there anything i should check on specifically when i go drive it tonight after work?

is this a good price in your area? for comparison i found a 2003 quad cab long bed with 165K miles for about the same askin price, $15K

thanks

Update
 

i just talked to the dealer, the service tech said there are injector issues...
there were "airhead injector" bumper stickers on the truck

he said that they were planning on wholesaling the truck if there was no interest

should i walk away?

That's about what they are asking around here. I would have a hard time paying more than 12 for it, but thats me personally. FWIW, I was looking at getting a new truck last month. Dealership here only offered me 8k for mine. I would suspect that's about what your dealer has in that 2000.

For me it would depend on what the "injector issues" are and how low they are willing to go on price. I would look into it a little more.

Do a search for "53 block". My 2000 was the best truck I've ever owned. Jury is still out on my 2007.5

my buddy just stopped by the dealership to check it out. he said it runs nice and starts up well. the service tech told him it the "air injection pump" was bad. i am not sure if that is the VP44 or the the pump that pull fuel from the tank to the motor????
they told him they would take $10,600 for it as is, sounds do-able as long as issue isnt to bad to fix.

Wow, the "air injection pump" huh? Yep, that sounds just like every other dealership I've ever run across--totally and completely clueless.

You might ask them to point out the "air injection pump" to you, and tell you a little more about why they think it's bad. If it starts normally and runs good at highway speed and moderate load (don't just rely on how it idles), then the VP44 is probably okay. If it were me, the first thing I'd do is replace the lift pump with something better. Along those lines, you might also see if it has the in-tank lift pump.

If the VP44 is okay, and there are no major problems then $10,600 isn't a bad price.

If you buy it and plan on keeping it for a while you will eventually have to put a VP44 in it at some point. If the lift pump is out i wouldn't be concerned as if you want more life out of your VP44 you want to get an aftermarket liftpump and filter system any way. The only "air pump" is the vacum pump which is part of the power steering pump unit. Less than 300 to replace and you can you replace your self if that has an issue but you break would stiff and the hvac system wouldn't change postions the vents go in. If they are down to 10600 see if you can get another couple hundred out of them. if not I would jump on it for 10600. If there is no smoke and the truck start fine and runs smooth and not a bunch of oil out of the breather tube then I would say they are fine. I would look behind the bumber on the exhaust side and under the fender pannel and see how much soot is there.( they never think to clean that). if excessive it might have been a chipped truck but these are fairly tough trucks and the motor isn't broken in yet. Wost case see if you can scan for codes or let you take it to autozone and scan for codes. There are a few codes that tell if the pump is bad but don't know them off hand.

Drive it and pull a panic stop. Stopping power on the pre-2001.5's was poor until they introduced rear discs.