Hello, I bought a 1999 2500 4x4 Diesel from a local used car dealer for 11,000. It has 103k and new cheep tires. I got it 2 weeks ago and it has a 30 day "safety" warrentee. He told me it was not plowed, but it clearly was. Truck is not beat but was not well taken care, lots of dings, scratchs ect, ect. Thing is the motor runs great and strong, the tranny seems ok as well. I already replaced all 4 shocks and all fluids and spent 2 saturdays doing this, I bought all the rear u-joints and have a steering stablizer on its way..
This ios the thing. I had a "real" mechanic look at it and he pointed out some things I missed as he was slapping a saftey failure rejection sticker on the truck. Track arm, Tie rod end off box, front stablizer links, front and rear axle seals, rear stablizer bushings. The track arm and tie rod is why it failed. I have already dumped 600$ into parts so far. I know the car guy will want to not repair anything......... What should I do? if I give him the truck back? I'm out 600 parts + Mass sales tax. Shoud I tell him to do the track bar and the tie rod then me suck up the rest?? He should do the front axle seals also. Any thoughts? Should I offer to take a 1000$ from him and I'll keep truck and leave him alone? I do like the truck. Thanks

 

What does "safety warrantee" mean? I dont think we have that here in WA. If it means they will fix whatever is necessary to bring the truck up to safety standards I would exercise it and given everything else you have said keep it. I think you would be hard pressed to find a 99 with that many miles and no worn steering parts, especially the track bar. Work the other issues off as you have time/money. HTH

 

They said they would replace anything that needs to be done to get the sticker. But when I test drove it before I bought it I pointed out that the front U-joints where NFG. They said they would replace them and any other damage in that area,.. they should have done the front seals then, it looks like a big job. I think they might offer to do only the track arm and the tie rod. I really think they deserve to do the fr axle seals. That would make me happy.

 

Ram, if they just did the front U-joints it may take a few week for all the oil trapped that was lost to weep out. It is fairly common, and results from the axles being unsupported during front end work.

Unless you see evidence of them leaking for a while, grunge buildup, etc, I would drive it for a few weeks first.

 

i would have them do the track bar and tie rod.i would also tell them about the leaking seals that were damaged during the u-joint replacment

 

they are not supposed to sell a truck that cant pass inspection. if they are a good place they will fix it most wont . we went through this with a dealership. i had my mechanic that worked on my company truck do all the work so i knew it was done right . they said they fixed the brakes ah no slapped some crap on them to quite them down. we paid my guy then wrote a letter to the dealer told them we would go to the news people and sue in small claims. they said check is in the mail 600.00 this was in CT toyota dealer

 

do you have this in writing? if you do have it in writing i would take it to an attorney.

if you dont have it in writing, then you are SOL with a lot of parts to replace. without having what they said in writing, they can deny they ever said that, and you have no proof other wise.

 

Oh man... Let's see a picture of the truck. These are hard decisions. How was the engine and tranny maintained? Clean oil? It's pretty low mileage. The parts around the engine will start to fall apart. That's with ANY used truck though. So if you return this one and buy another used one, you will end up with the same problems. What I like to do with a used vehicle (not saying I actually do it) is just go through the whole thing and eventually replace all the common wear problems like starter, alternator, whole front end, etc. Basically restoring the truck so I know it's good to go for another long while.

 

IMO, all front end STOCK bushings around the track bar/u-joints/ball joints are going to need fixed on any older cummins you buy. I have an 01 and I replaced all that stuff at right around 100k miles. If it were me, and felt like the truck was worth the money, I'd try to get them to fix the stuff. If in the end they default on fixing it, I'd prolly just keep it and fix the stuff myself. Yeah, it's gonna sting a bit in the pocket book, but it'll be done right if I do it myself.

if the engine and tranny are strong, sounds like 11k for a 99 with just over 100k miles is a pretty darnd good deal.

 

Question to ask yourself is "could you buy a better truck if you had your $$ back." If not, keep it. Since dealers are "supposed" to sell trucks that pass inspection, by all means try to squeeze some cash out of them. Be nice & he may give you something in trade on those tires & get you wholesale price on some tires you'd like to have. Don't start by cussing & threatening. That can come later. Spending $$ on an attorney is likely throwing away cash that could be better used on parts. If you'd be happy with the truck when fixed, the best solution may be to fix it & get to the business of enjoying your new toy.

 

On my ride over to see the used dealer and resolve these issues, I lost 2nd gear.... Its an auto, I replaced the filter last week and also had a shop adjust the 2 bands. The tranny was working top shelf till I ventured over to see him. 1st gear would hold till 3000rpm then I would have to bring it down and feather the peddel to shift. Was a very ugly 20 min ride.
So I give him the list of screwed up stuff and add on to that the boned tranny. He was to call me back yesterday, but no call. I took all my stuff out of it, I only need to go back for the reg and plate if need be. I have a written garrentee on the truck so it looks to me that he'll need to fix the tranny also or buy back the truck. I can't see him buying it back, ?? could he send a truck with a tranny issue to auction?

 

I'd try and get him to take it back if you can. I went thru the exact same thing with my truck. It was inspected 2 days before I looked at it, so I didn't look at that related stuff to closely. Got it home and the parking brake wouldn't hold. Crawled under to adjust the parking brake up at the wheels, and both rear wheel seals were leaking, all over the pads. Got to looking around, all 4 ball joints were shot, both front axle seals were leaking, front rotors were way shot, track bar was shot, pass side tierod end, and about 3000miles after buying, the IP took a dump. I got the guy to pay for the inspection related parts, but I fixed everything myself. If I could do it over again, I would have made him take it back, which I coulda done, and bought one in better shape, or bought a used 3rd gen. I figure I've got over $3000 into it already, and it still needs some work. With what I paid, plus what I've spent, I think i coulda got me a descent 3rd gen.

 

^Yea but think about it, a used 3rd especially for that price would've had all those problems too.

 

I've seen some pretty descent ones in my area for around $25k, I just didn't wanna spend that much at the time, so I went with a 2nd gen.

 

I thought you had a "safety" guarantee...... If so, they'll make it so it passes inspection. Trans would be on you. Axle seals.....on you too. If they take it back they are doing you a HUGE favor. Not what you want to hear, but what would you do if you sold the truck and two weeks later the buyer came back with a list.

....That said, this is a good time to bring this up. I bet in my 15 years in the business I've probably had five people bring in a used car from a different lot for an inspection. In the scope of spending $11k, what is 50 to 100 bucks for a good inspection.

....and in one case the guy got 2k knocked off the price because I found a VP on it's way out.