I'm in the market for a good used truck. I have found a 2007 Quadcab 4x4 with a 5.9L and 4 speed auto. As far as I can tell, the truck is completely stock. It has just over 50,000 miles on it and it's in my price range. It has new front brakes and U-joints. My question is this: Is there a way for me to tell if the truck has ever been "chipped" in the past? I have been warned of this. The owner says no, but I want to be sure. It seems to run fine but it does emit a slight bit of blue smoke at warm-up. What about the transmission? The 4-speed feels a lot "looser" (if that makes any sense), than my Uncle's 2008 6-speed auto. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

you have to take it to a shop that can read the control module

 

You could always check under the hood for a strip of velcro on the fuse box or a spot on the fuse box that is a lot cleaner than the rest.

Cycling the keys and checking for codes, I dont know if that would help you or not. Do certain chips/downloaders trip certain codes? Anybody have any idea?

 

I would try taking the truck to a reputable Dodge dealer. I'm sure a good tech will be able to extract some info on the truck's history. As far as the 48re automatic goes, it should be fine handling STOCK power levels. I agree that it does not do as good a job as the new 68rfe, but that's just because of the bigger gap between gears. The 5.9 probably puts out close to the same amount of power to the ground as the 6.7 because its exhaust is much less restrictive and complicated. A 2007 or 2006 should prove to be a very reliable truck.

 

I would recommend taking it to a dealer if possible. I've had two different styles of programmers and chips. Neither one of them fastened to the fuse box with velcro. Although there is others that do. The ones I had you never could tell there was anything done after I removed them. But the dealer could tell.

 

I would not buy it just because it puts out some smoke at startup, maybe they did not change the oil much and there is more than average wear, but thats just me. Also, besides taking it to the dealer to have them check to see if there was a chip or downloader on it I would look at the heat shield for the exhaust manifold to see if it is discolored, that would indicate that it has seen excessive EGT's (exhaust gas temperatures) which usually result from being chipped or have a downloader and being driven hard. The 48re just feels sloppy stock no matter what, only way to improve is to have at least a different torque converter and valve body installed.

 

That blue smoke isn’t normal. It doesn’t necessarily mean the truck was chipped, but it may be a sign of problems to come.

 

All you who are mentioning the blue smoke as abnormal need to remember she's in Alaska, and the temps are quite a bit below freezing. ALL my trucks smoked a little on start-up. At sub-zero temps you just don't get complete fuel-burn until there's a bit of heat in the engine. The blue tinge smoke should go away within a few minutes, and then you'll just get the normal "Darn it's cold outside" white smoke. With only 50K on the engine, it's still covered for quite awhile.

One question to ask would be why the previous owner had to replace the front brakes? I've got 68K on mine, and they're not even close to due yet. Most folks get 80K+ out of them.

 

Like Adaminak said its got 50k of warranty left and look on the exhaust manifold to see if its had a pyro gauge.

 

I think there may be a $100 fee to transfer the warranty over to the second owner, not sure if that applies to the 100K mile Cummins warranty or 3/36K bumper to bumper. Only really 2 dealerships in Anchorage (and I am assuming you are looking in Anchorage) he could have gone to in Anchorage, either Lithia or Anchorage Chrysler. I had better luck with Anchorage Chrysler (Matt, service counter rep) even though I bought the truck at Lithia. Like these guys said, if you are serious, I'd have a tech look it over and see if they can pull a report (truck's history of service) for you on the truck at the dealership. Slight amount of smoke may be normal under cold temps.. Why is this guy selling the truck? How much is he asking? Is there a 5th wheel hook up in the bed or a camper plug in? May give insight as to what the truck was used for. Pyro or boost bolt may tell you if it had gauges in the past. Tough to tell if it had a programmer, may be able to get the dealership to check key cycles to see if the programmer had erased the key cycle count or if it is abnormally low. Good luck!!

 

I didn’t realize she was in Alaska, thought it was just her username. You will see some smoke at startup when it is really cold outside. We’re talking well below freezing for the blue smoke. Maybe the truck sounds better than we first realized.

 

The truck I looked at was in B.C. Canada. It was about 29 F outside and the owner did not have the truck plugged in. I felt the valve covers and they were cold. When I started it, it blew a slight bit of blue until the high idle engaged. The only smoke on our test drive was some mild black smoke under heavy throttle. The owner said that was normal after extended city driving and it would clear up on a long loaded hiway trip.

 

The smoke is normal when it's cool out and mine did not smoke at all stock (after warm up) unless I rode around at the same RPM for a long time and then let up and got back into the throttle hard, it would even do that on the interstate @ 70 MPH.

 

Sounds like a nice Rig!

 

Ask your local dealer if the warranty from a Canadian truck is valid in the U.S. ??????????????
i know for a fact if i go stateside for a dodge truck the factory warranty is void the minute i register it as a Canadian owned truck even if the original owner bought an extended warranty plan.