"However it did teach my a valuable lesson... I will never buy used again."

I suppose some lessons are of more value -$$$$- than others.

When you buy used, you wind up (usually, not always) with a much lower intial payment (preferably one) and then some things to work on to bring it up to speed. Financially speaking, used makes quite a bit more sense than new. But I'm not an economist, either. If the previous owner was good to his truck, you will have little to worry about. Then again, drivign a new '05 six-speed must be nice!

Whey my '96 spurted power steering fluid out onto the ground from a sudden steering box failure about one month after I purchased it, I didn't get paranoid, or mad. It's a mechanical device, for crying out loud, and one that had about 250,000 miles on it at the time. What did I do? I replaced it. Have I replaced other things? Yes! Have I ever been paranoid driving this used truck? No! Do I enjoy being informed and use that to facilatate better care of my used truck? Yes, of course! I am also a AAA member, wich also does not make me paranoid, but rather prepared--for whatever comes.

"We can be afraid--or we can be ready."

 

I have to say if it cost $1000 to join this site I'd still be money ahead! This site reading about other peoples problems has saved me alot of money!

 

Unfortunately there are more than just problems being talked about here. The thing I hate about this site is the performance section!!! I can't seem to stay out of there and it's costing me a fortune!! I said I was done and yesterday I ordered some intake pipe from Air Flow Systems and also a fuel guage from Genos!! It's addicting and you guys are the pusher!!!!

There's nothing better than knowing more than the dealer's service manager when you let them know how to fix your truck, and you turn out to be right!! When I bought my new 92 CTD I was explaining the truck to the salesman and he was just amazed and eventually shut up because he could not tell me anything I didn't know...... That was from reading though as there was no internet then..(Feeling old)

 

I understand where you are coming from 96_12V, however I feel MUCH better with a warranty.

If I could have got a 12v with a 50-100,000 mile warranty on it then you better believe I would have bought it. I budget my money very tightly and the shock of a major repair could throw everything for a loop.

The 95 I had only had 91,000 miles on it. Sure things go bad, but EVERYTHING was going bad on this truck at once (I estimate it would have taken around $10,000 to fix everything that was going). 91,000 miles is very low for these trucks.

Without this site, I probably would have ditched Dodge after that experience. But it was because of all the information that I have learned here the past 3-4 years that I knew I should weather the storm and go Dodge again. And right now, I couldn't be happier.

 

I loved my Cummins. It left me stranded 14 times on the side of the road. The last time was expensive, but hey life goes on, and a new truck came to me in a vision. So I bought it.

I learned alot about what to look for in my cummins from this site. It is a great tool so its nice to use it the right way.

 

I can definitely agree to that these trucks are tough take my word for it I am a proffessional when it comes to beating on a 5.9 cummins if you have a set of guages the sky is the limit but only if you pay attention to them

 

Drive it like you stole ( I stole that phrase)

 

I bought my truck new and have added some performance products to make it do the job at hand better. I tow and do not drag race so my additions have been geared for that. It has performed very well and I have been blindly faithful in depending on my dealer to take care of my needs when serviced. They have performed very well in that. They have taken care of all recalls and have serviced it as I have requested from time to time but this year has been a learning experience for me. I tow a 17,000lb horse trailer and do not want to be stranded on the side of the highway with that. My truck has 59,000 miles and has developed the Lift Pump failure causing a bad miss when towing. My dealer has not been able to take care of it as it does pass the static flow test but goes to 0 psi at WOT with an empty truck. Before I discovered this I was not aware of this type of problem and until I read up on this through this site and TDR I would not have had a clue. The dealerships are restricted by Chrysler to a test that will not find the problem to support a new pump under warranty. If I had not read up on this and installed a FP Guage I would not have known what the pump was doing. I am not parinoid because of this site but I am better informed now and am better off for it. I will not use my truck now until I get a resolution to the problem, hopefully under warranty or if not I will take care of it myself, so this site and others like it are an asset and a blessing and give me comfort that I am driving the best deisel out there in the pickup truck environment.

 

doomgaze,

Totally understand your sitaution. Sometimes there is simply a lemon out there and what do we do about it? Sounds like you are dealing with it quite well. I have put about $2500 or so into my truck in my three years with it, and other thant a few minor buzzes and squeaks occasionally, it needs nothing.

Good luck with that '05! Say, how tight is your transmission's shifting? I hear the six speeds are a lot tighter than my older 5-speed is.

 

For me, it has nothing to do with worrying or being paranoid. I just like my truck. I enjoy reading about it, learning things about it, and working on it or messing with it. Thats why I bought it! I would be bored if I just got in and drove it.

Just my opinion but reading this site doesn't make me paranoid, I just enjoy all the info.

 

I don't have any experience with manual transmission other than this one... in fact, you can pretty much say I learned on this truck too

I only have 1300 miles on it, but it is definitely a lot more loose now than it was when I bought it. As to how much more it will go, I don't know.

 

I am new to this forum but consider myself a forum addict and totally agree with mudpup. I love to learn about my truck and other interest I have. I will agree that it can go too far, how many people are driving paranoid waiting for their 53 block to crack! I have a 53 block and if it crack it cracks Im not going to lose sleep over it. There are thousands of 53 blocks out there that are running strong and will continue to run strong. I recently saw a post on another Cummins forum that said " if you have a 53 block you are driving a timebomb without a flak jacket " nice eh, Im driving a 53 and love every minute of it.

 

I guess it is a fine line for many people. If someone watching 20/20 or Dateline reads about a new disease and rushes to the doctor complaining of similar symptoms, the same is a possible explanation for some readers here. I went to see what number my block was, after researching the 53 block threads. I installed the customary compliment of gages after reading about what they will tell me, vs. what the dash lights will show me. Do I get paranoid over Turbo cool down time? No. I do let it cool off much more now than before I had the Pyro to show how hot things were getting! I want this vehicle to last for many 100k miles! Others have reported on problems that started small and worked up to major failure, so I should learn from them. That is all. I don't lose sleep at night worrying about that hang shift in my tranny after resetting the cruise too soon, just make a note to check for it again. I just plain love my truck and want to spend time with a group of people of like mind. I don't even care if they all drive a CTD -- I like spending time with people who like their vehicles and look for ways to improve or further the enjoyment! The fact that DTR is primarily for CTD owners is the icing on the cake!