Ok, this is a dual question thread.
First part: whats it worth?
The truck is a 2000 f250 ext cab long bed powerstroke, red, xlt, auto. Interior looks in decent shape, but the body has issues. Must have hit something in the front end, either a big azz deer or maybe slid into a ditch? the front bumper is curled under, it has newer model (clear) headlights, but they do not mount properly, there are inconsistant gaps on both headlights. The drivers side door is dented-in/pulled-out right below the handle, so it doesnt quite close firmly. It also looks like it was backed into something on the passenger bedside because its crumpled a bit. It was definately used to pull because it has the mounting holes for a 5th wheel, and there is also this wierd black reside all up in the bed. It has dual straight pipes (y-pipe type set-up). there arnt any gauges. Oh and it has an off-road package, with the x-code springs in the front. It start and runs good, but we cant tell if they had it running before we got there. Temp gauge was we up into operating temps when it started, while mines usually just barely below the inner brackets. Its got 280ish k miles (idr) and they're askin 8900... i was thinkin closer to 7500, because i paid 6000 for mine when it had 375k on the clock and it was in better shape cosmetically. im hoping to get the thing for the night come friday and take a look at everthing under the hood, then giving it a better estimate. but what really made me second guess the price was what happened when i talked to the service manager...
Is it worth buying from them or is this dangerous?
Ok, this is an atv dealer, but they have about half a dozen power strokes as well as some other 4x4 vehicles and pick-ups. I was out in the lot looking at the truck with my friend (who is the one considering making the buy), so I looked it over visually then had him go inside and get the keys for it. So he goes in then comes out with this salesman who looks SO dejected that we are there wasting his time, but he answered my questions politely when i asked him the mileage, asking price, and a few other things. It starts up and runs fine, sounds good, check the oil cap for blow-by, have him rev on it to see how it does. It all checks out as far as stationary power stroke can lol. The last thing I ask him before he walks away was what weight and brand oil have they put in it. He says he doesnt know because he "doesnt know diesels", but the service manager is the guy who has been driving it and he also has been doing the maintenence, and he was still there so we could go in and talk to him. this is where I get a made a little nervous...
We go in and talk to the guy and the salesman asks what brand and weight oil they put in that truck. so the service manager takes a long "umm" to say rotella, then a long pause to say "15w-40, thats what they put in diesels right?" So I say "yeah, but..." and then before going into a long winded speech about how you can run 10w-30 and 5w-40 and whatnot in it I just say "well thats fine". I then ask if they ever had an engine oil analysis ran on it, and the service manager asks "whats that? I just run mine ever 4-5k miles on all my vehicles and they run fine." Then I proceeded to mention what it does like mesuring the additives and particles and the oils condition and they can tell you what may be failing, and mention that Blackstone Labs over in Indiana does this. I was going to ask after this if they ever had an oasis report ran on it, but i knew better... He then tried to sell me on it by saying its a strong running truck, the front end is tight its not loose or anything, and he just put 4 new shocks on it. So I then ask him If they new if there was ever any programming ran on the truck, being as the OBDII port cover was missing, but then I sort of back tracked and said but that could be incidental because its a 11 year old truck with a decent bit of miles... this didnt phase him though, because thats not what caught his attention. The next words out of his mouth nearly made me
and walk out. He said "Whats OBDII? Wheres that at?". My jaw just kinda slacked and luckily my friend was there to say its where you access all the diagnostic trouble codes, and its right there at the bottom of the dash. He said "oh ok"... Then he further tries to sell the truck (and further digs himself a hole) by saying "It'll get down to 0 degrees out and as long as I've got it plugged in it'll start right up. I just cycle the glowplug light twice then it fires right up." And before I almost did another
on the "it'll start right up when its 0 out as long as ive got it plugged in" I asked him how he cycled the glow plugs. He said that a guy from Centralia FORD told him to turn the key on, wait for the light to go out, turn it off, then back on and wait for it to go out again. I kind of (but calmly) went off on him here, telling him how the "wait to start light" as well as most of the other gauges on the superduty dash were just glorified dummy lights (to which he said "well they got me") and how the relay itself actually runs 90 seconds to 2 minutes from the time you turn the key to the run posistion. He then says "oh well I didnt know that"... It took a lot of self-control to not say "well no $hit". But we set up a test drive for friday and hopefully he gets to keep it overnight so we can get a non plugged in cold start, but we'll see. Through out this whole conversation with the service manager I kept feeling the price drop, and I could see by the look on the salesmans face (who stood there the whole time) that he knows I smell blood in the water... I'm thinkin to hit them with an offer of 6500 if I find ANYTHING that doesnt check out, but again I'll update after i get a look at it.
Sorry for the long-winded story
Thanks in advance,
Jason
01-19-2011, 07:34 PM
Whats it worth/ is it worth buying from them...
that is one helluva buy!
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