six months?

[cmore]

I am looking for a decent ram 1500. I have found one that I like at a car lot . It looks OK but I havent been able
to check for manifold bolt problem or hemi tick. ~$30K for 2018 Laramie cc 4x4 with 114000 miles. I checked the carfax and it says they have owned it for 6 months. This seems like a very long time in todays crazy world even tho some of the madness is getting better . prices lowered etc. Should I walk away? It is more than I really want to spend as it wont be
my daily driver, but the beater trucks seem to be rusted out junk and the midrange ones are $20 - 26K and up and need personalizing which would be another $4000 or so. (Stereo, leather seats running boards).
It started life as a rental for 20K mi then the next owner put 28K mi on it per year for 3 years. In texas. I have had a
rental car before and had no problems with it but it was not a hi power hemi.
any thoughts?
thanks for your time.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Hard to say w/o seeing it in person. It sounds like you've done your homework, looked at a number of pickups, and know the local market pretty well. I take your word for it if you say it's that nice.

You might talk to the lot salesperson. Maybe the owner or manager liked it so much they drove it as a personal vehicle last fall. Or the guy's wife ...or kid took it to college with him for the first semsester to move back in ..and now bought a smaller more fuel efficient car? Or maybe the lot owner was building a cabin and needed to haul items, and now they're finished with it. All sorts of factors could be reasons why they've had the pickup 6 months. Some reasons might show it's a great truck and not something wrong at all. Or maybe the dealer bought it 'high' because the market on used cars/trucks was high last spring/summer and their initial high price chased buyers away. They might be at rock-bottom or even losing money on it now. So you might want to just ask what the situation is.

Also, having sold cars/trucks on the side for years (long time ago), and my brother owned a small lot for a long time. Dec/Jan/Feb are among the slowest months for car sales. Not a lot of buyer foot-traffic. There's a lot of looong dark days sitting around waiting for *serious buyers* to come in. It's end of Feb ...So Dec/Jan/Feb ...there are 3 months right there. March things pick up a lot.

If you like the pickup, go see what kind of deal you can swing and if you're in the ballpark, have it checked out by another shop. You probably won't be able to tell about the manifolds unless it's up on a hoist and even then there's shrouding around them.

Even if it's a couple thousand bucks high ...if you REALLY like it, sometimes ya have to bite the bullet and pay a little high to get what you want. Hey look, Elong Musk paid probably double (or tripple) what Twitter was actually worth! Plus, what's your Tiiiiiiiimme worth? (as a guy I know used to always said it that way) ..to spend another 3 months looking...lol. Since you don't put on a whole lot of miles, then I wouldn't put truck miles as much of a factor (as long as it's still pretty 'tight').

So, you have some 'thinking' to do. Keep your eyes open, talk to the owner. Check out the manifolds, Work out a preliminary deal, ...Let us know how it turns out.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

For me personally, I would take the VIN and have it run at a dealership to check its warranty history (if any).

This would let you know if the manifolds have ever been replaced under warranty, or any other issues addressed by a dealership.

If they are the original manifolds, then yes, you're inevitably going to be dealing with it, but no biggie, just get a set of JBA shorty's with SRT gaskets and bolts and it all bolts up to the stock system, and voila, no more issues.

Rentals can be a gamble, I know how I used to drive rentals back in the day when I wasn't the person I am now.

At that mileage you're going to want to do a throttle body service, new PCV valve, new spark plugs, a transmission fluid and filter change, coolant flush and fill with a new thermostat, and a 4x4 service too (front & rear diff & transfer case), and likely a front and rear brake service with brake fluid flush and fill.

It sounds excessive, but to have a good ownership experience and know that you're starting with fresh new everything, that's the way to go, in my opinion.

 

[Jeepwalker]

At that mileage you're going to want to do a throttle body service, new PCV valve, new spark plugs, a transmission fluid and filter change, coolant flush and fill with a new thermostat, and a 4x4 service too (front & rear diff & transfer case), and likely a front and rear brake service with brake fluid flush and fill.

That's what I do when I buy a higher mileage vehicle (unless I knew for *sure* it was recently done -- which never happens to me ). Good way to learn what you bought too. But if ya have to pay for a shop to do all that, figure that into your cost (like you say)....

 

[indept]

That's a lot of miles for an '18. The good news is it's most likely highway miles which is good. Have you run it through Edmunds.com & KBB.com to see how they value it with those miles? Also when you do drive it check the EVIC for vehicle hours. I would be worried if it has more than 10% idle time. High idle time is rumored to be the main cause of lifter / cam failure. Also make sure you hear it start from dead cold and listen for tapping which could be bad lifters or broken exhaust manifold bolts which can typically be confirmed if the heat shield over the manifolds are loose.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

That's a lot of miles for an '18. The good news is it's most likely highway miles which is good. Have you run it through Edmunds.com & KBB.com to see how they value it with those miles? Also when you do drive it check the EVIC for vehicle hours. I would be worried if it has more than 10% idle time. High idle time is rumored to be the main cause of lifter / cam failure. Also make sure you hear it start from dead cold and listen for tapping which could be bad lifters or broken exhaust manifold bolts which can typically be confirmed if the heat shield over the manifolds are loose.

Agreed on this, however the Engine Hours on the EVIC system is absolutely not accurate. Mine has randomly changed three times now, and at 3.5 years of ownership and 120,000Km's of mileage on it, it says I have 12 hours of Drive Time and nearly 500 hours of Idle Time.

I've since read on this forum that this is a "thing" with our trucks, and not much can be done about it.

I would also open the rad cap and check the coolant for colour, and pull the oil dipstick and check level, colour, and smell. Guaranteed the brake fluid is going to be very dark as it'll likely be the original fluid in there.

 

[Wild one]

Whatever you do,if you're going over to take a look at it,don't let them know,that way they won't have pre-started it and warmed it up.Also try and pick a colder morning to go look at it.If i'm in the market for a used vehicle,i always try and go look at them on the coldest day,and buy the one that starts,but we get -20 fairly often here,and the one that starts is usually the good one.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

I was also taught by an old school car guy back in the day to bring a good strong magnet, wrap it in flannel or a microfiber and run it along known areas (cab corners, fenders, doors, etc.) where rust and or usual impacts occur to feel if there's any cheese filler in there. If the magnetic pull weakens or drops out altogether, it ain't all steel in there

 

[Wild one]

I was also taught by an old school car guy back in the day to bring a good strong magnet, wrap it in flannel or a microfiber and run it along known areas (cab corners, fenders, doors, etc.) where rust and or usual impacts occur to feel if there's any cheese filler in there. If the magnetic pull weakens or drops out altogether, it ain't all steel in there

Speaking of that,i knew an old body man from Ont,and he used to claim,if you bought him enough bondo and chicken wire,he'd build you any car you wanted,lol

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Speaking of that,i knew an old body man from Ont,and he used to claim,if you bought him enough bondo and chicken wire,he'd build you any car you wanted,lol

And he'd fix your transmission with a handful of sawdust, too

Oh the good ol' days!!

 

[Wild one]

And he'd fix your transmission with a handful of sawdust, too

Oh the good ol' days!!

Grease and Sawdust would rebuild a rear-end to,lol

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Grease and Sawdust would rebuild a rear-end to,lol

Absolutely!
It's amazing how quickly that rear end whine and/or leak would clear right up.
Just long enough to get it sold

 

[tron67j]

That just seems like a lot of money for a lot of miles. Doesn't help you there, but near me I find similar trucks 1500 Laramie) for about 28k with 59k miles. At the mileage, regardless of highway or city. A lot of mechanical stuff has already done a lot of work.

A quick KBB for standard Laramie that year/miles should be in the low $20s.

Any used vehicle, spring for a mechanic to do a complete walk through. Ask them to verify the OEM fluids like cooling, windshield have been used (by color)

 

[huntergreen]

Bring the truck to a mechanic you trust and have him check it out. Let him tell if it’s a decent truck.

 

[indept]

Agreed on this, however the Engine Hours on the EVIC system is absolutely not accurate. Mine has randomly changed three times now, and at 3.5 years of ownership and 120,000Km's of mileage on it, it says I have 12 hours of Drive Time and nearly 500 hours of Idle Time.

You know you can shut your truck off at night.

 

[tron67j]

You know you can shut your truck off at night.

Ha!

 

[cmore]

Hard to say w/o seeing it in person. It sounds like you've done your homework, looked at a number of pickups, and know the local market pretty well. I take your word for it if you say it's that nice.

You might talk to the lot salesperson. Maybe the owner or manager liked it so much they drove it as a personal vehicle last fall. Or the guy's wife ...or kid took it to college with him for the first semsester to move back in ..and now bought a smaller more fuel efficient car? Or maybe the lot owner was building a cabin and needed to haul items, and now they're finished with it. All sorts of factors could be reasons why they've had the pickup 6 months. Some reasons might show it's a great truck and not something wrong at all. Or maybe the dealer bought it 'high' because the market on used cars/trucks was high last spring/summer and their initial high price chased buyers away. They might be at rock-bottom or even losing money on it now. So you might want to just ask what the situation is.

Also, having sold cars/trucks on the side for years (long time ago), and my brother owned a small lot for a long time. Dec/Jan/Feb are among the slowest months for car sales. Not a lot of buyer foot-traffic. There's a lot of looong dark days sitting around waiting for *serious buyers* to come in. It's end of Feb ...So Dec/Jan/Feb ...there are 3 months right there. March things pick up a lot.

If you like the pickup, go see what kind of deal you can swing and if you're in the ballpark, have it checked out by another shop. You probably won't be able to tell about the manifolds unless it's up on a hoist and even then there's shrouding around them.

Even if it's a couple thousand bucks high ...if you REALLY like it, sometimes ya have to bite the bullet and pay a little high to get what you want. Hey look, Elong Musk paid probably double (or tripple) what Twitter was actually worth! Plus, what's your Tiiiiiiiimme worth? (as a guy I know used to always said it that way) ..to spend another 3 months looking...lol. Since you don't put on a whole lot of miles, then I wouldn't put truck miles as much of a factor (as long as it's still pretty 'tight').

So, you have some 'thinking' to do. Keep your eyes open, talk to the owner. Check out the manifolds, Work out a preliminary deal, ...Let us know how it turns out.

Jeepwalker thanks for the info. I hadnt thought about any of these things. However checking the caerfax shows they bought it in August and only put a few miles on it. They did replace the back brakes and muffler/tailpipe.

 

[cmore]

That's a lot of miles for an '18. The good news is it's most likely highway miles which is good. Have you run it through Edmunds.com & KBB.com to see how they value it with those miles? Also when you do drive it check the EVIC for vehicle hours. I would be worried if it has more than 10% idle time. High idle time is rumored to be the main cause of lifter / cam failure. Also make sure you hear it start from dead cold and listen for tapping which could be bad lifters or broken exhaust manifold bolts which can typically be confirmed if the heat shield over the manifolds are loose.

thanks for the info. I have read how to get to engine hours, but nothing I've seen tells how to get to idle hours.
thanks

 

[cmore]

Thank you all for your time and input. I will try to find a mechanic locally to inspect it. Not sure about how to find one tho. It is a loaded truck with heated leather seats upgraded stereo adj pedals. etc. was $49900 new. I have seen one listed 2019 with 79000 all rental miles. look like denim seats and no running boards for $29300 but it is nearly 3 hour round trip. it was $45500 per the sticker.
thanks again everyone for your time.

 

[Jeepwalker]

You could call the dealer to have it inspected. Or ask people you know who might be a good, trustworthy (and thorough) mechanic in your area.

Good luck! If you buy it, post a picture of it.