brokenwings
Junior Member
Hey Dudes!
I'm in an interesting situation looking for insight or past similar experience from someone else.
I purchased a 2003 Ram 1500 with approx 158k miles for $3k.
The truck had a check engine when I purchased it, and the seller believed it needed new coil packs or wiring.
I took a gamble buying it, knowing it needed repairs and TLC to be a runner, it was not intended to be my daily, but more of a recreational vehicle (I kayak fish and would like to take it camping etc).
When it first went into the shop it had an o2 sensor replaced and an evap hose replaced (was showing rich codes).
While driving it after these first set of fixes the CEL came back on and it was showing 2 cylinder misfires, I brought it back to the same mechanic and they replaced plugs and coil packs on said 2 cylinders. It is still misfiring, and I'm at a crossroads, they have quoted me around $1500 to send it to a machinist and have the cylinder heads repaired. I have sunk around 500 into this project on top of the initial purchase and was willing to go up to around $5k total to have a solid runner that can give me some years.
I'm really on the fence about just reselling it to someone that is willing to deal with the problems one way or another while taking a bit of a loss, and looking for a different truck in the 5-6k range that doesn't already need these types of fixes (not a large amount available, but I could likely find a runner).
Or just going for it and hoping no additional problems arise shortly after these fixes.
Can anyone weigh in with their 2c or similar experiences in the past?
I'm in an interesting situation looking for insight or past similar experience from someone else.
I purchased a 2003 Ram 1500 with approx 158k miles for $3k.
The truck had a check engine when I purchased it, and the seller believed it needed new coil packs or wiring.
I took a gamble buying it, knowing it needed repairs and TLC to be a runner, it was not intended to be my daily, but more of a recreational vehicle (I kayak fish and would like to take it camping etc).
When it first went into the shop it had an o2 sensor replaced and an evap hose replaced (was showing rich codes).
While driving it after these first set of fixes the CEL came back on and it was showing 2 cylinder misfires, I brought it back to the same mechanic and they replaced plugs and coil packs on said 2 cylinders. It is still misfiring, and I'm at a crossroads, they have quoted me around $1500 to send it to a machinist and have the cylinder heads repaired. I have sunk around 500 into this project on top of the initial purchase and was willing to go up to around $5k total to have a solid runner that can give me some years.
I'm really on the fence about just reselling it to someone that is willing to deal with the problems one way or another while taking a bit of a loss, and looking for a different truck in the 5-6k range that doesn't already need these types of fixes (not a large amount available, but I could likely find a runner).
Or just going for it and hoping no additional problems arise shortly after these fixes.
Can anyone weigh in with their 2c or similar experiences in the past?