Well, I've been looking everyday (maybe missed 3 days total) since early july. Autotrader, CL, and Ebay. Passed by a few b/c I'm a dumb@ss and started to get in a bind to get one bought so I felt a little pressured.
I finally purchased one today. If anyone is actively looking, you've probably seen in on Autotrader. It's a '97 4x4, auto, silver, with 148k miles on it. 3.5 gears, Laramine package with leather, wood trim, power everything. I paid $9300 for it.
The interior is plush minus the drivers seat. It's showing it's age. If that's my only worry, i'm off to a good start there. I did notice the dash was a different color (it's dark brown) from the rest of the interior (tan) though. ANy idea how to tell if it's one of those covers? To me, it looked stock and uniform to the dash. That would be crazy unbelievable imo though.
The exterior is...welll. The paint is going bad. Peeling on the sides. Roof i think is just about all primer. IT blended in so well w/ the pictures b/c the grey primer looks like the silver paint. Few dings but nothing major. The truck was purchased in TX, but was in Idaho most of it's life. So there is some underbody rust and a couple dings in the paint that have rusted. This is a high priority to get this resolved before it spreads.
Mechanically. I was told his mechanic told him no blow by before I showed up. He drove an hour to meet me, so I didn't get a chance to start it cold. We drove around, tested the 4x4. Tested how it tracked, lights, all that good stuff. Everything seemed fine. Wanted to check blowby myself. Pulled over and lifted the oil fill cap. A decent light steady stream of white smoke. Not enough to make the cap shake or anything. Just a steady light-medium white smoke. DIdn't investigate further (wish I knew more to do so). We ended up talking to his mechanic over the phone and he informed me that almost all 12v have some blowby and he thought this was perfectly acceptable. He also said that he had used Amsoil sysnthetic about every 10-12k miles (only owned it 18kmiles) and he only had to add a quarter of a quart of oil during that 10-12k change cycle. I finally agreed to purchase it b/c this was the 3rd one i've looked at w/ blowby (I think the other two were worse) and I need a truck.
Modifications
There is a AFE oiless intake system on it. A Mag-hytec transmission pan and an auxillary transmission filter. I don't understand the last two mods really. 3 gauge cluster (EGT, boost, <forgot last>).
I will post pictures and hopefully video of the blowby i'm talking about. So this leads me to, should i investigate the blowby further. Is it acceptable? I have searched, searched, and searched and honestly I feel I'm getting mixed feelings on what is 'acceptable' blowby. It might be acceptable if you already own it, but maybe a different story if you're searching for the right vehicle to buy. those two 'acceptable' terms might differ I believe. I ended up paying more than I initially intended in hopes the lower mileage will serve me longer. I own a VW TDI as well and know this is not always the case. Too low of miles imho can be scary as well on a diesel. Appreciate any info,comments, help on where I should start investigating.
Thanks,
Peter
I finally purchased one today. If anyone is actively looking, you've probably seen in on Autotrader. It's a '97 4x4, auto, silver, with 148k miles on it. 3.5 gears, Laramine package with leather, wood trim, power everything. I paid $9300 for it.
The interior is plush minus the drivers seat. It's showing it's age. If that's my only worry, i'm off to a good start there. I did notice the dash was a different color (it's dark brown) from the rest of the interior (tan) though. ANy idea how to tell if it's one of those covers? To me, it looked stock and uniform to the dash. That would be crazy unbelievable imo though.
The exterior is...welll. The paint is going bad. Peeling on the sides. Roof i think is just about all primer. IT blended in so well w/ the pictures b/c the grey primer looks like the silver paint. Few dings but nothing major. The truck was purchased in TX, but was in Idaho most of it's life. So there is some underbody rust and a couple dings in the paint that have rusted. This is a high priority to get this resolved before it spreads.
Mechanically. I was told his mechanic told him no blow by before I showed up. He drove an hour to meet me, so I didn't get a chance to start it cold. We drove around, tested the 4x4. Tested how it tracked, lights, all that good stuff. Everything seemed fine. Wanted to check blowby myself. Pulled over and lifted the oil fill cap. A decent light steady stream of white smoke. Not enough to make the cap shake or anything. Just a steady light-medium white smoke. DIdn't investigate further (wish I knew more to do so). We ended up talking to his mechanic over the phone and he informed me that almost all 12v have some blowby and he thought this was perfectly acceptable. He also said that he had used Amsoil sysnthetic about every 10-12k miles (only owned it 18kmiles) and he only had to add a quarter of a quart of oil during that 10-12k change cycle. I finally agreed to purchase it b/c this was the 3rd one i've looked at w/ blowby (I think the other two were worse) and I need a truck.
Modifications
There is a AFE oiless intake system on it. A Mag-hytec transmission pan and an auxillary transmission filter. I don't understand the last two mods really. 3 gauge cluster (EGT, boost, <forgot last>).
I will post pictures and hopefully video of the blowby i'm talking about. So this leads me to, should i investigate the blowby further. Is it acceptable? I have searched, searched, and searched and honestly I feel I'm getting mixed feelings on what is 'acceptable' blowby. It might be acceptable if you already own it, but maybe a different story if you're searching for the right vehicle to buy. those two 'acceptable' terms might differ I believe. I ended up paying more than I initially intended in hopes the lower mileage will serve me longer. I own a VW TDI as well and know this is not always the case. Too low of miles imho can be scary as well on a diesel. Appreciate any info,comments, help on where I should start investigating.
Thanks,
Peter