Advise on truck and engine purchase

[Waterloo]

Go read Rawze's book first, link is up above in the menu... And then be prepared to break out your wallet.

If you find a good truck, or at least one you think is good, there will still be allot of maintenance. Remember, people do not sell trucks that are making money. If you go the EGR route instead of say an older pre emission truck, get the EGR system in order, which may include $2500 for an EGR Cooler, another $600 to $1000 for EGR sensors and Doser. Then you will need to get Insite, another $400 to eBay. You will want/need to eliminate the mandate ASAP. If you can, pressure test the EGR Cooler along with the motor and then see if the system is building pressure as in a leaking head gasket or cracked head.

Check the head gasket, do not trust the seller! Do the above tests! Odds are it will be bad or soon to go on you. Heads have been a popping around here on these 2008 to 2010 ISX motors like Carter and his liver pills. If the head gasket is leaking, you cannot just slap a gasket in there, you will need to replace the head too. Go with a factory OEM new in the box head, stay away from the remans, figure $4000 + Labor. Also figure in at least one, if not both cams if you are in there, another $1450 ea., plus a few other odds and ends that likely will be found.

Then we have the lower end of the motor, look at the oil pressure on the truck you are thinking of. If it is below 35psi, just expect to have the lower end done. Figure $2000 to $2500. If the head is leaking and the lower end is going, time to in frame her. That figure is all over the map, from $20,000 to infinity. May as well do the clutch too at that point...

If the truck is over 500,000 miles on the ODO, figure on replacing the Damper/Harmonic Balancer on the motor. They have a shelf life, and will wreak havoc on your motor and its accessories. Figure $1100 if you have a dealer do it.

If you can do a Injector leak down test, that would be a good thing too... Injectors are not cheap, around $400 ea. You also have the fuel metering/timing actuators, they normally go 800,000 miles and will need to be replaced. $400 ea, there are four of them. They can be tested to see if they are bad, Rawze has a video...

Then we have the rest of the systems on the truck... Your biggest issue will be cleaning up the EGR mess, which is what leads to all of the above issues and more, as these systems destroy these motors. And I will state again, people do not sell trucks if they are making money. They rid themselves of them because they cost them money, like blown head gaskets and screwed up buggy EGR systems. Rawze posted an interesting number here somewhere, our maintenance costs went from like .04 a mile to .17 a mile with these EGR trucks, something to consider.

Knowing what I know, if you have to have an emissions truck, go with the Cummins if you plan to keep it. At least we can work on these, and once fixed and mandates eliminated, they are very good motors and will get some excellent fuel mileage. Just make sure you have at least say $20,000 in the bank before you pull the trigger, if not more, or have access to that kind of money. I'm at $36,000 right now on my in frame, we are going through this bitch end to end... The truck has 900,000 miles on her. The only parts we are saving are the CAC, the block and Crank. Everything else is going to be new, right back to the driveline. I could have two nice in framed restored pre emission Pete's for what I have in this truck, along with all of the down time and lost revenue. You will need to learn how to work on this truck, you will need tools and more than likely test equipment. You will discover that few shops have a clue on how to properly repair these trucks, motors and or the EGR systems. There is a learning curve, but we have this website which has been a God send. I would be bankrupt if not for Rawze and the rest of the outstanding individuals here that have freely given me their advice and help.

So, hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Just make sure you have access to the capital to keep her on the road and do the needed repairs. Good luck with your decision, as I have never had so many issues with any piece of equipment I have ever owned, hind sight is 20/20. This is my seventh or eight truck, I forget. But the days of servicing, grease and routine maint. are long gone, none of my trucks were ever down like this thing, NEVER.