Pete 579

[Aleeex]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so Im sticking it in the Pete section.


I sold my truck a year ago and have been doing the 7-4 office thing. Its not working. Trying to get back into an office on wheels.

Found a nice (or so I thought) 2014 Peterbilt 579 out in Idaho. Its a 450 isx with a 13sp and 369 k miles. Super clean truck..

Pete 579, click me

VIN 1XPBD49X3ED241943

I dropped everything and started my drive there yesterday at 4am from Sacramento.. 580 miles later I arrive and take a look at this thing.

Some rust on the back around the 5th wheel, rust on axles. I guess I would rather see it than a dealer just spraying some rustoleum to cover it. Front right of the hood, bumper and step seems to have been replaced after some sort of incident. Work it good, hood needs to be adjusted. Paint is very good as well.

Interior was super clean, no smells of any kind. Transmission shifted smooth, clutch was good. Engine had super small lumpiness at idle, smooth driving.

So you are probably wondering, why am I posting this? Well, we get to the good part.

Right away when the hood was open I noticed that the coolant level was slightly higher than MAX line. It was also slightly dark..

Did not think much of it, dude took my license and tells me to warm it up while he makes a copy so I can take off for a test drive.

Fast forward 10 miles later I am back, pop the hood and have slight smell of coolant. Weird, only my Range Rover (bless those german folks for making that engine) smells like coolant after a drive. Truck is at 170* and expansion tank is full. I get them to empty some out and express concern about combustion gasses in coolant. They assure me that they pulled some coolant out and did a combustion gas test, it passed and its good to go. I'm not buying the BS I'm sold, So I ask if I can go on a longer drive. No problem. I grab my laptop and inline 5 and off I go. Look though all parameters and everything is good. Engine was never overheated or abused. legit miles, legit engine/ecu hours. No parameters give errors while you're driving, or acceleration. After about an hour drive I come back and ask them to do the test in front of me. 5 pumps into it truck fails. Combustion gas in expansion tank.

Sales guy says he is clueless about the issue, mechanic says the same. Thanks me for finding the issue, apologizes that I had to drive all the way there and I head home.

Tester he used
link

Moral of the story? Check everything, regardless of what anyone tells you. Follow your gut. This truck more than likely dropped the 5th liner. Even the mechanic said so after it failed the test. I would of been stuck with this truck once I put my signature on the dotted line. I am in no position to buy a project that is going to cost me another 10-20k just so I can go to work. Be vigilant and post VIN numbers of shi#t trucks so other people don't get burned.

Keep trucking.