Help choosing an 871 truck

[Rawze]

(02-03-2018 )Nilao Wrote:  If I could not pop the valve cover off I would walk away. And to call that an invasive procedure is horse shi#t. It take 15 minutes to take off have a look and put it back on.

You want to get invasive tell him you also want the pan dropped, the egr cooler outlet disconnected and the system pressure tested to 20psi overnight. Jack up the rears and pull the axle shafts for a bearing inspection, pull the inspection plate off the flywheel housing for a clutch inspection and a dyno for blowby measurements. That’s a good start I’m buying a used truck. Any reputable dealer will allow you to take it to a shop of your choice for any inspections on your dime. If they won’t then walk away as they’re cheats and crooks.

As far as an oil sample I have seen shops use a new 1/8 inch nylon tube that they feed down the dipstick tube to pull a sample without draining the oil which has to be done taking it from the drain plug.

That sounds like what I would do at the very least on an old truck with high mileage. - Know what you got, don't gamble or guess at it. If someone is selling that many trucks, then they are bound by law to not deceive you as a dealership. IF they are selling the truck "as is" with the pretense of "good operational condition/road ready", FIRST, make sure it clearly states it in the bill of sale for the thing. Next, make them prove those things (good cams, no excess blo-by for its age, egr cooler/powersteering/turbo/tranny/rears good, no coolant intrusion, rear bearings/suspension/tie-rods ok, etc) either before or during the sale, and if they don't want to -- You have the right to prove/inspect all those things and opt-out of the deal within a time frame. That or I would have gone somewhere else to do business. - If I am going to buy a truck with no ability to see if it is in bad shape or not, then I am heading to the nearest local truck auction where I can buy one on the cheap and fix on it myself instead.