Advice for newbie

[Rawze]

First, you need to find out if it is a CM870 or CM871.

next, Assuming it is a CM870 for a moment: you need to verify if the CEL (check engine light) light is on due to the egr valve unplugged. If the CEL is on due to the egr valve being unplugged, then it has a chance that the engine has some life left in it... because it still has factory programming in it and not something someone monkeyed with.

I.E>>
* CEL is actually ON + egr valve unplugged = engine may still be somewhat ok, as factory programming will somewhat protect it from this scenario.
or...
* CEL is actually OFF + egr valve unplugged = 90% chance engine has a bad delete program in it and possible problems in its very near future, if not already.


INSPECT THE OVERHEAD CAMS!--- NEVER BUY AN ISX WITHOUT DOING THIS!. Here is a fine example (engine shown is a CM871) ...





Your posts heavily imply that you have severely limited experience towards what your looking at. --- TAKE SOME DECENT PICTURES .. SEVERAL OF THEM AT THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT, BOTH SIDES OF ENGINE ... and also of the truck in those places where it counts like the suspension, rears,. etc.. ... POST THEM ON HERE FOR SOME OPINIONS! ...

FIND OUT THE TRUCK SPECS!-- What rear ratio, tire sizes, what tranny, etc... and is it a mid-roof? or is it a tall sleeper?

you say your going to be running dry-box/reefer in the mid-west .... YOUR HOBBY DOES NO GOOD IF YOUR LOOSING MONEY FASTER THAN YOUR MAKING IT! .... Dry/reefer freight is seriously competitive, so the truck MUST BE PROPERLY SPEC'D ... and MUST BE IN GOOD, RELIABLE CONDITION to prevent D.O.T. fines and to prevent thousands$$$ in tow bills due to its years of neglect.

700k on a truck is right at that age where everything starts causing issues and causes you to end up broke down and chasing problems with it. Nothing wrong with buying a truck in this age range ... IF YOU KNOW THAT AND KNOW HOW TO FIX-ON-IT to keep it off the side of the roads. Its like buying a used house ... Looks great, seller swears nothing wrong, that they took real good care of it... like buying a used house ... only to find out 3 months after you moved in that it needs a $12,000 dollar roof job and the piping under the floor has been leaking for the last several years and now there are termites infesting it and that there are several cross-members in the floor rotted out!. -- THIS IS WAHT TO EXPECT IN TRUCKING AS WELL!--- USED = FIX-ER-UP-ER! .. and usually it is around $4,000 or so once you start to look past all the glee in your eyes and your brain settles down form the excitement of the "shiny new thing" syndrome and all the problems set in.