Worth Buying?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

AtomicHoe094

Atomichoe094
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Posts
8,179
Reaction score
7
Location
cleveland, OH
It has some prettty high miles, not saying that high miles is bad, but it has to be well maintained for me to buy anything with over 100,000 miles.

By the time you replace all the crap thats bad, your better off buying a truck with less miles and more money IMO
 

07Burb

GM fan for life
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Posts
50,407
Reaction score
17,396
x2 what Atomic said. Unless you know a good, reliable mechanic you can take it to in order to check it out I'd pass. At 180k you never know what might be lurking and how well it's been maintained. Do you know if it's pretty rust free or no?
 

Jaycenk

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2010
Posts
262
Reaction score
1
Location
Florida
What he said.
To replace it your self: If you figure a long block and all the crap that breaks when swapping plus gaskets and what not you will be around 4k to maybe 4500 for an engine swap. Transmission would be about 2k with Torque converter fluid and all that crap. Rear gear rebuild will be about 1500 depending on gears used. Add another 200 bucks for drive shaft balance and uni's. To re do the front seats and rear seats will be about a 1k, carpet with mats roughly 400. Complete rebuild of the brakes can run from 250 (depending on what is reusable) to about 600 for stock crap replacing calipers and master cylinder and all that. A/C compressor is easy 250, Condenser 100+, evap 100 & it is an absolute MF'er. Great thing about cheap cars and trucks are that if everything works then you can go through them in stages and just do it slow over time and the cost of owning them is about the same as what you would spend if you bought a good condition 10k dollar truck or car. BUT if everything goes at once you have to have some deep pockets to get on top of it, and you will need to own it longer to don't be under the bus if you get sick and tired of it.
My suggestion is to find a mechanic that will spend about an hour going over everything and look at it for a different perspective. Some times as the buyer you get caught up in just wanting to get some wheels so you don't have to deal with the searching anymore. I've done it. and gotten burned. I now take everything I am thinking about buying to a guy who was a gm master tech and let him look over it and let me know what condition he thinks it's in. By the way he charges nothing to do that and even though I do most of my own work I will through him a bone every now and then and have him do work on my cars.
 
OP
OP
C

ClassicJ

TYF Newbie
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Posts
17
Reaction score
0
Location
Philly PA/Durham NC
I thought that the miles weren't that high, Ive seen vehicles with more. I haven't gone to check it out yet but I plan to. Most dealerships let you take a vehicle to the mechanic so hopefully if mines isn't busy I'll take him with me.
 

07Burb

GM fan for life
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Posts
50,407
Reaction score
17,396
It's definitely worth at least taking a look at so definitely look just don't buy without a reliable and honest mechanic looking at it. On some 180k miles is barely getting broke in but for others that's worn out! It all depends on how the previous owners maintained it.
 

AtomicHoe094

Atomichoe094
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Posts
8,179
Reaction score
7
Location
cleveland, OH
For 3500bucks ive seen some nicer ones.. were just trying to help you out and not say yea yea go grab it and its a pile-o-shit truck thats been beaten to hell.. thats all :)
 

992dr

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Posts
3,177
Reaction score
1,229
Location
Eastern N.C.
If you have a reputable mechanic go through it thoroughly, then if you feel good about it great. Just be prepaired. There are a lot of things that can go sour that a mechanic would/could not now about, regardless of how hard and how deep they get involved in the inspection.

You could always CarFax it to get a general idea of what the history is.
You can plan on spending a certain amount in preventative maintance work.
You can get GM direct swap motors for around $2k.
I wouldnt worry about the miles.

Good Luck
 

07Burb

GM fan for life
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Posts
50,407
Reaction score
17,396
Ball joints, AC compressor, radiator(s), valve cover gaskets, wheel bearings, water pump,.... These are just a few I had when I had my 99 Denali. Sold it to my BIL last summer. It too had 180k on it but it was maticulously maintained and should go another 180k if my BIL continues to maintain it.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
133,066
Posts
1,879,098
Members
98,022
Latest member
falckranger
Top