I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinions on buying a used 1996 Model Cummins 12 valve Turbo diesel. Here is the link

Dodge Ram, Diesel, Well Kept.

I don't really know to much about these trucks I've been mainly looking at F150's, F250's and Silverado's but this one caught my eye.

I will be using this to go back and forth to High School and to do landscaping. I was just wondering whats a good price and if its even worth buying since it has 235k miles on it.

I know I don't need all the power but I was wondering if I got a good deal on one would it be smart to buy. I would use it to tow my family's boat to a local lake, go to school, do landscaping, and possibly other random stuff sine I do Odd Jobs.

I know diesels are more to maintain but could anyone give be any estimates of how much of a difference there is in the Maintenance I would only be putting on 3k-5k miles on it a year.

Thanks

 

not bad truck has had some paint in it's life time normal for that year for rot, the 5.9's go for ever as long as you keep up on maintanece with it be good for at lease 500,000 miles easy out of it , i wouldn't pay much more then like $10,000 for it even maybe less

 

My truck has 235K on it and I think it will go another 300K easy, I buy my oil filters at napa when they go on sale for 4 dollars a piece for napa brand(Which are made by wix or baldwins) instead of the 13 bucks a filter and another 32 bucks for rotella T and wall mart. I change my oil every 5K and I drove 1500-2500 miles a month. Then change your fuel filter between 8K to 15K if you get a Fuel Pressure guage you can monitor Lift Pump life and Filter life. Only things I would worry about is the front end components, and when was the Injection Pump replaced. see what he know about recent repairs.

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But seems like a good buys I bought mine for 6750 with 212K id think it will be a good rig and it will get good fuel milage, just be prepared to fill a 35 Gallon diesel tank its a $135 fill up for me., but Id go for it and see how far down you can take him but if you only drive 3 to 5K a year then buy some good oil, and change it once a year, and your fuel filter, I drive about 17K to 20K A year. but in town youll get about 16-19MPG and 20-23MPG highway if you KEEP YOUR FOOT OUTTA IT...

 

What are some major money problems that could go wrong and how much to fix these?

 

Your biggest fear is you injection pump... Just like any Cummins if the lift pump fails the Injection Pump fails and that can cost upwards of 3 grand to fix, a lift pump is easy to replace and failry inexpensive about $160. But from the looks of it that guy has killed what we called the Killer Dowel Pin in the front cover they had a tendancy to fall out and your gears would catch it a throw it through the front cover leaving you with bad gears and an oil leak the size of BP's Oil Leak. But ask him if hes ever replacdd the Injection pump and if you get it get a fuel pressure guage so you can prevent a bad lift pump fom killing your injection pump. The other thing is injectors can go bad sometimes that last 80K other last the life of the engine but those a fairly easy to do and you can get six injectors for about 300-400 bucks which is the price for one injector on a Ford of Chevy... Then water pump easy to replace, that truck is one of the easiest diesels to work on. Also ask him if he has turned up the pump if so How much?? and let us know hope it works out....