Well, here is the breakdown...
He wanted $16,000. He told me that sometimes the truck ran great and sometimes it spittered and sputtered... which I diagnosed as being a bad fuel injector pump. I verified this by pulling the codes. On this model, you switch the ignition on and off 3x's and the ECU gives you the trouble codes. I researched the codes on
www.dieselram.com and the truck's issue was verified. I knew that the VP44 injector pump made by Bosch had issues, courtesy of forum members on
www.dieselram.com ,which are due to a bad lift pump that lifts the fuel out of the tank. He also told me that he spent $150 parts & labor to have a new lift pump put in. The only problem is that when you starve the VP44, it too becomes toast. I bought a rebuilt VP44 from
www.mwfi.com , along with a FASS HPFP 95 GPH. That total was $1,400.
I offered him my '00 Ford Ranger XLT for $3,000 (it had over 105K) and also offered him $10 K for the Dodge. He said "deal", but you pay the $300 sales tax. So, in essence, I got the truck minus a trade and also an allowance for the injector pump issue and my time/labor to fix other issues that popped up (valve adjustment, oil/filter change, new tires).
$16,000 Offer Price
-$3,000 Ford trade-in
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$13,000 bal.
-$1,400 Injector pump and FASS install
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$11,600 bal.
$1,300 discount that I insisted upon for my time, parts, and labor...
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$10,300 Dodge price (tax included)
I think that I got a good deal... Lemme know whatcha think.
Shawn