Hey ladies and gents. I'm looking at buying a 2001 Durango SLT plus. Its a 4.7L with the third row tan leather. The body and interior could use a little t.l.c. hear and there... well everywhere but that aside. What are some mechanical things I should be looking for? I've already noticed the P/S pump hose has a leak. The tranny has been rebuilt and the engine was changed for sludging apparently.

here is the add. http://winnipeg.en.craigslist.ca/cto/1198710153.html

price seems right to me for the work needed not that I'm gonna offer him his asking price judging by the work that needs to get done. Driver side mirror is cracked and held on by a screw. Front bumper is cracked on the passenger side. anyways thanks for looking!

-Alvin

 

well accoridng to NADAguides.com clean retail for that truck in my area is 5350, so with all the work needed, id say dont give him more than maybe 2000 for it, 2500 if your feeling generous, but IMO keep looking you can find a much better deal than that for 5k

 

KBB private party value is 4,345 for fair condition and 4,920 for good condition (which is where I like to start and just lower the price for all the stuff that would make it less than good condition). There isn't a heated seats option in KBB so that would be worth like $100 more as long as they both work. I just picked up a 2002 for $2000 (talked the guy down from $2800), but it's just an SLT and the engine is knocking and burning oil so if yours isn't you aren't going to get it super cheap. do the tires need to be replaced? If tires need replacing you could take like $400 off. It depends on how bad the interior and exterior are as far as how low you might be able to talk him down to if the engine and transmission are running good. From the pictures it doesn't look too bad. If you have a cracked front bumper and the paint has scratches and not in great condition you could probably knock $200 off the price. The power steering pump leaking isn't a pricey item, but you can still use it to your advantage to lower the price more because you can bring up labor costs too even if you are going to be doing the work yourself. You could probably take off $50 for that. I haven't replaced a mirror yet, but again that's another thing to point out when making your offer because it will seem more resonable. I would knock off like $20. It's good to hear he changed the ball joints because that was another big issue with durangos.

The 4.7s can be troublesome as far as the sludge issues go, but as long as you keep up on your oil changes and watch your oil gauge, you should be ok. How many miles does the new engine have? Other than that I would just take it for a test drive and see if there are any other noticable problems. Check for lights, weird noises, and engine hickups because something like that may be another problem he isn't telling you about. People who list on craigslist can be shady and not completely honest as I've found with both my durangos I've bought.

So if the tires are bad I probably wouldn't pay more than $4,350 for it, otherwise, if they are good I would be willing to pay up to $4,750. By good I mean they will last you two or 3 years. Of course your offer can be somewhere inbetween too because they aren't perfectly new tires. If it were an expedition you may have to offer more, but I've seen that these aren't liked as much becuase of their problems and you can get a better deal on them. Hope that helps out.

 

Ya seems a little over priced... Things to look out for are upper and lower ball joints, 45RFE transmission is the better one they have in the trucks, so you should be goo there. Look for leaks around the steering pump....

I personally would not pay $5000, many out there for less

 

Good rig.

Take it for a quick run. Talk to him for a minute then:

Take the oil stick out and place oil right off the stick directly on your fingers and rub it around between your fingers and feel for any metal filings. If your feel em walk away. Look at the upper ball joints. There are 3 rivets that hold it on the frame. If they have been replaced the rivets will be replaced by 3 little bolts and not rivets. Just have to look over the tire by the frame to see it.