Been there, done that.... I am in the same boat. I did my research on the truck AFTER I had bought it. Had I done the research first, I could have knocked a thousand bucks off the price easily..... Oh well. Live and Learn.

 

EXACTLY! I did talk the guy down a little bit but like you I could have gotten another grand off the truck if I had known then what I know now. Yep, lesson learned!

 

<AOL>ME TOO!</AOL>.

I also bought mine used from a dealer, and checked it over for more than an hour before hauling the envelope full of cash out of my boot. 2,000 miles later the transmission that had been behaving perfectly started slipping and flaring on the 3-4 shift.

I'd planned on installing the Mega Viper anyway but I'd wanted to put it off for a while longer because at the time I had no garage and couldn't do the work myself. Oh well...

 

You can get new heads pretty cheap on ebay,awhile back I bought a truck from a dealer&soon as I pulled in my driveway my cel came on.He cleared the codes kt ended up having a burnt valve&nope couldnt get my money back&couldnt afford to go to jail.My neices grandpa has a machine shop had my heads gone over&a week later the motor started knocking.Sold it&took it as a loss.If you ever come down this way I can get your heads done for free probably maybe a bottle of jack&a case.

 

I bought mine off craigslist and it quite shifting and went into limp home mode the day I registered and put it on the road...
I wish I knew then what I know now too...

 

That seems to be an all-to-common refrain here.

 

Just figured I would drop a little update on my truck... I took it to the dealership that I bought it from on Monday, they said that they ran an air line to the #5 cylinder and there was air coming out of the oil fill cap meaning the rings are shot.They also said that they put a camera down in it and part of the piston edge was missing and there is major scoring on the walls....completely different from what I saw when it was scoped the week prior. The week prior it was only blowing air out of the exhaust leading to the first shop to think that it was an exhaust valve that was bad... What are the chances that it could have changed from one to the other in just a weeks time? The dealer ship is now saying that it would be cheaper for me to just put a new motor in it and they would only charge me 400 to install it. (I have to buy it and it has to be new or reman'd) yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

I also found out who made the motor that it's got in it now that went bad after only 5k...Budget engine builders out of Cleveland...might want to stay away from them if you need a new motor! lol

 

Also Atlas Tranmissions. Got a "rebuilt" one from there for the Explorer my wife had. In all honesty, we should have left the old one in, it was better. NO LIE. It was junk, took it back twice and they said nothing was wrong, even though it shook like a b*tch at 40 mph. Needless to say, they wouldnt do anything. BTW, they're in Cleveland also.

 

Anything is possible..... If they will let you supply a new motor, they can be had pretty cheap on the 'net. As little as 1200 bucks. Check some of my previous posts for a link. (I don't have it handy.....)

 

1200 huh? Im gonna have to start searching then.. The best pricing/value I found was a longblock from Oreilly's for 1600 http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...2239&ppt=C0332