Like anything else, if the thing runs well and the price should be the biggest factors...

The two things that will kill a 4.7 in a heatbeat are oil sludge and heat! If the oil has been maintained regularly (hopefully with a synthetic) and there are no signs of sludge, then that would be a big plus.

If the thing has ever overheated then head gasket and cylinder heads damage are almost a certainty.

Personally, I'd have a compression test done on ANY engine over 100k miles I was considering buying. Better to pay a mechanic $75 or so for a test and be able to walk then buying the truck and finding out you need an engine! If the owner balks at a test, then I'd walk.

I know two people personally with 4.7s with over 225k miles on them, one a Jeep Grand Cherokee, the other a Dakota. So the engine has it in it.

That said, 148k miles is HIGH and the price should reflect that...

 

They are asking $9995 for it. I bought my wife a ’03 Durango with a 4.7 and the only problem we had with it is the water pump went and it overheated and cracked the head. It only has 67xxx miles on it. Other than that it runs pretty strong and she loves it.

 

IMO that's high, especially for that mileage. I just posted in another thread that my local dealer had an '05 Hemi on the lot about three weeks ago. QC 4x4 with only 42k miles on it for $11,995 on the window. Figured could get at least $1500 off the window price, but even if you couldn't, that's a lot stronger deal than $10k for an '03 with only the 4.7 and more than TRIPLE the mileage.

There are a LOT better deals out there than that...

 

Thanks I just found a 2002 Ram 1500 Quad 4.7 76,636 Miles for $11,900
so I guess I’ll keep looking. Thanks again.

 

Yea that's high for an 03 much less 150k miles...like hammer said, alot of it has to do with the upkeep and maintenance but even with perfect upkeep there's got to be some good wear on it lol

 

Unless that truck is tricked out really hard, you are getting ripped off. An '03 with 150k Miles should sell for probably 6,000 dollars. Not to mention, if it is a 7 year old car with 150k that means it has taken about 20k miles a year which is slightly overused. I would look elsewhere because that is an awful steep price for a worn out 03.

If I were you I would tell the guy to knock at least 3 grand off the price in order to even think about it. You will probably be looking at a lot of repairs on that thing cause a lot of stuff goes wrong 150,000-200,000 miles.

 

and unless the tranny has been replaced, you'll probably be stuck with buying a new one in the near future, definitly if you want it for 5 years. So, that 9995 just became 13000 if you catch my drift.

 

Thanks for your help. I looked over the weekend and found a couple of '04's with only 64xxx and 71xxx. So i'll just keep looking for a while. Thanks again.

 

Now an '04 with a Hemi, 4x4 with around 60-70k miles on it for around $12,000 is a decent buy IMO...