I'm not going to get into a whole big story but I may or may not be picking up a 2005 2500 in about a week or so.
When I went to look at it I noticed some minor issues, but literally minor, mostly in good shape, no rust on body, "normal" looking rusting for a vehicle of this age underneath.

It however has been in two accidents, one of which was in 2016 and was estimated at just under $4000 to fix, I was told it was in the front end.
second accident was 2020 which is when the vehicle was "totaled", I saw pictures of what the truck looked like when the dealership got it, and although the damage didn't look bad (a slightly ****ed up rear wheel) it was estimated at $7600 to fix!! So this has me concerned because what could cost that much to fix?

At any rate I drove the truck and it seemed to handle fine except for wanting to swerve when I gassed it, I was assured this would be fixed.
I was also assured that an inspection was done and that the frame is straight, I didn't notice anything that might have indicated a twisted frame unless the swerving when I gas it is because of this.

The other issue I noticed was when revving the engine (in park, or while driving) at or above 3000 RPM there seems to be some vibration happening that can be felt in the cab. My completely-inept-when-it-comes-to-cars girlfriend even noticed this.

I did put a down payment on the truck, but I've been stressing out about it ever since, and if these things I've noticed aren't fixed I'm going to most likely walk away from the deal, even if I do end up losing $1000.

So can anyone tell me what the vibration might be, and what the hell could possibly cost $7600 to fix for a minor looking accident??
I mean, body wise the truck looks great, surprisingly so for a 2005 in this area imo. I've driven a salvage/rebuilt vehicle before and it was quite a good car, but I could definitely see where it had been rebuilt. I don't see this kind of stuff on this truck.

 

Maybe replacing the rear differential.... and a wheel or two. It IS the dealership after all, so parts prices are severely inflated. And labor rates north of 100 bucks an hour? Doesn't take long to get into 'absolutely stupid' territory. (and this may explain the pull on hard acceleration as well.... rear diff not aligned properly.)

As for the vibration, think I would be looking at misfire counters, and see if there are any pending codes...... Pull a couple plugs, see what they look like.

 

misfire counters?

I did hook up my scan tool and checked, there was nothing about misfiring, just some minor **** like O2 sensors I believe, a vin mismatch in the SRS section (airbag module?)

as for the pulling, it doesn't pull so much as it just kind of......wants to swerve one way or the other? and I have to fight a bit to keep it straight. but rear diff being aligned wrong is something I'll keep an eye out for.
I'll probably go back tomorrow and maybe see if I can take another look at it, or if they've started work on it yet.

I'm really more concerned about the vibrations in the engine, this strikes me as something that could get stupid to replace.
Now I do have another motor in my 04, but I'm only getting like 9-10mpg in that thing, so I don't want to have to swap the engine. Also, I don't really like the "mismatch" of doing that.

 

Need a pretty decent scanner that can read more data, than your average parts-store feller. PCM keeps track of misfires, and if it sees enough of them, in some specific period of time, it will set a code. Some are more sensitive than others.... My 96 5.9 would set codes right quick. My 98 V-10 never set a code, with a completely dead cylinder. (plug wire burnt in half, that cylinder was not firing, at all.)

 

Take a friend and tape measure.... center of front wheel to center of rear, both sides... should be the same distance. If not, then I'd take it to a frame shop and have them inspect it for problems.

 

Ya mine isn't like top of the line or anything, but it reads ABS, SRS, and "OEM Enhanced". Innova 3100j if I'm remembering correctly.
The engine felt to be running fine though, there doesn't appear to be any problems with how it runs and drives except at that rpm range.

Thanks for that, I'll bring a tape with me when I go back.

Anything else I should be measuring?

 

I'd look at the bed to cab gaps, door/fender gaps and bot bumper gaps - look for symmetry issues. Get it on really flat concrete, make sure the tires are evenly inflated, then measure bumpers to ground, wheel well to ground, etc. I've seen vehicles assessed as total losses due to age. 2005 isn't worth much, insurance wise, and a rebuilt title is worth significantly less than a clean title. You might be getting a great deal, or you may end up putting alot of effort/$ into it to correct issues that weren't addressed from the accident.

 

I'll check those out.

I'm really hoping on this one though, the picture of the accident that wrote the vehicle off looked pretty minor honestly. I will ask to see that picture again because it was at an odd angle from the back, but that's where the truck was hit on the passenger side.
There is no damage to the box, the paint all matches, although literally right now I'm having a thought, because there was like no rust on this trucks body so now I wonder if they re-painted the entire thing, but it doesn't even really look like that. I looked under the fender flares that are on it, and only one of the front fenders has the smallest little spot of rust under the flares. This seems uncommon to me because don't they generally rust like **** under flares??

The other thing of note is that it has after market rims and tires, I couldn't really see if they were the same wheels in the photo of the damage, but I also couldn't really see someone replacing the wheels with aftermarkets to fix it.

The reason I'm so confused is because what I did see looked pretty good. There was some small **** like a few codes that didn't seem major at all, the power steering cooler is disconnected, and the Serv/4WD indicator seems to be....broken? disabled? it doesn't work and it's the only light that doesn't. I have no issue fixing that LED if someone "disabled" it by trying to remove it or something.
There didn't appear to be any 4WD problems though. I can engage it fine, 4L works, 4HI seems to work, but it was raining and I wasn't in a spot where I could test the 4WD without running the risk of blowing it up (not slippery conditions) so I didn't want to bind up the transfer case by trying to turn on pavement with 4WD engaged.

So yeah, I've been stressing like crazy over this one because 1) I really want a truck I can drive. If I could achieve 12mpg I'd be pretty happy as it matches my van mileage. 2) it's a 2500 sitting high and I've always wanted a big 2500, 3) it's a 2005, which if I'm not mistaken has the best tuning options for my flashpaq and my flashpaq is fully unlocked for all features.

If it turns out to be a decent truck then I'll have maybe $3000 (Once I sell my 2004) to put a fix a few things (PS cooler, maintenance) and then hopefully enough left over to be able to get some nerf bars and do the exhaust system with headers.

 

How much is the truck worth with a clean title? And how much is it worth with a salvage title, how much are you paying for it, and how much do you think you are going to have to sink into it? And the big question is, when it's all said and done, could you have spent the same/less money, and gotten a similar truck with no issues, (or fewer.... and a less questionable background.) for what you think you are going to end up invested in this one?

 

The truck is $12k after taxes and stuff, and 186kms on the clock. I've been looking around at similar vehicles (2005, 2500, 5.7L) and every one that I see available for sale is around $15k and has at least 250kms on the clock.
These are vehicles with the Hemi, not the Cummins. Those are up in the $18-20K+ range.
Oh and those prices don't include Certified vehicles, as in, it's saftied and I can drive it off the lot. Any other vehicle is "AS IS" even if it's in good looking shape, which means if I went that route I'd be spending at least another $1500 I'm sure to get it saftied, and they all have at least some body rust.

Reconnecting the power steering cooler, I'm unsure what this would cost as the steering seems to be fine and I can't really figure out why someone would disconnect it.
There is a tick in the engine which I believe to be a leaking manifold as it seemed to go away after the truck was hot, gonna double check on this when I can, but t his is why I Want to move to headers.

The two "BIG" problems I see are the engine vibration I felt at 3k rpm, and I'm now leaning towards this being MAYBE motor mounts or harmonic balancer.....hard to tell right now, and the fact that it wants to swerve when I gas it, it doesn't pull one way or the other consistently, it just wants to swerve and I have to fight it.....what gets me about this is they brought up steering issues before I even took it out, swore up and down it would be fixed.

so when they call me about it being ready I'm going to bring a tape with me and take some of those measurements and double check a few other things before I decide to plop down the rest of the money for it.

If and when I do get it, I'm taking it my local Napa to have them give it a good through once over and tell me what might else be wrong with it. This will of course only be able to happen after I've paid for the vehicle so at that point I may find out really bad news, or maybe not.