Absolute Ram Noob looking for Wisdom

[WarValenta]

Have owned a 2003 cateye duramax since 2006. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2021 Megacab night edition cummins with 93,000 miles. Truck has been deleted, tuned and Banks intake heater grid installed. all things I was going to do anyway - Vin search by dealer friend shows all service records are good however a new 68 trans was installed under warranty at around 50k miles. I asked him if that would concern him and he said no, he actually would be okay with that. I can quote duramax allison specs, I have no clue about this Ram. I still need to go test drive it and dicker on it. Any help is appreciated.

 

[slvrsix7]

I would personally never buy a deleted truck unless I knew and trusted the owner. You'll have know idea what tunes were used. Unless it's a total coincidence a bad transmission at 50K on a tuned truck is a red flag. And don't think a dealer wouldn't replace a trans that was killed by tuning because there are plenty out there that will.

 

[Wheelz]

Yeah, I bet the tune is what killed that trans. A stock 68 cant handle any kind of power upgrades. And I bet the dealer didnt hot flush that system before installing that new one either. Now your just waiting for it to fail again. I would at least do a compression and coolant leak down. Cause I doubt if the guy put head studs on it with that tune. Tuning removes ALL of your built in fail-safes. If you decided in purchasing it, realize if you're mandated for inspection for registration (in the transfer process depending where you're located) you might as well forget it. Ask him what tuning company did it and let us know. Good luck

 

[WarValenta]

Yeah, I bet the tune is what killed that trans. A stock 68 cant handle any kind of power upgrades. And I bet the dealer didnt hot flush that system before installing that new one either. Now your just waiting for it to fail again. I would at least do a compression and coolant leak down. Cause I doubt if the guy put head studs on it with that tune. Tuning removes ALL of your built in fail-safes. If you decided in purchasing it, realize if you're mandated for inspection for registration (in the transfer process depending where you're located) you might as well forget it. Ask him what tuning company did it and let us know. Good luck

well thats the thing. it is being sold by the dealership that took it in on trade. Its the same dealership that sold it new.

 

[Wheelz]

I'm surprised that dealership took in a deleted truck for a trade. Unless the previous owner left in all the emission stuff installed and just turned if off with tuning.

Well, take it for a test drive and see how the transmission is responding and monitor trans temp. Since its tuned, its most likely SOTF (switch on the fly) either by a switch or by the cruise control buttons. As I mentioned, at least have the dealership do this tests for you...compression #'s should be from 390-450'ish psi per cylinder...and coolant bottle should not leak down with 15psi introduced. These tests are going to reveal if the head lifted or if the rings are bad.. You can also do a quick test on blow-by by starting the truck and unscrewing the oil fill cap and just lay it in the hole and watch if it dances around with the truck running...If you've never driven deleted trucks before and how they run with no fail-safes...then reconsider if all this makes sense to you. Good luck

 

[ErikTheRed]

You remember when all those little lowered Honda cars were running around with the wannabe NASCAR paintjobs and massive dragster wings zip-screwed to the trunk lid? Remember how every snot-nosed pimply-faced high school kid would drive those bone-stock grocery-getters like they were a contestant in the Cannonball Run, foot-to-the-floor and revved to the moon every minute because they thought the AutoZone fart-can exhaust tip sounded like a top fuel drag boat? Well, would you buy one of those cars? You KNOW how it was driven every single mile of its life just by the way it looks and sounds. Thats kinda how I think of tuned diesel trucks..... if its been tuned, then most likely its been driven and treated that way. No thanks.