I have been shopping for a truck lately and I saw a 1988 B2200 cab plus yesterday. It had 259,000 miles on it, but it was in beautiful shape otherwise. No leaks, no oil burning, even the interior looked good for its age: no tears or sign of abuse anywhere.

Gas gauge didn't work and it needed front brakes (felt spongy) - that is all the negatives I could find. Body was beautiful and straight (not repainted).

I am so tempted to buy this thing but I keep wondering how long does an original engine and (manual) transmission lasts? I mean if you do follow the manufacturer's recommendations on repair and maintenance to the T, do they last 400,000 miles? Are there many 2.2 engines that have been known to last that many miles (or more)?

They do have a specific life expectancy don't they? It just seems to me that $1500. (that was his price - firm) is a lot of money if you need to replace the engine or transmission soon, right?

The kelley Blue Book value (private Party) between fair and good condition) is $1000-1400. TMV (True Market Value) is about $600.


I do want to buy it if it will last me another 100,000 miles with regular maintenance.


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Don't expect any $500 vehicle to give you 100,000 miles without repair.

That said, do a compression check on the vehicle (you can borrow/buy the gauge from a local autoparts store, it screws into the spark plug hole.) Check 1 cylinder at a time, you want them all about the same. (Not sure what kinds of readings you should get on the gauge.) This will give you an indication of the condition of the valve seats & rings (although it would smoke like crazy if the rings were getting worn.

Check the condition of the fluids if possible (engine, tranny, transfer case if 4wd), get any maintenance records available & check for leaks. Look for any kind of metal shavings in the fluid, there should be none. Engine oil should be a golden color, tranny should be red (most likely transfer case as well.)

Jack the truck up and see if the ball-joints/tie-rods are good and tight (grab tire at 12 and 6 oclock positions and try to shake it, if the tire wobbles, you've got ball-joint issues. Grab the tie-rod (steering linkage) and see if there is any looseness/freeplay in it. If there it, then you most likely need either new tie-rods or the steering box could be hit. When driving along the road, the wheel will tend to "nibble" back and forth as you drive straight down the road.

I think he's dreaming if he thinks he'll get $1500 for any 1988 with 260,000 miles

 

Thanks for the advice.

I guess he (the seller) got offended when I only offered him $1200. So now he wants $1800 for it. Which is quite alright by me, because I just wait until something else comes up. I don't have to have anything right away. This is going to be my second car and something to haul trash with to the dumspter every once in a while and a back up to my daily driver - just in case I leave the lights on or something. So I can wait.


But it just amazes me how some people come up with their own ideas of how much their cars should be worth (like adding up the cost of all the repairs and maintentance plus what they paid for it and expect to get most of it back when they want to sell it - while in the real world their car just depreciates every day a little bit more).


Thanks again.


Lyon