Buying my first truck tips and advice

Pay a certified mechanic to inspect it.

 

Did the owner do any kind of overhaul on it or engine work?

 

I hope it's for more localized work than OTR.

 

1.4 million is pretty old. It will need a rebuild on the engine if it was never done. I think 07 was first year for DPF filters. They had lot of trouble back then. Basically they did not know to run the engines hotter back then to keep the DPF hot and working. So driver had pull over and do parked Regen and they took 45-60 minutes back then. They had lots of trouble back then. Detroit Diesel stopped making the S60 engine because it could not handle all the new emissions stuff. I had 2000 S60 pre emissions engine and drive it till 1.4 million just to avoid all those first bad years of emissions engines back then.

 

Everyones might not know this or remember but back in like 2002 or the engine makers got caught cheating on the basic emissions stuff they were supposed to meet. They got in trouble and part of the deal was they started putting EGR the DPF on the engines and really did no testing. So that had all kinds of trouble. Like EGR valves getting stuck or DPF problems. They had move stuff like plastic window washer fluid tank because it was getting so hot they would melt.

 

Need more detail on history. 1.4 mil., 14 yr old Truck. It may be a good buy, or it may be one of the worse choices possible. If it’s never been overhauled, it’s way overdue. Ticking timebomb.

 

I can’t leave this one alone. If it has DPF, I wouldn’t even buy it. As mentioned, there were so many problems that started with DPF, and lasted for about 10 yrs. before the Technology caught up. Maybe get a Truck a yr. or 2 older, to avoid the problems. EGR valves came out on 02 Detroit’s. That was a problem in itself. But nothing compared to the later DPF , garbage. Potential money pit.Do some more research, to avoid unexpected high doller surprises/ repairs.

 

DPF is here to stay, look at the exhaust pipes on the newer trucks to see how clean they are. By 2013 model years the technology has matured and become reliable enough I wouldn't buy a truck older than 2013.

 

The Meritor transmission is kind of a rarity. The Eaton Fuller is kind of the benchmark standard for heavy truck manual transmissions for a reason.

Truck may or may not have a DPF. Its all based off the engine model year, not the chassis year. 2007 engine model year had the DPF but many 2007 chassis had 2006 engines in them.