The Trucker Chick..

Yes, every 6 months is a little over the top....

 

Was thinking the same thing but thought maybe it was ran by a team operation with high miles every year

 

I am going to go against the grain with most here and tell you forget about this truck.

I will tell you why in a moment but let me explain how to buy one.

You don't go shopping for a truck like a car or pickup, you need to know what condition the truck is in and this has little to do with the rust on the bottom side. The owner may have maintenance records but that matters little unless you know what they mean.

To start with get an Oil Analysis done on any truck you consider buying, do it out of pocket and that way you will get a good opinion about the inside condition of the truck. USE Blackstone Labs, the kits are free but the costs is soooooo sooooo cheap - $30 or something like that. They can explain to you what is wrong and what it high or low. ALSO to add to this, if the oil has been changed WALK AWAY.

Second is to get the truck a dyno test with blowby, this is very important because this tells you what percentage of rated power is being produced. If it is low, like 60% pass on the truck. it the blowby is high, pass on the truck.

Then the other thing that is often ignored is the ecm, the record keeper of the truck. Get a full dump, they are usually 10 pages average but I've got them as high as 25 pages because of the on going errors. YOU want to see what the truck has done, things like errors happen often mean other issues.

Now the last thing is I would go to the dealer with the VIN number and have them pull up the history of the service of that truck. contrary to what they may say it is all there. This can tell you if the truck has been in the shop for recalls or accidents. I had one owner tell me that the truck never got an inframe, with just 450k on the clock, everything checked out except when the VIN was pulled up, an inframe was in the service history and I passed on the truck.

So here is the problems I see, if they are doing oil changes too frequently - 15k should be the norm - and they are replacing the drive train fluids way way too often, then it is a sign of problems. The trans fluid needs to be changed ... get this ... in newer trucks about every 500,000 miles unless they are in severe service, while older trucks get a 300,000 oil change. Sounds like to me that they've got a leak somewhere and have to top it up.

As for the head gasket, did a shop do the work who is affiliated with the engine company? Like a freightliner dealer? Or did the owner go to a small shop to save money?

 

So when all those things you mentioned come back great and a year or 2 you have frame rails and or crossmembers that look like swiss cheese after the aerosol overhaul has flaked away and your scratching your head thinking whats next? Not saying you shouldn't do a full inspection and all those things are very important but rust plays more than a little part of it.

 

Also many dealers won't have records of work done outside their shop. Ie Caterpillar keeps nationwide records-but won't show anything done outside a CAT house. I called to find out what's what on a 97 Pete I bought. Only record they had on file was from 2000 for a minor recall issue. Nothing else.

Doing all those things is certainly a good idea don't mistake my words: won't tell you lots of other things however. Like rust or major component changes done by shops out of network.

 

That's all fine and dandy but like Ridgeline says if it has new fresh clean oil in the motor from a recent change..... then an oil sample will show you nothing. That's always a red flag.

 

When a truck has been meticulously maintained like that, the odds are in the buyer's favor that it is a good truck. Still a gamble like everything else is, but if it had been a problem child, the PO likely would not have been able to afford that level of maintenance . BUT, as Reagan said, "Trust, but VERIFY"

 

I have run a M11 coast to coast for while always grossing max allowed weight the thing was reliable but i always i mean always felt that i didn't have the right tool for the job.

Especially west of Colorado power plant was use to his MAX....

Personally i wouldn't buy it but that's me.

Good luck.

 

The M11 has a reputation for excellent fuel mileage if you are running by the mile.