[hawaii2004]

Hello,

Could use some advice on a possible purchase of a 2000 dodge diesel dually 4x4, we are living on the island of Maui and are looking at buying this truck to ship over to california and drive to our home state of Wisconsin. The truck has 75,000 miles on it and is cosmetically in good shape, it has a automatic transmission, the undercarriage is really clean with no leaks. When we were test driving it today the overhead gauge read 10.5 mpg, is this normal or is it possible to get better fuel economy? Also can a good diesel shop test a truck for anything that may be a problem in the future as far as a injection pump, lift pump, transmission, that may be a dumb question but I am not mechanical at all and just want to make sure I do as much prepurchase inspection as possible to insure a good truck without to many future problems. The maintanence on this truck has been done as far as oil changes and a transmission service a year ago, but that is all the current owner has done, he has owned the truck for four years and not sure of service records of previous owner. I have read automatic transmission can be troublesome, not sure if there is any truth to this. Any and all advice is very much appreciated. Also this truck has always been on this island which means it has never seen a freeway, and never ran for more than a hour at a time, not sure if this is good or bad. Thank you in advance

 

[Rustin]

Hello,

Could use some advice on a possible purchase of a 2000 dodge diesel dually 4x4, we are living on the island of Maui and are looking at buying this truck to ship over to california and drive to our home state of Wisconsin. The truck has 75,000 miles on it and is cosmetically in good shape, it has a automatic transmission, the undercarriage is really clean with no leaks. When we were test driving it today the overhead gauge read 10.5 mpg, is this normal or is it possible to get better fuel economy? Also can a good diesel shop test a truck for anything that may be a problem in the future as far as a injection pump, lift pump, transmission, that may be a dumb question but I am not mechanical at all and just want to make sure I do as much prepurchase inspection as possible to insure a good truck without to many future problems. The maintanence on this truck has been done as far as oil changes and a transmission service a year ago, but that is all the current owner has done, he has owned the truck for four years and not sure of service records of previous owner. I have read automatic transmission can be troublesome, not sure if there is any truth to this. Any and all advice is very much appreciated. Also this truck has always been on this island which means it has never seen a freeway, and never ran for more than a hour at a time, not sure if this is good or bad. Thank you in advance

This is a hard question. No seriously this is going to be hard. Most trucks in hawaii are usually rusted and beat up! Low milage on the island means nothing. Being clean with little rust is saying something. if it looks like it has been spray painted look a little deeper. I tried to do a search for a nearby Diesel Repair... ... ... ... My apologies. I honestly could not find a single shop that I could call to help you out. So I can't help you. you might have to go to a (dare I say) Chrysler/Ram or some type of commercial dealership. You may have to go as far as an equipment company that specializes and repairs only diesel powered equipment. If I were in the same position you were in, I would be asking my self is this truck that good of a deal? I mean it had better be a screaming good deal! Drive that sucker and see if you can be comfortable with it. Because this truck had better get you home when you get it in California! So do a good job kicking the tires and do a good test drive. Get to know the owner. if he's seems like he is on the level you might just have a good deal.
I just can't help you. I have seen many good vehicles come from the islands but they were bought through the auctions. and they were inspected before they were sold to the public. Your a unique case in this diesel purchase. If you do get the truck. let us know and when you are back here in the states keep us posted you never know if you might need some help.