Salt, Rust, and the value of a diesel engine

Well a few took a stab at the diesel debate...lol
Mickeyfan, your question has nothing to do with gas vs diesel. It’s age, condition, location and care of the vehicles regardless of which fuel pump fills it up.
You’re in WI. Judge how much rust you can put up with and how much you’re going to drive it in the winter.
Vehicles are investments and some would say poor ones at that, but if yuure smart about it then it can be a much less poor investment.
I grew up in Chicago and WI and I would pretty much never buy an older vehicle used locally in the winter back there.
There’s too many trucks that aren’t rusty piles of ____ for sale and with the interwebs you can see everyone of them from AZ to AK.
Plus you’ll pay a premium for a rust free truck in WI. Big premium. Buy one anywhere south of the mason dixion line or West of the Rockies.
I just bought my sis a car out here she lives in WI. 11 years old 100k on it, daily driven, 0 rust, 0 UV damage cheaper than in WI.
Just bought another 13 year old car out here for our boy (16). Looks better than any car that’s spent a month in a Midwest salt bath.

Grit dog wrote:
Well a few took a stab at the diesel debate...lol

I tried, but it seems unavoidable! ;)

Grit dog wrote:
your question has nothing to do with gas vs diesel. It’s age, condition, location and care of the vehicles regardless of which fuel pump fills it up.

It's a diesel/gas question only to the extent that I wonder if spending more buying diesel in this area means you have an engine that will outlast the body in which is rests. In other words, why spend more for a more durable engine if the engine's 'container' is going to fail as quickly as a gas engine anyway.

Grit dog wrote:
Buy one anywhere south of the mason dixion line or West of the Rockies.

There's some value to this consideration, but as a person who doesn't know a lot about cars, I worry about that process. If I try to buy long distance, I'm going to need a LOT of coaching on here as to how to make sure something is worth it before I jump on a plane to go buy it! Between flight, hotels, food and gas, I'd be adding upwards of $1,000 to the cost of a $25k truck - that's a big premium and one you'd only want to do once! Honestly, it scares me a bit!

"There's some value to this consideration, but as a person who doesn't know a lot about cars, I worry about that process. If I try to buy long distance, I'm going to need a LOT of coaching on here as to how to make sure something is worth it before I jump on a plane to go buy it! Between flight, hotels, food and gas, I'd be adding upwards of $1,000 to the cost of a $25k truck - that's a big premium and one you'd only want to do once! Honestly, it scares me a bit! "

And this TOTALLY makes sense. Myself being more of a gearhead, I didn't consider that. AND being's you're looking at 10 year old diesels potentially, each model, IMO has it's own quirks that are potentially much more expensive to fix than their gas counterparts.

Even knowing what I know, my theory on used vehicles is I pretty much ONLY buy private party, typically older folks whom a person can get a good feel for how they "live" including how they take care of their cars.
Since you're considering gas trucks too, I'll add, I think gassers fetch even less in/around the mountains out west for obvious reasons, so the deal may be a bit sweeter and not as many "quirks" to consider.
I've bought several vehicles long distance, at least long enough the drive would p!ss you off if you got there and it wasn't as represented. Alot of communication with the owner, alot of pics and being a decent judge of character, IMO is almost as good as being a good mechanic. Luck of the draw says you could get a good looking turd from the car lot across the street just as easily.

FWIW, one of the big selling points of the car we just got our son, was the add said "no text, land line" combined with the pics that were in grampas garage that you could eat off the floor, I was 95% sold before we drove down there.

Anyhow, something to consider. Having spent a great deal of time in Northern WI, and growing up in IL and working as a fleet mechanic through high school and college, if I never get under a rusty vehicle again, it'll be too soon!

If you find a cherry truck in Seattle I'd be happy to give it a once over for you if I could.

Consider the $1000 is cheap if your 10 year old truck doesn't even start rusting out for 10 more years! Even if it needs an unexpected repair that you "think" you would have caught in person locally, I've done alot of "$200" brake jobs that ended up $1000 brake jobs after rusty brake lines, frozen caliper and a snapped bolt or 2 worked their way into the job.

blownstang01 wrote:


By the time we get rid of them, they are pretty beat up between rust and the construction industry in general. We either junk them or sell them to guys who work for us. Liability isn't worth it to us otherwise, regardless of "as-is" language. We did get more for the diesels, but we were already selling for pennies on the dollar so it wasn't enough to justify in my opinion.

Ours are pretty junked too, but we are still able to get money out of them. Almost half of of the trucks are half ton parts delivery vehicles driven by young drivers who don't care or older salesman who tend to treat their trucks better. The other half are 350/3500 to 550/5500 mobile service trucks with utility beds, cranes, welders, and so on. Some are class 6 Peterbilt or Internationals. We are able to get a lot more money from these especially if they are diesel. Once sold at auction as is, the liability to our company goes out the window.

ShinerBock wrote:


The other half are 350/3500 to 550/5500 mobile service trucks with utility beds, cranes, welders, and so on. Some are class 6 Peterbilt or Internationals. We are able to get a lot more money from these especially if they are diesel.

I hear ya, but those are a whole different animal. We buy regular-cab, 2 wheel drive 2500 work trucks. Not a huge market for them here in Upstate NY. I can see the trucks you're talking about bringing $$ at auction.

Grit dog wrote:
Well a few took a stab at the diesel debate...lol

Sorry, my point was not to got into the diesel/gas debate. It was whether it would be still valuable enough to recoup any money or not by the time he said the gas engine would be done. If so then it is worth it. If not then no. I didn't want to go into preferences because that is a whole other can of worms.

No offense taken.
I “see” rusted out diesels that people ask good money for back east. And they probably get something more out of them from the folks that are conditioned to rust buckets.
But to someone knowledgeable, the Diesel engine is only part of the equation. And a small one at that once a vehicle gets the cancer!

Buy a truck that has been rust proofed with like Ziebart or some other good rust proofing. My 2004 that I sold in 2014 had zero rust on it anywhere! The guy that bought it wanted a 4X4 but every truck he looked at was a rot box and they where 2007's and up. He bought mine and paid me top dollar for it.

Clean trucks are out there but you will pay top dollar for them as you should. If you find a super clean truck you can be sure the owner also took care of it mechanically also. My vehicles go through a car wash at least three times a week in the winter and once (min.) in the summer.

Don

Last two trucks we sold (great lakes area) ran fine when we sold them...the big issue is the body rusting away and minor issues (like electrical glitches) that come with age...particularly salty age.

The engine (gas or diesel) is rarely the failure point that puts a truck out to pasture.