ab3

Hey Guys,

I hate for my first post to be calling in a favor, but if I decide to buy this truck, then I'll be sticking around.

I found an 87 with a 22RE that I'm considering purchasing. This will be a secondary vehicle used to get me up and down the snowy mountains when I move. No crazy off-roading, only snowboarding. I know with a vehicle of this age, that I'll be getting into issues and I'm willing to spend a little on my toys, but I also don't want to get into a complete money-pit. I'm trying to decide what I'm working with here and what your opinions are. Obviously you all know these trucks are getting harder to find, and I think that's obvious in my searching.


207,000 miles
Body has some bondo work but overall looks good and no rust.
$3400

I had the truck looked out and there was quite a bit of things going on with it. Lots of cosmetic and noise issues which I feel is pretty common for a vehicle of this age and not that big of a deal.

*The mechanic said the clutch was thin but not slipping.
*There was oil all over the undercarriage and inside the engine. I did see receipts and talk to the mechanic who replaced the rear main seal (or rear cam seal, I can't remember). He said they had it on a lift and running for 10 minutes trying to find the leak and it was blowing oil out everywhere. They finally found it, fixed it, and I saw it before they detailed it.

Below are some of the notes on the sheet

*clutch master leak
*lower ball joints
*idler arm
*pitmat arm
*rear axle seal
There was a note that the cylinder head, timing cover, and water pump all look new

There's a ton of other nitpicking stuff that I'm not going to list, but those are the main issues of concern. What are your opinions?

MaK92-4RnR

Pictures?

ab3

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the undercarriage. I had so much other stuff going on that I completely forgot. I've asked the guy to clean it up as much as possible so we can see if oil is still leaking. Worst-case scenario, what would an entire engine cost to swap in or is that an ignorant way of looking at this?

MaK92-4RnR

Well why's it need a new motor? im at 202k with the v6 and mine's just fine, and doesn't leak a drop.

ab3

I would hope it wouldn't! That's one of my main draws to this. I was just thinking in a worst possible case scenario. I think that's overdoing it personally.

Nervo19

Where are you located? Location might have an influence on the value. For the price asked the body and interior should be close to perfect because it sounds like the engine is not. I paid $2400 for my 1st gen three years ago and replaced the clutch, rear main seal and oil pan gasket. There was lots of old oil under the engine which cleaned up eventually. At the moment it does not leak oil. IMO you should get the price adjusted down by about $1000. If you can do the work you can get a remanufactured long block for about $1400. If you have to pay labor to somebody I can only guess it would be in excess of $1000. Currently I have an exhaust leak. It's never left me by the side of the road but it's always something.

ab3

I'm located in the mountains. Cold weather. I saw the receipts where he paid $2350 for it from an auction, so I don't think that's going to be doable. This happened because at first I offered him $1000 which is more than what the mechanic that looked at it said it was worth. I think that's a bit of exaggeration considering none of the major issues listed were on the body. And I feel like a good body is worth at least $1k. Thank you for the input!

HCott

Very helpful