After driving over 100 miles to look at a supposedly ""clean"" truck I found it was actually pretty rough. However counter to my instincts, I fell victim to my desire not to have to come back up and took the discount that would cover the cost of the apparent repairs and bought the truck.
I was not out of Logan more than 5 miles before the check engine light came on. I should have turned around at that moment, but against my better judgement kept going all the way home.
My mechanic ran the codes and found that the crankshaft position sensor was throwing a code, and so were the catalytic converters. According to my mechanic if you reset the engine codes the light will stay off for a few miles (long enough for a test drive) and then the computer will re-learn the issues.
Having the CPS off is especially suspicious because once codes are reset the CPS needs to go through a special re-learn process to learn where the crank is. So unless the CPS was replaced (it wasn't), without being re-learned, it points to Deals on Wheels deliberately resetting the code to get through the test drive process and deceive potential customers.
What this means is they knew it needed new Catalytic converters ($300-$400 each, it needs 2) and by resetting codes were able to pass that on to me, the unsuspecting buyer.
The salesman claimed he tried his best to ""treat us fair"" but the owner's offer was to drop the truck off for a few days and he would fix it at his cost. Yeah.. right, like now it is possible to trust that we will actually be getting ""his cost"" . It reeks of another chance to make a few bucks on your existing sucker.
I also found that the frame may be bent and there is a slip in the drivetrain that I didn't notice before, and the seatbelts won't click into place as well. And all this is in addition to the repairs that were obvious. Unfortunately I am too blame for not being more careful. Avoid that mistake please.
So steer clear of Deals on Wheels unless they will let you take a 20 mile test drive and have your personal mechanic check it out. There is a reason they look like a low budget bottom feeder used car dealer. If it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck..
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