got screwed on an m939.... crap

[azM35a2]

(in phoenix, az)

Hi,
so i've had dueces in the past...i sold them when i left AZ, but now i'm back and i found an m939 and picked it up based on photo's and a verbal "it runs good" from the auction staff.

upon picking it up i checked the fluids and they appeared OK, well that was wrong, the radiator has a huge hole and it overheated in about 3 miles.....GREAT. so i had to call a landoll and have it towed. haven't touched it since but also the rear brake screws are all the way tighened so it only had front brakes (another loveliness i didn't notice till i was on the road)

so a couple questions, what might a radiator cost? (it's an older m939 with the big nonturbo cummins) IF that is the only time it overheated, are these prone to quick failures or are they pretty durable?

and what is this thing worth as the heap of crap it is now (body, interior, etc...is all in good shape and i'm sure it'll run still but haven't tried it since radiator is crap, has a hard top and a/c...) i'm very deep into it but perhaps it'd be better to just take a loss and get rid of it.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I think maybe by bidding blind and not inspecting it, you screwed yourself. All the problems you descrlbed would normally be caught during an inspection.

 

[R Racing]

John Appel ( may have spelled his name wrong) has the radiators from time to time at a reasonable price.

 

[Kloakndagr]

I think maybe by bidding blind and not inspecting it, you screwed yourself. All the problems you descrlbed would normally be caught during an inspection.

Ditto.....unless you have money to burn.

 

[azM35a2]

I think maybe by bidding blind and not inspecting it, you screwed yourself. All the problems you descrlbed would normally be caught during an inspection.

that is such an extremely helpful response...Thank you.

i took a chance based off of others visual inspections, it was a failure. yes i should have inspected it, however i was 1300 miles away at the time.

so stating the obvious isn't real helpful in my opinion, and really appears to just have been posted to irritate me. i assure you i have Enough irritation in my life.

 

[azM35a2]

John Appel ( may have spelled his name wrong) has the radiators from time to time at a reasonable price.

thanks i'll see if i can find anything on him.

 

[Csm Davis]

Keep it and fix it you can easily undone cage the brakes and change the radiator, which I can get you one. Call me after lunch tomorrow.

 

[Csm Davis]

Also you can run it for about 2 minutes without fear of it getting to hot with no radiator.

 

[Castle Bravo]

Sent you a PM about this.

 

[Coffey1]

Don't give up yet it doesn't sound that bad.
They caged the brakes because they knew it had no water in it and could not run the truck to air it up to move it.
Put a radiator in and ungage the brakes.

 

[FormerNewMVGuy]

It does concern me that you drove it with the brakes caged, Do you have a CDL?

 

[Carlo]

Why not see how bad the radiator damage is before abandoning the ship? I have a leak on my 923A1 and I'm going to remove the radiator and fix it. I've not come across many radiators that can't be fixed.

 

[swbradley1]

What I'd like to know is how the fluids could be okay with a big hole in the radiator? You might be okay if you shut it off when it started heating up otherwise you may have warped the block or head enough to let a head gasket blow through. The brakes may be as simple as being out of adjustment and they just caged them instead of working on them.

Please use capital letters in your posts to improve the legibility.

 

[reset2]

Inspecting is the best but sometimes not an option. Bought two 923s one inspected one not. The one we didn't inspect we bought at a price we could live with by what the pictures showed. I also live by the theroy to always to "Get" two just for the fact of parts. I realize that this is not an option for some but it has been a goal of mine. For some reason I havent quite convinced my understanding wife of this theory.

 

[Recovry4x4]

My post was not meant to irritate you at all. My point was, in the title you said you got screwed. Perhaps my response should have been better worded to question who screwed you rather than to imply what I did. When members get screwed by other folks, it's beneficial for the rest of the community to be aware.

 

[ke5eua]

Not to derail but what is on the roof?

 

[swbradley1]

He said it had A/C.

 

[ke5eua]

He said it had A/C.

I thought that might be a rv ac but wasn't sure.

I would love to see the inside of the roof pics to see how it is reinforced.

 

[patracy]

For what it's worth, I sold my good take off radiator from my M931 for $300 or 350. I can't remember the exact price.

 

[Scar59]

Good looking truck, they all need something fixed, some more than others. Slow down and go through the vehicle, you'll find it probably need something else addressed. Jumping in and off is a recipe for bad things to happen.