WHAT SHOULD I BE AWARE OF BEFORE PURCHASING THIS TRUCK?

Hello everyone,

I started browsing for a second gen Tundra a couple weeks ago. I came across a 2011 5.7L 4WD SR5 Crewmax with 71,XXX miles on it. Dealer mentioned to be that the vehicle has had its catalytic converter removed (not an emissions issue for me as I live in FL). I just wanted some opinion on what I should be looking for and what questions I should be asking when it comes to this truck. Ive purchased plenty of cars before but never a used truck out of warranty and out of state. I would be unable to make it to Texas to inspect/pick the vehicle up. I have a friend of mine who is willing to go inspect the vehicle tomorrow before I decide to move forward. Ive read up on how reliable these trucks are and just want to make sure I am covering all the bases. Purchase price for this is $12,500+ shipping costs to FL+ Tax and Registration.

I have attached some pictures below. Your expertise/comments are appreciated!

 

Have your friend bring a flashlight and look up at both sides of the cam shaft tower from the wheel wells. See if it's leaking and how bad. It'll cost around $3500 to fix it.

More info here:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/cam-shaft-tower-seal-leaking-please-read.20102/

 

Price is pretty low for a 2nd gen tundra truck with that mileage.

 

Looks like a really freaking good deal. upgraded suspension, offroad bumper, oversized tires, only 71k on it. I picked up my stock 2011 rock warrior with 128k on it for $19,XXX. I would definitely get a carfax on it because at that price I'd assume its been in an accident. also like @sbxx312 stated have your friend check for the cam tower leak

 

that's what I'm saying I paid $8k more for mine with 57k more miles and it was stock.

 

Carfax came back without any accidents. Dealer had it listed for $15,981 in the condition it was in. After going through their trade in inspection, they noticed there weren't any catalytic converters. He then mentioned to me it would be going to auction as in Texas they cannot sell a truck without cats due to emissions. He said they paid 12,500 on a trade and if I would pay that he would sell it to me instead of sending it to auction.

 

I'd be leery. My 2wd 2010 SR5 bone stock was 4k more in 2017 with 90k more miles.

Good luck.

 

It is really low priced for sure. Thats why I wanted to have everything looked at and inspected the best I could. It is at a Lincoln dealership and they are completing a multi point inspection. Should I try to get another third party inspection completed?

 

Do it then. Under 20k for that is insane. As long as it’s a clean title, there isn’t massive rust and the cam towers are in decent shape, I would’ve done that deal.

 

Do it, even if it does have something terribly wrong with it you'd be buying a truck with a lot of desirable mods. If it was really priced that low due to the cats not being in then that's a good deal

 

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone!

 

Looks to be a pretty hard used, abused and not cared for truck! I wouldn't touch it but it is your money. Not sure what you are going to use it for. As a farm truck, beater it probably would be ok.

 

Looks like a lot of rust. Is the dealer real or just some guy selling trucks out of his cousins shop? I mean, make sure it wasn’t stolen. I’m guessing car fax would check that?

 

once he cleans it up and takes care of a few small dents I'm sure it'll be fine, obviously his friend should test drive it and feel it out too to check for alignment and power train feel but something tells me its fine

 

In my experience guys who let the exterior and interior go like this, also don't take care of oil changes and other fluids and other general maintenance items. They just work them to death.

 

My momma taught me long ago if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There are some trucks that I would buy sight unseen. The fact that the dealership is willing to sell something in that condition without cleaning it up and at least making it look presentable would be a red flag to me especially if I wasn’t there in person to inspect and drive it. If you have $12.5k burning a hole in your pocket, go ahead and do it. If not, I would contour your search.

 

Flood truck?

 

then I must be an exception. I take my truck offroad and have gotten a couple dents that I'm not worried about, but I do my oil changes every 6k and just replaced my pads and rotors, if I ever notice something slightly off I take note of it and start looking for answers. as long as the dent didn't take any paint with it and expose the panel to rust I'll leave it be if its small enough or hard to notice. I'm not building a SEMA truck. its just my daily driver that I take on some moderate trails and I don't hammer down when I'm out there. if the previous owner of this truck is anything like me then it should be a good truck

 

Truck looks kind of rough or "well used" for that mileage. It looks to have been worked just a bit.
It will probably clean up a bunch.

What part of Tx?

 

Lots of flood vehicles out there. My first thought is that this truck may be one of them.

 

Is that rust on the side, or mud, or vomit? undercarriage needs a powerwash, i bet you can clean this up and it'll look good. that suspension is worth good money too.

 

That's a hell of a deal . The only issue is I really really want those head lights. Lol

 

it'll still last 200K more miles AT LEAST.

 

These advise right up here, ^^^^^^. No amount of power washing, buffing, polishing is going to over come the number of expenses that you'd about incure.
Yes, I'll agree that Its hell of a deal but for the right purpose.

 

The truck is for sale at a Lincoln dealer who took it in on a trade. That is mud on the side of the truck as well. I plan on having my buddy check for signs of flood damage when he goes to the dealer. The truck has had two owners. First owner owned it for 5 years (always serviced at Toyota on a regular interval) and put about 32K on it. It was sold as a CPO at the end of 2016. Second owner owned it for put about 39K on it. The truck was inspected at Toyota and passed an emissions in 10/18. Cat must have been removed after that.

 

It was located in South Texas all of its life. I plan on using this truck for work. I need a lager truck to haul stuff to and from Home Depot during my maintenance/rehab projects.

 

Dusty and dirty interior doesn’t mean it was neglected. Dealer could’ve accidentally had a window open Or something. I wouldn’t be afraid of it at all

 

If were me, I'd have your friend fully inspect the undercarriage to make sure that surface rust is exactly that and take it for a test drive and make sure you can shift back and forth between 2WD, 4hi, and 4lo. Can't hurt.

 

The amount of mud, rust, sediment in the bed and the removal of catalytic converters all lead me to believe it was a flood vehicle. Maybe a better option would be to send your friend to the auction and see if you can get it cheaper than what the dealer is asking for it. I still think $12.5k is a lot of money to gamble on a truck sight unseen.

 

So the 2nd owner traded it in? I've never traded in a vehicle before, but if I planned to, I think I'd try to increase its value by cleaning it up better than this one is. This doesn't pass the smell test for me.

I bought my truck from a friend for $16k, which is what he was going to get to trade it in in 2017. It had 93k on it at the time and was bone stock.

Seems like there is more going on with this truck than just missing cats.