What's it Worth???

I'm trying to help my cousin make the best educated decision, whether it be sell his truck with engine problems, or have a rebuilt eng installed, then sell it. He is not mechanically inclined, therefore, is paying for all services/ repairs.

The truck is a '96 Tacoma/ reg cab/ 4x4 w/manual hubs/ 5 speed.. He only purchased it a few months ago, and isnt' the best at looking over vehicles.. Started noticing little issues once he bought it, but nothing crazy.. Since then, he's noticed metal shavings in the oil, and even after numerous oil changes, still sees shavings in the oil.. As of a couple of days ago, engine started making a somewhat loud/noticable knock or tapping noise, and has had very rough idling at times.. He's pretty fed up and since he's not mechanically inclined, he just wants to cut his losses.

Tryna figure out what he should post it for on the classifieds. He purchased it for $3800, but that was when it was running w/o problems/ minimal problems. The vehicle is in fair condition, so he states. Has roughly 165k miles and is located in Denver/Boulder, CO area.

Any ideas what he should have as a starting price? Again, if he cant get a decent offer, he'll have to pay to have a rebuilt eng installed, then sell the truck from there.

THANKS!!

 

nice truck. You can buy used motors from $500 to $1000. I would ask $4000 with the motor damage and see if he gets any bites. I know people in Hawaii are crazy for tacomas.

 

Can't hurt to post an ad at around $3500-38 and see if there's any interest. Unless he wants it gone tomorrow...

 

We've actually looked into motors in his area (Denver/Boulder, CO) and they are few and far in between.. This is actually this first motor he's even found, and it's been roughly 2 months of calling shops and junk yards. I figure mid-$3k would be a good start, at least to fish for offers..

 

I'd opt to rebuild and keep or sell. Really I'd keep it and make it my DD.

You could check farther than the area he's in and have the engine sent in. A local school shop class may do the swap for a project if he's not in a huge hurry.

 

I agree, and if it was my truck, I'd keep it as well. But I think he's starting to just get fed up with it, especially since he doesn't work on it himself. As for his time frame, he's going to be moving soon, along with driving 60+ miles a day, so I think it's just adding more stress for him.

I've looked locally around Boise, ID (where I currently am) and found a few engines, but the cost of shipping was to expensive or the situation didn't work out. I'm actually pretty surprised how hard these engines are to come across in Denver, which is a pretty populated city.