Keep or Return?

[slade8]

Hello,

Please help me decide whether to "keep" or "return" my used Gen 1 Raptor.
I purchased a 2014 Ruby Red Screw with 94k miles last Friday night from a dealer and have 5 days to return it for a full refund. Please see the attached original window sticker for all the options etc.. Additionally the truck has a Corsa catback, Airraid CAI, Dragon fire plug wires, center frt. bumper LED bar Aux 1, and four more LEDs on left and rt. behind the front bumper wired into AUX 2. The list price was $35.6k and OTD was $39.3k AS-IS but with these items replaced or installed as part of the our deal. New windshield to be installed tomorrow, tires (Kumho's to be installed thursday). Replaced - battery, front rotors and pads, rear re-surfaced rotors and pads, oil and filter change.
Items of concern: only 2 owners all dry climate owned but the 2nd owner has only one walmart oil change on the car fax. front and rear diffs show minor leaks around some of the bolts and appear they have never been opened, rear engine skid plate will not come off(frt. bolts spin) without more work to access the front diff etc., gas gauge is erratic showing empty though half full at times, moonroof closes and opens but will not return to sealed or flush location without manually tapping tilt, slight whine heard as you back up an incline, idle is rough or pulsating uniformly enough that you feel it in the steering and floorboard, engine tap at valve cover, over 58mph something is whistling. The buying experience with the dealer has been the worst ever. On a thursday night I gave them a credit card, showed by pre-approval letter and signed the purchase agreement to hold the truck, manager shakes my hand and thanks me for my business. Friday I tell them I have to get some details from my bank and will be in route with a cashiers check and would like to take delivery once the tires and windshield are replaced days later. While driving to the dealer they call me and tell me they sold it to an online out of state buyer who is financing thru them etc.. After I calmly told the manager and others involved what I thought of them and their choices they changed there minds and or their out of state deal fell thru but I had to take the truck home prior to Jan 1 they said. I got there at 230pm and drove the raptor home at 10pm exhausted from the BS! So now I am really on the fence about keeping the truck because the dealer has clouded my thoughts and ruined this cool truck purchase. I am thinking them almost selling the truck out from under me was a sign that I should pass on this truck or it's a sign of worse things to come by buying it.
Good things: drives nice on and off-road, all the electronics aside from the moonroof return to closed position work, all drive modes work, ac and heat in cab and seats work, exhaust sounds good (I prefer louder, lol), fam likes it, it's the model - package and color I have been looking for though I was too late on a 14k and 43k mile rubies I found out of state. I am looking forward to changing all the fluids and diff. , trans covers, sending the shocks to TSW, bringing the paint back to life etc.
I attached the max pics and can add more on a reply if needed. There's bumper to bumper 48month 48k-75k mile warranties available to purchase for $3200 to $4k range with $100-$200 deductibles. I have a 66 month loan out on it with gap insurance. I currently own highly a modified 2005 Nissan titan 2wd I bought used in 2007 and it is set up for road use at high speeds and is immaculate with 209k miles, all work done by me. This Raptor would be my next project by making it mine so to speak like my Titan became and our family 4x4 ride providing the comforts my UTV can't. I have an appointment tomorrow morning for a 20 year ford mechanic to got thru it and give me his opinion and what he says along with quoting me worst case scenarios on things I would rather not do myself now that I am older.
Thank you for your time and any input.

 

[Nex]

Honestly it sounds ok besides the sunroof problem. Has the sought after Gen 1 beadlocks. PO could have done his own oil changes and not log them on the Ford Pass app. Other items are small issues and to be expected on a 10 year old truck.

All salesman suck. If it's the correct color and options, run with it.

 

[Keith88]

F the dealer. Keep the truck.

 

[MurderedOutSVT]

That's a shiţţy dealer, all the way around, specially pushing the sale by 1/1..

Sounds like normal 10 yr old truck issues.

Ruby Red SE's are pretty hard to come by

 

[someday]

Kinda rusty for NV

 

[slade8]

Kinda rusty for NV

I think most of these have rust issues. All of the ones I saw near the coasts east or west we completely rusted out, like the one for sale in washington for much more money. I compared common bolts higher up such as the bed bolts and horn brackets in the engine etc. and this one doesn't have rust on those.

 

[someday]

Fords around me have holes everywhere, frames hold up well though. Seems to me that has been used somewhere with salt or its a coating of "rusty" sand

 

[smurfslayer]

Please help me decide whether to "keep" or "return" my used Gen 1 Raptor.
I purchased a 2014 Ruby Red Screw with 94k miles last Friday night from a dealer and have 5 days to return it for a full refund.

OTD was $39.3k AS-IS but with these items replaced or installed as part of the our deal. New windshield to be installed tomorrow, tires (Kumho's to be installed thursday). Replaced - battery, front rotors and pads, rear re-surfaced rotors and pads, oil and filter change.

2 owners all dry climate owned but the 2nd owner has only one walmart oil change on the car fax. front and rear diffs show minor leaks around some of the bolts and appear they have never been opened, rear engine skid plate will not come off(frt. bolts spin) without more work to access the front diff etc., gas gauge is erratic showing empty though half full at times, moonroof closes and opens but will not return to sealed or flush location without manually tapping tilt, slight whine heard as you back up an incline, idle is rough or pulsating uniformly enough that you feel it in the steering and floorboard, engine tap at valve cover, over 58mph something is whistling.

These things are a bit more concerning to me. the lack of maintenance records could be an issue, and the differentials have likely been ignored.

While driving to the dealer they call me and tell me they sold it to an online out of state buyer who is financing thru them etc.. After I calmly told the manager and others involved what I thought of them and their choices they changed there minds and or their out of state deal fell thru but I had to take the truck home prior to Jan 1 they said. I got there at 230pm and drove the raptor home at 10pm exhausted from the BS!

I believe that this was just a tactic to force your hand and there was never any out of state buyer.
<soapbox>
Never, ever buy a vehicle under any kind of pressure. Do the purchase on your time at your schedule. I personally give all the time to me going over the vehicle and once it’s time for paperwork, I set a hard timer at 75 minutes. If I’m not driving out within that time frame, I’m going home in my previous vehicle. On my first SVT in... ’97? I set the timer in front of the salesman and said “I don’t care what the sales manager or other staff have to say, you have 59 minutes to make this deal happen or I leave. That includes paperwork” My wife and I brought a game to play and we sat there playing a game while they tried the ‘my sales manager says $...’ “you guys work it out or we head home”. In fact, that day, they had someone else drive the Mustang and I responded “you should definitely sell it to them then if they’re interested, my current Mustang runs fine” then it was magically “no, no, no, we can work out a deal”.

</soapbox>

I have a 66 month loan out on it with gap insurance. I currently own highly a modified 2005 Nissan titan 2wd I bought used in 2007 and it is set up for road use at high speeds and is immaculate with 209k miles, all work done by me. This Raptor would be my next project by making it mine so to speak like my Titan became and our family 4x4 ride providing the comforts my UTV can't. I have an appointment tomorrow morning for a 20 year ford mechanic to got thru it and give me his opinion and what he says along with quoting me worst case scenarios on things I would rather not do myself now that I am older.

so... yes on the mechanic, that’s a 5.5 year loan - are you able to afford the truck and the upkeep on the truck?
let the mechanic give you some guidance on that.

 

[slade8]

These things are a bit more concerning to me. the lack of maintenance records could be an issue, and the differentials have likely been ignored.

I believe that this was just a tactic to force your hand and there was never any out of state buyer.
<soapbox>
Never, ever buy a vehicle under any kind of pressure. Do the purchase on your time at your schedule. I personally give all the time to me going over the vehicle and once it’s time for paperwork, I set a hard timer at 75 minutes. If I’m not driving out within that time frame, I’m going home in my previous vehicle. On my first SVT in... ’97? I set the timer in front of the salesman and said “I don’t care what the sales manager or other staff have to say, you have 59 minutes to make this deal happen or I leave. That includes paperwork” My wife and I brought a game to play and we sat there playing a game while they tried the ‘my sales manager says $...’ “you guys work it out or we head home”. In fact, that day, they had someone else drive the Mustang and I responded “you should definitely sell it to them then if they’re interested, my current Mustang runs fine” then it was magically “no, no, no, we can work out a deal”.

</soapbox>



so... yes on the mechanic, that’s a 5.5 year loan - are you able to afford the truck and the upkeep on the truck?
let the mechanic give you some guidance on that.

I agree with all of that. The ford mechanic and looked at the truck today. He confirmed everything I saw, heard and most of what I was thinking. Many things seen to be expected obviously like many of you mentioned and I also agree with. He thought the idle was like many of the 6.2l he jumps into. He said he sees a lot of driver side rockers go bad first. He could hear the tapping under valve cover and intermittent white noise or swooshing I can hear. Its not "bad" loud imo yet which he agreed with and no related codes. Non car people can't hear it. We did see a steering wheel position sensor code(old or new?) that he wasn't concerned about since the dealer just changed the battery and we are not seeing any tcs lights etc.. I will ask the dealer for an alignment after the tire installs and ask for a code check.
Man I love that dealer timer plan.
The extra 6 months was part of the gap they offered not something I needed and will likely pay it off early with the higher interests rates these days. The mechanic recommended a warranty and we talked about things like replacing rockers prior to codes etc., warranty inspectors etc.. I bought this truck to use it for what it was made for so the tranny, motor, diffs, 4x4 parts etc., A/C, steering components, bearing, hubs, radiators-fans are all gonna need some love at some point probably before its paid off. A new tranny is about 5k installed. I am going to go thru my bank for the warranty which is mercury mechanical protection so hopefully they won't be the nightmare I hear carshield and others may be.
So unless the non-ford dealer I am buying the truck from fawks me on the new windshield or tire installs I have decided to keep this beast!

 

[smurfslayer]

#AlmostOneLesprius