Used 2008 5 cyl 2WD Crew

Donny Hacker · March 28, 2020

First (and long) post

So I am looking at a 2008 crew cab 2WD with the 5 cylinder engine and it has around 138,000 miles on it. I checked it out in person last night and here is what I found:

1) Truck idles poorly and after hooking up my OBD tool, I found that the 4th cylinder is misfiring. There were no other codes noted (stored or otherwise). From what I can understand, this model year 5 cylinder didn't seem to have the cylinder head issue, so replace plugs and coils to fix? I drove it around the neighborhood and it drove OK given the misfire issue. Truck seemed to shift fine and I ran it through all gears (P, D, N, R, 3, 2, 1) with no issues. Braking is hit or miss, especially since I've never driven one of these before. The truck stops, but just seems "soft/spongy" to me. The truck also has over sized wheels and tires on it (as in those obnoxious cheap ones and not off road style) and I'm not sure if that is causing an issue. I couldn't see the pads or anything, but I can go back and check.

2) Checked oil cap and discovered tan "pudding" underneath, but the dipstick was clean (oil was just changed). The truck generally just sits out on the street and it's humid, so this is possibly due to condensation buildup. Obviously it could be something else, but condensation may fit - thoughts?

3) I did not notice any leaks or issues on the back end, but noted some oil on the front. Given the fact that the oil was just changed, I'm thinking most of what I was seeing was probably due to that. I didn't see anything leaking from drain plug or the block. CV joints also appeared oily, but I couldn't tell exactly what was causing it - boots did not look torn or damaged in any way.

4) Coolant, trans, and brake fluids looked OK and the truck maintained normal operating temperature while I drove it.

5) A/C works, but again, I've never driven one of these so I am not sure if it could be better (did not have a thermostat to check actually blown temps). The blower is noisy as all heck (coming from underneath passenger side?) and I can only assume that's not normal.

6) It has a new(er) battery that checked out fine.

I am basically just looking for a backup vehicle for light work (i.e. hauling stuff to and from the house like Home Depot runs, etc.) or to use as in an emergency. They are asking around $3000 for it, but I'm torn over whether that's a decent deal given what I discovered. It would seem that these are running $6K to $8K online, so maybe not a bad deal? It has some cosmetic issues that I would also have to attend to (broken dash plastics, tail lights, headlight bulbs, etc.), but nothing major. My biggest issue are those stupid tires/wheels that I would immediately have to replace and then fix the cylinder issue. If it's just a matter of replacing coils & plugs, no big deal. But if it's a cylinder head issue, obviously that's an issue. The guy seems pretty eager to get rid of it, so I could probably talk him down a bit.

Thoughts from the more experienced and/or experts on here?

Silverado4x4 · March 29, 2020

20 hours ago, Donny Hacker said:

First (and long) post

So I am looking at a 2008 crew cab 2WD with the 5 cylinder engine and it has around 138,000 miles on it. I checked it out in person last night and here is what I found:

1) Truck idles poorly and after hooking up my OBD tool, I found that the 4th cylinder is misfiring. There were no other codes noted (stored or otherwise). From what I can understand, this model year 5 cylinder didn't seem to have the cylinder head issue, so replace plugs and coils to fix? I drove it around the neighborhood and it drove OK given the misfire issue. Truck seemed to shift fine and I ran it through all gears (P, D, N, R, 3, 2, 1) with no issues. Braking is hit or miss, especially since I've never driven one of these before. The truck stops, but just seems "soft/spongy" to me. The truck also has over sized wheels and tires on it (as in those obnoxious cheap ones and not off road style) and I'm not sure if that is causing an issue. I couldn't see the pads or anything, but I can go back and check.

2) Checked oil cap and discovered tan "pudding" underneath, but the dipstick was clean (oil was just changed). The truck generally just sits out on the street and it's humid, so this is possibly due to condensation buildup. Obviously it could be something else, but condensation may fit - thoughts?

3) I did not notice any leaks or issues on the back end, but noted some oil on the front. Given the fact that the oil was just changed, I'm thinking most of what I was seeing was probably due to that. I didn't see anything leaking from drain plug or the block. CV joints also appeared oily, but I couldn't tell exactly what was causing it - boots did not look torn or damaged in any way.

4) Coolant, trans, and brake fluids looked OK and the truck maintained normal operating temperature while I drove it.

5) A/C works, but again, I've never driven one of these so I am not sure if it could be better (did not have a thermostat to check actually blown temps). The blower is noisy as all heck (coming from underneath passenger side?) and I can only assume that's not normal.

6) It has a new(er) battery that checked out fine.

I am basically just looking for a backup vehicle for light work (i.e. hauling stuff to and from the house like Home Depot runs, etc.) or to use as in an emergency. They are asking around $3000 for it, but I'm torn over whether that's a decent deal given what I discovered. It would seem that these are running $6K to $8K online, so maybe not a bad deal? It has some cosmetic issues that I would also have to attend to (broken dash plastics, tail lights, headlight bulbs, etc.), but nothing major. My biggest issue are those stupid tires/wheels that I would immediately have to replace and then fix the cylinder issue. If it's just a matter of replacing coils & plugs, no big deal. But if it's a cylinder head issue, obviously that's an issue. The guy seems pretty eager to get rid of it, so I could probably talk him down a bit.

Thoughts from the more experienced and/or experts on here?

Number 2 would concern me with a fresh oil change he looks like he is hiding a blow head gasket cracked head etc. If your seeing tan puddling under the cap humidity is not going to cause this this why he probably changed the oil because the oil was tan from water in the oil and being eager to sell it is another red flag, he is hiding something with the new oil change. No way I would buy this truck.

Donny Hacker · March 29, 2020

That was my first thought, but everything else around the engine looks good (i.e. no leaking around head), the truck was not overheating when I drove it (drove it around for about half an hour and the truck stayed in normal operating temp range), and there is no white smoke coming out the exhaust. I know the discoloration can be caused by other things as well, but the head gasket was my first guess. Coolant cap was clean and there did not appear to be any leaks or anything from the cooling system. I'll keep digging into it and I appreciate the reply.

CamGTP · March 29, 2020

I short trip my vehicles everyday, I maybe drive 8 miles per day and on a few of my previous trucks they would get that brown/tan stuff under the cap. The engine and oil never truly get warm to burn off all the condensation inside the engine.

If there was a head gasket leak or coolant leak into the oil it would have turned the new oil milky already.

The only thing that is a question for me is that misfire. If you are allowed too, I would just buy one spark plug for the $6 and quick swap it out to see if that fixes it. If it's still there just move the coil to cylinder 1 and look on your scan tool to see if it follows. I think once you pop the intake off, everything is right there and it should take but a few minutes to try some of these things.

Edited March 29, 2020 by CamGTP