Did I miss a good Truck? 2016 Ram 4x4 1500 3.6L V6 8 SPD 189k

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Erie, PA
A car lot had an advertised price of 9k for this truck. It was basically rust free other then a small spot on the bed were it was dented and paint was off.

2016 Dodge Ram 1500 Tradesman
4x4
4 door Cab
6-1/2 bed
3.6L Pentastar with 8 spd tranny
189K miles
All vinyl and rubber interior
The paper said it had an oil leak.

I drove back from my trip and it was just sold. Did I miss out? 9K seems very low for a 2016 truck, but after all the truck did have lots of miles.
 
I would have to see some pictures and take it for a drive before I could determine if it was a buy. The price leaves some room in case it did need a couple thousand in repairs. Everyone's needs are different when it comes to a truck. There are lots of trucks that make it to 300,000 miles and others that are shot at 100,000.
 
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It could have been a gem. The oil leak was almost certainly a leaking plastic oil filter/cooler housing. Those can be replaced with aluminum components now. It would have had the 8HP45 8spd transmission which is a great one.

I owned this configuration of Ram 1500, except it had cloth seats, carpeting and was a 2017. Great truck.
 
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Everyone I know that has a vehicle with the 3.6 in it has had zero problems out of it. Seems to be a good motor.
 
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Everyone I know that has a vehicle with the 3.6 in it has had zero problems out of it. Seems to be a good motor.
Agree. That’s a heavy vehicle and I’d bet the fuel mileage is less than a V8. With that said the power these V6 engines make is more than V8 engines made 15 years ago…. All of our inner city patrol Chargers have that V6. Have had a few ruin camshafts and lifters. The oil leak issues mentioned as well. Overall a good engine. Most private vehicles don’t see 12 hour shifts and idling in extreme heat. Probably could last 250k in a private vehicle when we’ll cared for.
 
Agree. That’s a heavy vehicle and I’d bet the fuel mileage is less than a V8. With that said the power these V6 engines make is more than V8 engines made 15 years ago…. All of our inner city patrol Chargers have that V6. Have had a few ruin camshafts and lifters. The oil leak issues mentioned as well. Overall a good engine. Most private vehicles don’t see 12 hour shifts and idling in extreme heat. Probably could last 250k in a private vehicle when we’ll cared for.
I put about 50K miles on my 2017 Ram 1500 quad cab, 4x4, pentastar. If the driving you do gets you to the high end of where the vehicle is rated for MPG wise, you'll easy see 21-22mpg day/day, tank/tank with this configuration Ram 1500. My 2019 w/ hemi got about 10% less fuel economy for me.
 
I put about 50K miles on my 2017 Ram 1500 quad cab, 4x4, pentastar. If the driving you do gets you to the high end of where the vehicle is rated for MPG wise, you'll easy see 21-22mpg day/day, tank/tank with this configuration Ram 1500. My 2019 w/ hemi got about 10% less fuel economy for me.
Good to know. My assumption is incorrect then. Thanks.
 
Good to know. My assumption is incorrect then. Thanks.
I wound't say you're wrong. V6 and small pickups don't do meaningfully better in terms of fuel economy.

I'm 'only' getting about 21mpg tank/tank with my new 2022 Nissan Frontier crew cab, 4x4.
 
I'll mirror JTK, I had a 2019 Classic 1500 V6 with four-wheel drive. Overall tracking fuel economy versus my old 2016 with a hemi, the V6 averaged about 3 MPG better. However the faster you went on the highway, the Gap was smaller and smaller. I can't remember the exact speed but something like 75mph and the V6 economy dropped dramatically.
 
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I'm going to go against the crowd here and say no, you didn't miss out. My former neighbor is a Chrysler dealer tech and he told me he'd replaced rocker arms in quite a few Pentastars.

As always, YMMV.
 
I'll mirror JTK, I had a 2019 Classic 1500 V6 with four-wheel drive. Overall tracking fuel economy versus my old 2016 with a hemi, the V6 averaged about 3 MPG better. However the faster you went on the highway, the Gap was smaller and smaller. I can't remember the exact speed but something like 75mph and the V6 economy dropped dramatically.
About the same as a hemi. Around 73mph the mpg nose dives in my ram.
 
I'm going to go against the crowd here and say no, you didn't miss out. My former neighbor is a Chrysler dealer tech and he told me he'd replaced rocker arms in quite a few Pentastars.

As always, YMMV.
While that may be true, it seems every model has some sort of issue. Nothing is perfect. Not sure how hard it is to do rockers, but I have to imagine, if the timing chain is not impacted, then the repair likely is not too bad.
 
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