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- Used ISX15/X15 Trucks: The Fuel-Pump Years, Rebuild Math, and What to Check
Which Cummins years carry the ceramic-plunger fuel pump risk, what a rebuild actually costs in parts, and the pre-purchase checks that protect your livelihood. - DD15 vs X15: Two Failure Signatures, One Cascadia
The Detroit DD15 and Cummins X15 sit in the same frame and fail in different directions. What each one actually does wrong, what is priced, and what nobody can price yet. - International A26: One Injector, a Bank of Misfire Codes, and a Reliability Claim With No Source
A multi-cylinder misfire on an A26 traced back to a single failed injector. That diagnostic is the strongest A26 evidence we have. The million-mile reliability claim has none. - Mack MP8 and the Anthem: What a $9,136 Turbo Breakdown Actually Costs
An owner filmed every line of a turbo, actuator, and DPF failure on his Anthem. The mechanical work was barely two-thirds of the bill. Here is the rest of it, the market pricing, and what to check. - PACCAR MX-13: What the Evidence Actually Shows (And What It Doesn't)
The MX-13 powers Kenworths and Peterbilts, but the public failure record is nearly empty. Here is the one documented breakdown we have, and why most MX-13 numbers you will find online are not MX-13 numbers. - Volvo D13 and I-Shift: The 500K-Mile Bill, and the One That Ran $34,090
The D13 spends most of its life costing steady, predictable money around 500K miles. Then there is the failure that does not. What breaks, what one full overhaul actually invoiced, and what to inspect. - Cascadia vs T680 vs 579: You Are Not Shopping Engines
Three chassis that can all carry the same Cummins X15. What our evidence supports about the comparison, and the large parts of it we cannot price. - What Aftertreatment Repair Actually Costs (And What Nobody Can Price)
EGR, DPF and SCR generate the most complaints in our record set. Here are the repair figures we can source, the one complete invoice we have, and the numbers we refuse to make up. - Deleted Trucks: What Our Evidence Shows, and What We Will Not Guess At
Why owner-operators delete emissions systems, what a working mechanic says about it on camera, and the practical traps a deleted truck hands the next buyer. - Pulling Fault Codes Before You Pay: What the Readout Actually Looks Like
Heavy trucks do not report codes the way cars do. What an SPN and FMI readout is, what stored codes tell you that the dash light does not, and the documented case where the code was worse than the problem. - Your First Truck: The Owner-Operator Buying Framework
The math that separates a good deal from a disaster. Engine family, rebuild cost if it comes due, and the margin you need to carry the risk. - Is There a Blue Book for Semi Trucks? The Honest Answer
No free KBB-style lookup exists for Class 8 trucks. Every real valuation guide is a paid professional subscription. Here is what actually exists, what RigDig really is, and what a regular buyer can use instead. - The California Wall: What the 2010-Engine Rule Means for Every Used Truck You Are Considering
California denies registration to diesel trucks over 14,000 lbs GVWR without a 2010-or-newer engine, and its new Clean Truck Check reaches out-of-state trucks too. What that does to pre-emissions truck values, verified from CARB's own pages. - In-Frame Rebuild Costs: Kit Prices vs Shop Invoices
What rebuild kits actually cost, what one documented in-frame add-on ran, and what a $34,090.58 dealer invoice was really for. - Glider Kits: What Our Record Actually Contains (Which Is Not Much)
What a glider kit is, what our evidence set does and does not document about them, and why the glider question shows up as a pricing problem long before it shows up as a regulatory one. - What a DOT Inspection Actually Checks (and Why a Truck That Can’t Pass Isn’t a Deal)
A used Class 8 truck cannot legally be run unless it passed a DOT periodic inspection in the last 12 months. What Appendix A actually rejects, and why "needs a little work" can mean out-of-service. The federal standard, quoted. - ISX15 Years to Avoid: The Fuel-Pump Window Explained
Ceramic-plunger fuel pumps from 2010, fixed around 2016-17. What the evidence actually supports, what it does not, and how to price the repair. - Idle Hours: The Meter That Tells You How the Truck Lived
What idle time does to a diesel engine, what the mechanics in our record actually said about it, and why anyone quoting you a safe idle percentage is making it up. - Freightliner M2 106 vs International DuraStar: The $10K Price Gap Has an Engine-Shaped Reason
The two most common used medium-duty work trucks in America, compared on documented failure modes and real dealer prices. The DuraStar is cheaper, and the MaxxForce engine is a big part of why. - Mack MP8 Problems: Mileage Windows, Repair Prices, and the Derate That Ends at 5 MPH
The MP8 powers most used Mack Pinnacles and many Anthems. Its documented failure points come with mileage windows and dollar figures, which turns a used-truck gamble into arithmetic. - 500k Miles Is Not a Number: Records Beat Odometers
The documented failures on these engines trace to deferred service, not to mileage. Which means the paperwork is the asset you are buying, and the odometer is a distraction. - Oil Analysis for Buyers: What It Catches, and What Nobody Will Quote You
An oil sample catches the one failure that kills engines quietly. But our own 100-video mechanic corpus never once mentions it, and that gap is worth understanding before you spend money on the test. - Paccar MX-13 Problems: The Four Failures That Show Up, and When
The MX-13 powers a huge share of used Kenworths and Peterbilts. Its documented failure points come with mileage windows and repair prices, which makes a used-truck inspection much less of a coin flip. - Peterbilt 379 vs 389: The Classic Costs Half as Much, Here Is What You Give Up
A used 379 runs roughly half the price of a used 389 on our own observed listings. The gap is not random: it is the difference between a legacy engine platform and a modern emissions-era one. - The Pre-Purchase Inspection: What Our Evidence Says to Check
The checks that actually appear in our documented failure record, the walk-away signals mechanics state flatly on camera, and the parts of a truck inspection we cannot put a price on. - Sleeper vs Day Cab: What the Listings Actually Show
The sleeper resale premium is quoted everywhere and sourced nowhere. What our price data supports, and the decision that actually matters. - Used Kenworth T680 vs Freightliner Cascadia: The Badge Matters Less Than the Engine
Comparing a used T680 against a used Cascadia? Most of your risk is decided by which engine is under the hood, not which badge is on the grille. Here is what our evidence records actually show. - Kenworth T800 vs T880: The Old Legend, the New Standard, and the Emissions Line Between Them
The T880 replaced the T800 as Kenworth's vocational workhorse. Used buyers are really choosing between pre-emissions CAT iron and the modern DPF era. Our verified prices and failure data, side by side. - The W900 Premium: We Went Looking for It and Could Not Find It
Everyone says a used W900 costs more than a T680 with the same engine. Here is what our price data actually shows, and what it does not. - Ten Walk-Away Signs at a Truck Inspection
Signals that tell you the truck you're looking at is about to cost you more than you can afford. When the evidence says no, even if you want to say yes.