High Milage 03 CTD

[Oregon_XJ]

Got a new toy yesterday.

2003 CTD 4x4 with 262000 miles and an Auto :eek:
Was used as a pilot car it's whole life so they should be fairly easy miles.

I'm curious if anyone has suggestions on what to look out for.
I already know the autos have been a weak point since the beginning, however it sounds like the 48re is at least worthy of a stock rig. Don't plan to do any performance mods or heavy towing. Just light jeep towing here and there.

The other thing i've heard of is the Lift Pump, but in 03 the system uses a different injector pump (cp3 vs vp44) that should not burn up.

With 262000 miles do you think this has been upgraded to the intank unit yet? What should I look for?

Thanks

Ed

[agoldxj]

the cummins would be the least of my worries, hows the ball joints brakes and other axle stuff??

[xj_man_646]

Brakes, ball joints, tie rod ends, axle seals, hoses...pretty much all of the common maintenance stuff. 262000 miles is a LOT...especially for the year. How do you figure they have been easy miles? To me, it doesn't make much sense that a CTD would be purchased, then not used for what it was meant having that kind of mileage. Usually, those kinda trucks are the ones that are never shut off, and tow non stop across the country. Just be careful, you might be opening a can of worms.

[Hoofmann]

The lift pump isn't a known problem on the common rails (03+). I still like to keep my gas tank over 3/4 full to keep that in tank lift pump nice and cool, as fuel is the only thing that cools it. To my knowledge, you should have an intank pump as well.

Edit: you might want to read this thread (http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-powertrain/16920-lift-pumps-bad-06s.html) over on Cumminsforum.com

[Oregon_XJ]

Thanks for the comments.

I pretty sure these are easy miles because it lead the mobile home movers. They just lead the way with the wideload sign and lights. Not sure why but many of them out here are diesels. It was part of small fleet and has been imaculately maintained. Many of the receipts for repairs were in the glovebox. Anyway here are a couple curious stickers under the hood.

716

717

[Carroll257]

I looked at one before I bought mine 16 months ago. It was an 03 with 300,000 on it. It was used as a hotshot truck. I did the math on the miles vs age and found that it had averages something like 13 miles per hous since it's build date!

[Carroll257]

It drove great still btw

[XJ Fanatic]

Thanks for the comments.

I pretty sure these are easy miles because it lead the mobile home movers. They just lead the way with the wideload sign and lights. Not sure why but many of them out here are diesels. It was part of small fleet and has been imaculately maintained. Many of the receipts for repairs were in the glovebox. Anyway here are a couple curious stickers under the hood.

716

717


Diesels get better mileage, and will run longer, thats why many are diesels

[phillyzj]

Anyway here are a couple curious stickers under the hood.

716

717

I would call a dealer and see if they can do a vehicle history, maybe by vin? they can find out why the dealer reprogrammed the computer at some point. that's normally not a big deal in my experience. mine was reprogrammed because it got shocked at some point and the horn would go off sometimes. It could easily be a TSB for something or other, everything is computerized...

i would also check for a TSB for the fuel system, see what shows up.

get a good deal on it? cummins expected service life is 500k+ miles, you should be good to go.

[Oregon_XJ]

get a good deal on it? cummins expected service life is 500k+ miles, you should be good to go.

I stole it!

[agoldxj]

im telling..