Caution about Iron Planet/Gov Planet HMMWV's

I know this should be obvious, but I'll post it anyways. My first HMMWV, a M998 from GovPlanet in Western WA was a '89 in great shape, came from a OR Guard unit with '06 MMA overhaul, 218 w/6.5. Fluids all looked fresh and correct but being anal I swapped everything fresh with Redline Synthetics, fresh DOT 5 & flushed and swapped the Coolant to DexCool.
2nd HMMWV I got, 2011 1097A2 from a Hawaii GovPlanet, wasn't able to look at it first but the video showed it cranking but no start. I figured that would probably be easy enough to figure out. Bid and purchased, when I got it the engine was seized solid, of course I made the mistake of swapping out all of the fluids, as they had all been drained, before I made an attempt to start it as I hadn't gotten batteries for it yet, waiting for that Costco trip. Still working on that one, not really but someday, maybe a Duramax conversion.
3rd HMMWV I got recently, a 2005 1097A2 Hawaii Govplanet. Took a set of batteries and looked at it in person and it cranked and fired up quickly. GovPlanet said they get their's in and they don't have fluid and if it supposed to be a runner they fill them.
Warining is, Brake fluid was filled with DOT 3 and not DOT 5, not a anti-lock brake HMMWV, not sure if the anti-lock brake HMMWV's use DOT 5. Transfer case was filled with what appeared and smelled to be 75w-90 gear oil. I flushed the brake fluid with fresh DOT5, probably flush it once more in a month just to make sure all of the DOT 3 is out. Driained the transfer case well and put in Sythetice Dex III ATF. Only driven it a couple of miles but it appears to be stuck for the most part in T/C locked. Came out once or twice but then seems to want to go back to locked. Dont' know if that is because of the gear oil previously? I double checked the linkage (first thing I checked) but it's fine. I'll drived it a few more times and maybe even drain & refill the T/C with ATF again, only take 2qts.
Moral of the story and like I said at the beginning it should be obvious. If you purchase a GovPlanet vehicle, swap out all of your fluids. And of course even if you're not going to swap them right away check the levels as my wheel Geared wheel hubs were empty on the 3rd HMMWV too even though GovPlanet said they had done the fluids.

The real moral of the story is...auction trucks are a crap shoot. If you can inspect them, and/or you are sure they run well, you'll probably come out OK. But, I've gotten many trucks that needed a lot of work/$$$ to be made right. I've had a few where I was upside down once I was done. But, that is the risk you take when you don't ante up and buy retail. Even then, you need to be sure of who you are buying from. I actually think you did about as expected...some hits, some misses.

Hawaii = RUST

Who was your shipper to mainland USA, and how much?

Curious to why use dexcool?

These trucks use plain ole school green.
Dexcool does not do well with other coolants.
Even repeated flushing does not gurantee 100% removal of every cranny...

While we're on the subject. Take with a grain of salt, any descriptions listed. My first humvee was listed as a 6.5l, it was actually a 6.2l.

It was GOVLIQUIDATION, but I once won a pristene looking M917. The description said RUNS, but there were no videos showing the truck running. Well, it did run. But, the bolts holding the flex plate were never tightened properly during its overhaul (I assume) as several were missing, some sheared off, and some of the bolt holes were hogged out. So, it did run, but it made a severe racket while doing so and only barely limped around.

a new truck from GP arrives everyday, there isnt enough bandwidth to document what I find.

Caveat emptor.

That being said, I have some amazing vehicles. I also found a great parts car.

Where else can you purchase a $300,000 and up vehicle for less than $5000 - $10,000 in some cases?

This cup is more than half full, and I prefer to concentrate on half full rather than concentrating upon half empty.

IMHO. YMMV

Tobash, in my case I own a house in WA and most of my vehicles are still there including my M998 (w/4L80e conversion). I got a new job in Hawaii and am living here now and the GovPlanet on Island is who I bought both of my M1097A2's from. I'll be building a Shop, then a house on the Big Island in a few years (bought some property there a couple years ago) and then I'll start moving my WA collection over although I'm going to sell the M998 in WA since I already have the driveable M1097A2 here.

juanprado, I swapped to Dexcool for a couple of reasons. For one, the Green stuff is getting harder to find over here. GM recommends Dexcool in all 2005 up vehicles. Dexcool lasts much longer and Dexcool is much easier on Aluminum. Longer flush intervals too.
You are correct in that the system needs to be flushed well. I first drained and then flush with a garden hose. Then I filled with strait Distilled water and ran it to full operating temperature. Drained it (completely clear after the garden hose flush and still clear) completely and then filled with Dexcool & Distilled Water. With the Hawaii weather I'm running a 70/30 mixture, Water to Antifreeze, and a bottle of Redline Waterwetter.

I agree with Tobash in that if you can go to your GovPlanet location and look over the vehicles yourself, and maybe even get to know the guy working there, you can find some great deals. In WA state I got to know the guy working there and he called me when he got a new supply of good vehicles from the OR guard. Let me come and walk through them and basically pick the one I wanted.
The Guard vehicles tend to be in better condition, even if you find an older one. The same vehicle in the guard will be worked on by the same mechanics for maybe it's lifetime so they take more pride in their vehicles and their work. I am shocked at how poorly the Army and Marines take care of their vehicles. My 1998 M998 is in so much better shape than the 2011 M1097A2. The A2 has all of the later upgrades yes, but overall the M998 has seen a lot more love in it's history.

hahnmgh63 said:

juanprado, I swapped to Dexcool for a couple of reasons. For one, the Green stuff is getting harder to find over here. GM recommends Dexcool in all 2005 up vehicles. Dexcool lasts much longer and Dexcool is much easier on Aluminum. Longer flush intervals too.
You are correct in that the system needs to be flushed well. I first drained and then flush with a garden hose. Then I filled with strait Distilled water and ran it to full operating temperature. Drained it (completely clear after the garden hose flush and still clear) completely and then filled with Dexcool & Distilled Water. With the Hawaii weather I'm running a 70/30 mixture, Water to Antifreeze, and a bottle of Redline Waterwetter.

Click to expand...

There are many plastics, GASKETS and O RINGS used in pre 2005 vehicles that are completely incompatible with Dexcool, as GM found out when they switched and 10s of thousands of vehicles failed, I certainty would not take the chance.

Mogman, we'll see in the long run but I've been using Dexcool in my M998 for about 8yrs now and no issues. For the cooling I also installed the Paradox cylinder cooling upgrade a few years ago on my M998. I'm making my own for the M1097A2, just drilling and tapping the rear cooling plates myself and using some rubber covered braided lines running to the front, figure I can build it for half price easily.

Just on a different question. Has anyone tried the Energy Suspension Control Arm bushings?

Just happened to watch this on youtube.
Inside Hawaii's Most Isolated Island (no traffic lights)
Peter Santenello
Interesting vid on Hawaii. Never been to any Islands but this guy does interesting videos on the places and the people.
Nothing to do with hummers but does the islands have an issue with rust and vehicles. I realize salt water is all around and in the air but just curious. Our rusty vehicles comes with all the winter salt here at the freeze line of Maryland.

I would say we're in between a NE car and a West coast vehicle. Having just moved a year ago from WA state and I have 9 vehicles (only 3 vehicles in Hawaii, rest of sitting in my shop in WA). I did spend a couple of years living on the Big Island when I was in High School. I've got a lift in my shop in WA and no matter what people say, NE cars really get hammered with the direct Salt on the roads, Cad and Zinc plated bolts corrode still after a while and Aluminum gets more than just a surface oxidation. I've got some West coast cars that after more than 10yrs and almost 100k miles look better than a 3~5yr old NE car. Pretty much all newer cars are better than they were 30+yrs ago. Most all body panels are dipped and/or whole bodies. The European cars seem to be the best as far as that goes. We don't get quite as hot or humid as a Floriday summer so I think that makes a difference with the trade winds here. I can take a pic of the bottom side of my M1097A2. There is surface rust on any exposed normal bolts. Anything I install I use anti-seize and usually replace them with Stainless. Somebody mentioned frame rust earlier, I've definitely don't see any frame rust and like mentioned, the bodies are Aluminum. There are quite a few newer HMMWV's here go to auction but I would say it appears that the Army units here sending them to DRMO/GovPlanet do a poorer job of Mx than the HMMWV's (older in general) than I saw go to Mx at GovPlanet in WA state. My HMMWV in WA state is a 1989 M998 and was in excellent shape, but it did come from a National Guard unit in OR. My 2011 M1097A2 here has all of the later updates but a lot of little things wrong (all the door limiters, soft windows stitching, torn seats, etc...).