I recently purchased a used 99 Dodge Dakota. I know nothing about trucks. I took it to the dealership for them to check out. They recommended a fuel cleaning and replaced the power steering pump. The transmission light kept staying on but they said they could find nothing else wrong with it...I paid them $750 for just those two repairs...well two weeks later my truck is still leaking so I took it back to the dealer. They said now the power steering rack is out and now they found a whole slew of other things that they apparently didn't "see" the first time they looked at it. Now they are telling me that in addition to the power steering rack being replaced, I need new brakes and rotors, new tie rods, front and rear pinion bearings and the suspension linkage replaced. And they said it will cost around $1500 in addition to the $750 I already paid. And for all that they charged me $42 just to look at it and tell me the things wrong with it that they probably saw the first time, but did not tell me. I took it to another mechanic who does not charge just to give estimates and they said the ball bearings also need to be replaced and for everything they found it would be $2,000 to repair. I only paid $2600 for the truck to begin with and it has 223,000 miles on it. I'm so upset with the entire situation. Should I just try to sell it and recoup my losses? If someone knows how to make repairs on a truck like this would they even want to pay what the KBB says it's worth?
My other question is, how important and urgent are these repairs for the truck to just operate? The brakes do work, but they just making a rubbing noise when I turn. If these repairs are not emergency repairs to keep it running right now then I may keep it and save up for the repairs. Any thoughts?