Dodge Ram: Problems & Solutions

donkill

I have the 9.25 12 bolt diff i understand it is supposed to be dodges high horsepower diff my question is is it a limited slip or open diff, sometimes i swear one tire will spin but the other one will grip and the diff fluid is 75-140 full synthetic this seems extreme for an open diff on a 3.7 full size ram.I need to know since i wish to blueprint the engine and install a turbo.

daleg2

Uhhhh...there's fluid back there? Hell, I dont know how to check it much less where it is. Time to pull out the owners manual!

silverbullet06

Update,
I took my truck to dealer #3 today for the same faulty air conditioning problem (4 times in two months). Yesterday the fan blows but no air comes out of the vents on any selector position.

I demanded a conference call with D.Chrysler warranty department when the truck was checked out. They looked at me like I was crazy, so... I called D.Chrysler and asked to speak to a manager or supv. After 5 minutes on hold they said they were all in meetings and would return my call.... well, it never happened.

Towards the end of the day I got a call from the dealer and they said the Recirc. door came apart!! Guess what? There is a nationwide back order for the part(#24028090)sounds fishy. Can you spell recall? I told the dealer.

I work for a large corporation that is an OEM parts supplier to the major auto manufacturers, so I know how the system works. Auto manufacturers DO NOT want quality problems to go public!! It can start a very expensive recall program.

99ramvette

First Hi to everyone here, I am new here so lets see how it goes. I have a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4 Wheel Drive. The A/C I Charged the system for what it called for,, but the compressor runs for a couple of seconds and stops, it just keeps doing that. just blowing hot air. Anybody have any ideas ,,its kinda hot outside. Thank"s John

99dodgeram

i have the same problem i know part of the problem is the sensor on top of the condenser but it still wont fix it the vacum door is not working right either

mac24

the compressor runs for a couple of seconds and stops........

That's a good indication that the high/low pressure switch is being activated.

andrewdelaware

I have 02 Ram 4X4, while accelerating and coasting the rear of the trucks "hops" as if a wheel is out of balance but only at speeds from 35-40. I have had the tires force balanced and have rotated them from front to back but it has no effect on the hopping. It is the worst when you let off the gas and let it coast with no brakes applied. I was told once that my rear alignment was off somewhat but was told not to worry that it couldnt be adjusted, could this cause the drive shaft to be off center or not function correctly, etc? Any help Id appreciate it, the dealer says tires, but when i rotate those tires to the front they perform fine.

dustyk

There are a couple of companies that offer a larger throttlebody which would increase performance in the mid- to upper RPM range. I don't know of anyone offering high performance camshafts. Kenny Ball has a supercharger for the 4.7.

Despite the apparent large-ness of the RAM, I'm not sure a big block motor would fit. You could try a differential swap to lower gears, or for that matter smaller tires.

If more total performance is desired I'd spend the money on a trade-in for the Hemi.

Regards,
Dusty

corkscrew

Check the condition of the old fuel pump,was it very dirty inside? If it was then the dirt came from somewhere and may be still in the fuel line or even the tank. Dirt can collect at the mouth of the feed pipe in the tank. Check the gas cap, the vent should be open. Remove the line from the pump to the tank and blow into the line while someone listens at the gas tank. You should hear a gurgle sound in the gas tank.
Look for leaks where the carb mounts to the manifold and look for leaks where the intake manifold mounts to the engine. Check the manifold heat control valve.A valve stuck in the "heat on" position can result in power loss.
Hope this helps

corkscrew

One more thing: is the cooling system working properly? A thermostat stuck closed may contribute to vapor lock

luckyman1

which is better for gas mileage on my 3500 dodge it came with 245 by 16 and i was told to put 235 by 16 and i would get better mileage and handling ??

jneal

IMO whoever told you that is off-base. With the engineers stretching to get every bit of mileage out of the vehicle why would they put a tire on that gives less?????
Granted, theoretically the 235s have a bit less rolling resistance therefore more mileage. The actual difference though is going to be too minute to even notice.

235s are going to have less traction than the 245s because of the smaller contact patch with the road....less contact,less traction, less traction = worse handling.

If you are looking for better handling and mileage over the factory tires then look at other brands etc but I wouldn't change sizes.

albertaskys

Gas mileage is a nice thing to tweak. You might want to try this one, it has worked wonders for me. I am averaging 22.5 mpg now on my '95 4x4 Club cab (318, or 5.2L), with 328k km's. Driving 1200 km/week right now. Go to Home Depot or one of the other stores, and pick up some of the newer foil backed bubblewrap, used for insulating hot water tanks. It has foil on both sides. Give the fresh air intake tube from the fender a wrap and a half of the stuff, with the double layer towards the bottom, to protect against heat from the exhaust manifold. I used 3M's 77 Spray on adhesive, works wonders with this stuff. But only spray it on the overlap, you don't need to make a mess out of the factory tube. Then, remove the stock airfilter box, and clean the crud off the bottom half where the filter lives. Test fit a piece of the bubblewrap to fit on the underside of the box, trimming as required to fit nicely when mated to the upper intake. Don't worry about the sides, but if you have the time and want to, go for it. A slot cut works fine to allow for the cold air intake offset. Once you have a nice fit, use the spray adhesive carefully, only adhering the wrap at the top edge as required. The spray is a contact type adhesive, so you will have to spray the box and the wrap. It worked out to about 2.5 mpg for me, the air box is cool to the touch if I check it pulled over on the highway. Legal statement, (of course), do at your own peril, I can't ensure you used the right bubblewrap material, but I haven't noticed any heat damage to the stuff I used. I can email a pic to those who are interested.

Regards,

AlbertaSkys

albertaskys

There is a control module, usually on the left inner fender, just below the brake booster, if it looks like it's leaking fluid, one of the transistors in it overheated and thats the silicone potting leaking out of it. Unfortunately, it has to be replaced, or if you can live without it, if memory serves, just unplug it.

napoleon

Looking for some ideas on what could be wrongwith my 95 van. I was driving west on I-94 about 70mph about 90 degrees outside A/C on and suddenly the engine stopped accelerating. I jumped over to the slow lane and continued coasting to the next exit. while coasting I noticed all my gadges were normal, normal temp normal oil pressure battery charging everything appeared to be fine. I feathered the accelerator but no response. after coasting for a hundred yards or so the engine quit, It was still running it appeared but was not picking up speed. I noticed the oil pressure drop and the light come on which is normal when the engine dies. I shifted to neutral and attempted restart but it would not start. The engine turns over very strong no issues with the battery. After coasting off the highway and into a parking spot at the BP station (damn lucky) I popped the hood and opened the fuse box in the glove compartment. I pulled each fuse as well as the maxi fuses under the hood. All fuses checked good. I looked at the fusible links along the firewall and they appear to be intact as well. Next I checked the codes stored in the ECM and it returned a (CODE 55). So I then took out a can of ether and sprayed it into the breather hose and attempted to start again. Did not help. I have changed over the past year the computer, crank position sensor, coil, and fuel pump. So i believe it is not one of those. Any ideas would be appreciated because I need to get it back up by tomorrow. It was running without any problems and getting 15mpg prior to today. Am i misssing something simple?? :confuse:
Rhino Logistics

KCRam

While this is the Ram Pickups area, if you provide a little more info (engine, trans, mileage, etc.) someone can probably give it a shot. Also check the Full Sized Vans discussion.

kcram - Pickups Host

napoleon

sorry bout that but the van section did not have much info and has typically been very little help. The power train is the same as many ram pickups so thats why i post here. but it is the 5.9L gas, auto trans, 178000 miles and otherwise runs great until today.

napoleon

additional info on my problem child. I have checked for spark from the plug wires i am getting spark. I am getting 8 volts to the camshaft position sensor which is to speck but it is still not starting . I can hear the fuel pump engaging when the key is turned on I also hear the injector clicks that I have always heard in the past. One other point we sprayed starting fluid directly into the throttle and turned over and nothing happened. It cranks produces spark at the plug and when ether is sprayed in why would it not attempt to start. Any ideas ?? :confuse:

loncray

I'm not a mechanic - but if you're getting spark and it isn't starting, you've got a fuel problem. Are you sure the fuel pump is doing anything aside from engaging? Any chance you've got a blocked fuel line? Blocked fuel filter?

napoleon

Well yes i see what you are saying but I have fuel at the fuel rail as well. pressed the schrader valve and gas does come out. I have a question about the spark from the coil. I get a orange small spark from the plug wire. I thought it would be brighter and stronger. When i remove the coil and place the out conductor near ground i get a much bigger spark. I replaced the plug wires yesterdaythinking i may not be getting enough spark but that did not seem to help. and when i turn it over i can smell the fuel so it is getting to the throttle body. Also there is no fuel filter on this van for some reason it only has this sock looking filter on the fuel pump. I guess the thing i find strange is it just shut down while driving with no learching or missing . It was like someone reached over and turned the engine off while i was driving. :confuse:

napoleon

Hurray! It was the coil after getting a few idea i was following up on one to test the coil. Primary resistance was 1.6 ohms but the secondary resistance was 10.12k ohms... spec says it should have been between 11k ohms and 13k ohms you would not think 2k ohms would make you dead in the water but i guess it does thanks for all the help!

au1994

Had my 06 1500 SLT Reg. cab for a month so I thought I'd give some impressions. BTW, I'm at 750 miles.

I have the 4.7L/5 spd auto tranny and got 13.9 on my 1st 2 tanks.

Truck is quiet on the road and very comfortable.

2 small issues that I need to have looked at. 1) Drivers side speaker 'pops' intermittantly. Sounds like a short or the speaker could be blown? Never cranked the stereo since I've had it and it had less than 50 miles on it when purchased.

2) This is a little more of a concern. While the truck is very quiet, there is a 'groan' from the drivers side front suspension. Tends to be when it moves after sitting overnight or while I'm at work. Also is a vibration felt through the steering wheel when stopped. I think this could be normal from the A/C.

Unless I get some advice from the crew here, I'll probably just wait till my first oil change to have anything looked at. This 1st one's free from the dealer.

raindancer

I'll make this as to the point as possible.
2 months ago my 99 1500 (w/ a 5.9) started to have odd idle problems. At times it would race to 1500+ RPMs and other times would drop to 400 RPMs. Both at an idle. Now it rarely idles. When it does, it is at about 400-500- RPMs. It will rarely idle in Park but when in Drive does much better. When I start it, I have to keep my foot on the gas or it will stall out. I had the Idle Control Arm checked and it supposedly is fine. Today I had the Alternator and Battery checked. Alternator is fine but battery needs to be replaced soon. A friend suggested the Slow Idle Speed Sensor. Any ideas or something I may be missing here?

loncray

I've heard tales of things going south on Rams when the battery gets weak. My suggestion would be to go ahead and replace that battery and see if that fixes your problem.

99ramvette

hi I will also say replace the battery I had the same problem with my 99 Ram. Played games for over 2 weeks with it, trying everything. Put a new battery in and its been working ever since. Hope thats your problem

jerdelyi

Greetings all. I have a 98 Ram 1500 2 wheel drive. My situation is that I'd like to replace my curent one piece hub/rotor brake system with a 2 piece setup where the rotor slides onto the hub. I've been surfing the net but have had little luck find what I'm looking for. Any susgestions? ~Joe~

albertaskys

First question is why? At the very least you can re-pack your bearings, and the bearing drag on the rotor is much more fuel efficient that the 4x4 system (been thru the front hub replacement). That system has horrible bearing drag, crappy design. You should be able to squeeze alot of mileage out of your front rotors if you stay away from the semi-metallic pads. Probably why no one has come up with a retrofit kit, no gains other that when changing the rotor out.

AlbertaSkys

jerdelyi

The biggest reason is ease of replacement. During brake jobs it's much easier to just slide rotors off a hub than to remove cotter pins, spindle nuts, replace grease seals, repack bearings and make sure your bearing end play is correct. If I'm feeling radial runout and I need to have them turned I'd much rather just slide off my rotors than go thru and entire hub removal. Just a matter of convenience. In 2000 Dodge went to that configuration with a sealed hub. I've been thinking of possibly going to that later year setup if the spindles bolt up to the exsisting control arms. ~Joe~

jayjay5

I have a 2006 Ram 3500, Cumins Diesel, Quad Cab. My AC has dual temperature control, passenger and driver side. The driver's side vent puts out cold AC air (66 deg. air) but the passenger side is putting out 82 degree air. All settings are set to the coldest point, with air recirculation. The Dodge dealer has recharged the AC (no leaks were found) and it still happens. Do you have any suggestions? The dealer does not seem to know what to do.
Thanks, JJ
:confuse:

loncray

Sounds like you've got something broke in the system that moves the air around - check the vacuum hoses and the mechanism (door?) that changes the settings as to where the air blows (for defog, foot, other settings). Does it give hot air on the passenger side when set to defog?

mac24

I don't know how it controls the air temp independently for each side, but I'd guess that it uses a seperate air duct system each with its own blend door, rather than having a complete HVAC for each side of the vehicle. I can't imagine why the dealer recharged the system if it's putting out 66° air.

Anyhow..........whatever the reason, take it to a more competent dealer to get it fixed. If you, or an independent messes with it, it could cause warranty problems.

al_jr

I've got a 99 ram that the a/c has worked great until a few weeks ago, I noticed it wasn't cooling like it should so I checked the system and the low side was about 45 and the high was about 250, temp outside was 90, (it's 134 by the way) this system has the expansion tube made into the center of the liquid line. which is located over the pass. wheel well with the truck running I noticed that on the side of the liquid line closest to the condensor was very hot and on the side of the evaporator core and going into the core on the bottom of the core it was very cold. However the line coming out of the evaporator and into the accumulator was not cold it was just a little cool almost warm, I changed the accumulator, vacumed out the system for about 45 min and recharged the system it calls for 36oz. of 134 but it still does not get cold, about 70-60 deg. out the vent, I have heard that dodge ram evaporators go bad.

abcdt06

I bought a new 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 two weeks ago. Since that time, I have taken it back to the dealership 3 times for mechanical problems. For instance, after putting the truck in park and shutting off the engine, the alarm goes off when I open the door. The dealership replaced the cable linkage in the shifter. Well, on my way home tonight after supposedly getting fixed again, the same thing happened. Also, it seems to shift hard into overdrive. It is an automatic with a straight 6 Cummins diesel. Any suggestions?

KCRam

Hi folks

In an effort to make things easier to navigate, we have been adding more focused discussions in each make/model group. This way, questions won't get lost in one big general discussion.

If you click on the main Dodge Ram Group, you will see these new discussions. You are encouraged to post in these new discussions, depending on what your Ram's problem is.

Thanks!
kcram - Pickups Host

raindancer

Well replacing the battery worked for all of 24 hours. Now it is back to doing the same thing. Does this truck have a Slow Speed Idle Sensor and can that cause this problem? Also can the Idle Control Arm (?) cause this?

farmboy4

I have a '98 Ram 2500 with a Cummins Diesel. I'd been having trouble with my AC not always coming on and when it did it only came out of the defrost vents. I rebuilt the vacuum pump and put in a new piece of vacuum hose and it worked great for a week. Now for the last couple of days when I start the truck it doesn't come on right away. Sometimes it will take a minute, sometimes 5 minutes. Eventually it comes on and comes out of the correct vents but does anyone have any idea why it doesn't come on right away? This is very frustrating. HELP!!!

mjsheek

Actually I had almost the same kind of problem, If yours is like my truck the only way to get it to start back is to turn the key off then back on. My truck wasa 2005 but this problem cause me to have a pretty good accident and its now totaled. Take it to the dealership and tell them to fix it, mine seemed to only get worse not better. The final outcome on mine was a sensor shutting it down.

matt1954

I have a 2002 1500 Q/C with the 4.7L engine. It has 53,000 miles and until the week has been a perfect truck. This week it decided to start missing out on the #2 cylinder at idle. When you take off it cleans itself out pretty quick and runs fine, but has soon has you stop at a light it does it again. I have changed all 8 plugs, changed the ignition coil on #2, and changed #2 fuel injector. This still has no change. I have also noticed in the past week i have added a gallon and a half of coolant, but it never leaves a puddle. My fear is that it may be a head gasket. I can't think of anything else it may be. May someone out there has an idea??

05spectra5sask

Help, has anyone experienced this problem? The only way I can use the truck is to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. I have pulled fuses to no avail, I still get a bit of an arc when I reconnect the negative cable. This just started happening about a month ago. The only thing I noticed happening is that the radio can be turned on without the ignition switch being at the ACC position. Could it be an ignition switch problem? I have had trouble with the headlights going out when the tilt wheel is put into the lowered position.

Thanks for your time

99dodge

I had the same problem with mine at work It ended up being the destributor cap and rotor being burned up inside due to a bad catalytic converter dodge has reembursed me for this repair.the converter has a 10 year warranty.

99dodge

same thing happened to me but at the same time #7 fuel injector clogged and I lost power but still managed to get it home on 7 cylinders.also check your oil pressure with a guage to make sure your oil pick up screen is not clogged I ended up replaceing mine because of sludge build up then i cleaned the engine with engine flush.

airmendoz

Hello there, I was reading your post and it was a complete DEJVU, my father has the same truck and the problems he encountered were the same as yours. We took the truck 5 times to the dealer and had the engine reconstructed twice. The problem was a crack on the engine where the coolant was going into the engine causing the engine to shut off at times (when turning, stoping, or turning and accelerating).
Another symptom our truck had besides the consumption of coolant was a weird smell (like an uneven burning of gas) and somethimes a darker smoke coming out of the exhaust.
Good luck!

Karen_S

A national newspaper is looking to interview consumers who have decided to hold on to their current pickup truck, rather than purchasing a new one. Please send an e-mail to ctalati@edmunds.com no later than Wednesday, August 9, 2006 by 2:30 PM PT/5:30 PM ET containing your daytime contact information and what pickup truck you currently own.

crisp1

Just wondering if anybody can tell me why my brakes grab after they get moisture on them. The wetter they are the worse they will grab the first few times I use them after a rain etc. Other people driving my pickup say they always grab some, but I must be used to them. The brakes lock up after the pickup has been sitting and collecting water as far as I can tell. ccrisp1

mac24

Surface rust on the discs and drums from condensation. It's common to many vehicles.

mattr408

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. All the sudden my gauges (Speedometer, tach, fuel, oil pressure, battery and temp) all stopped working and 4 warning lights came on - yellow check engine , abs, low fuel and brake. And the digital odometer says "no bus" A little disconcerting to drive like this. After a couple of days everything worked again, and then after month, they all stopped. I assume a loose wire, but if anyone has had this problem, please let me know!

thanks,
Matt

flyingdragon

Not sure if this will help, but your problem sounds very similar to one I had recently. It was resolved by replacing the throttle position sensor. Good luck!

flyingdragon

I am increasingly unhappy with both the poor quality of dealer performed services/repairs and the cost of labor and parts. I'd like to start doing as much preventive and corrective maintenance as possible myself. I'd appreciate suggestions on good sources for RAM repair parts, especially on-line sources. Thanks!

tractorhome

I notticed my putting 10 ply Tires on it helped my problem with the steering even though I have a 4 wheel drive! Michelins

mac24

While there are many excellent online parts suppliers (just use Google), it can be inconvenient if you have to return or change something. You should find everything you need for regular servicing and maintenance at your local NAPA, or autoparts store.