Well, my 1993 B150 with 280K has finally surrendered to the tinworm.

I found a nice rust-free '97 B2500 with a 3.9L. Structurally everything is A-OK. I did notice some oil around the harmonic balancer and at the front oil pan seal at the crankshaft. Seems to be spraying a little oil on the steering arms and things are definitely lightly damp with engine oil in the general area. Is this common? Easy fix?

Also, any other known issues with the '97 2500? Thx to all in advance.

 

You may want to replace the timing cover seal, should not be too hard to do. IMHO the 3.9L is anemic for this 3/4 ton van. I prefer the 5.2L myself. If you are not going to tow or have it at gross weight constantly then the 3.9L should do fine. Will be a little slower on takeoff from a dead stop.

The place where I work and bought mine from has two other of these vans, one of which has the 3.9L (a 96 short B1500) and it has about 160K and is still a good strong setup. In the year with the company I have only replaced the fuel pump on it. The company's two van's do get driven hard and all three have held up well.

Overall I am very happy with my van. I do prefer it over the newer style for the engine in these are easier to get to and work on. The 98's and newer moved the engine forward a few inches and it makes it harder to change the spark plugs.

 

Well, I bought the '97. I'll be going over everything this weekend and I'll also be switching gear into it from my '93. Nice to have an airbag on the driver's side. Power windows, mirrors, tilt & cruise will definitely make it much nicer to drive every day.

 

Sweet, you have the deluxe model. Mine does not have any of that equipment.

The cruise control may get your attention when climbing hills for if the hill is too steep the transmission may drop from OD down to 2nd gear and the 3.9L will be turning at around 4K or more at that point. The jump from about 1.5K up to 4K and higher will take some time to get use to. My observation has been if the area you are driving is very hilly that keeping the OD turned off in most cases keep that from happening.

 

Thanks for the tip on the cruise. This is actually a Mark III passenger van. I'm pulling the second and third rows of seats, attaching the ladder rack and putting it to work. :-D

Do you know if I can change the timing cover without messing with the oil pan? Upon closer inspection it seems that the front seal is the source of my engine's oil leak. I want to get that squared away before things get any messier up front.

Also, I noticed that when the engine is running the harmonic balancer seems to wobble a little. I know from past experience that when everything is in good shape on the serpentine system that the pulleys are supposed to track true, meaning nice and straight when the engine is running. I'm thinking the wobble has caused eccentric wear on the timing cover's oil seal causing it to leak.

What do you suppose it happening with the harmonic balancer? I put a wrench on the bolt and it is not loose at all.

 

On the timing cover and oil pan you will need to remove the first bolt on each side of the oil pan under the timing cover. On mine I have a rubber pan gasket which made changing my timing chain easier. You can check yours by feeling the gasket just under the round portion of the timing chain cover, if it is rubber it will be soft. The rest of the bolts you can leave untouched. You will need to unmount the Alternator/AC bracket in order to get the timing cover off. You could leave the water pump attached but just to be sure no leak develops I would remove the pump from the timing cover. As cramped as these engines are I would change the thermostat, water pump by-pass hose while you have that much open. Also the hose left of the thermostat to the heater core. This way you are in there once and done for a good while. You may want to check and/or change the timing chain as well.

There is a tube on the driver's side of the pump that has the other heater hose connected to. If you find that it leaks after your done and did put a new o-ring on then you can get a new tube for the auto parts store.

I would at least put in a new harmonic balancer and check that the crank is not out of alignment. Hopefully it is the rubber dampener that is misaligned and causing the vibration.

The timing cover gasket kit will have new timing cover gasket and crank oil seal, 2 different water pump gaskets and the o-ring for the heater hose tube.

 

Thanks for the detailed info. I forgot that there's a rubber section in the harmonic balancer and I reckon that's the problem. Would seem to make more sense versus a problem with the crankshaft. I will definitely replace everything you mentioned including the timing chain and cam/crank gears while I'm in there. New coolant and serpentine belt, too. Looks like I have my first mechanic's project on the new van.