Good evening everyone and hello from the UK. Hopefully I'm posting this in the right place.

I've dreamed of owning a second gen for many years and I've finally found a 4x2 manual advertised at something approaching a sensible price.

I'm looking at it Sunday and I've spent all week reading about known issues, but I have some questions.

- Is the manual gearbox more reliable than the automatics?
- Will my generic OBDII reader work with this truck?
- Plenum: would you consider this job as doable to a competent home mechanic? I've done brake and suspension work on all of my cars but not much on engines. To my knowledge the 5.2 Magnum engine was never available in the UK, so the knowledge base is nonexistent here.

Aside from the obvious (brakes, tyres, rust etc.) is there anything I haven't mentioned that you would be looking out for if you were in my position?

Thank you for reading this. I'm really looking forward to being part of such a great community.

 

How many miles/kilometers on it? If you are in rust prone location look at the brake lines in the back. Also see what the gas tank straps look like. Two things know to rust out. On the body bottom of the doors and around the rear wheel openings are the first things to show rust. Not much can go wrong with manuals as long as no body's grinding gears. The clutch on the other hand could be worn. If the truck is OBD2 it should be the magnum. Can't say for sure what happens over seas.

 

a 5.2 manual would have the nv3500 which is a moderately decent gearbox, but can be expensive to repair, so definitely feel it out good. Its a little out of place i feel behind a 1500 truck, but if all your doing is driving it normally it will do just fine.

Plenum was one of the first biggest projects i attempted on one of these motors, just don't be like me and yank the distributor out, it does not need to be removed to pull the intake. Truck is over 20 years, anything rubber needs a decent looking over

 

I blathered on in the new member area on your post there.

Your OBD II scanner will work just fine. You can also do the "Key Dance". The key dance is with the engine off. You turn the key to run, off, run, off and run, leaving the key on. Do NOT go to start the truck. By avoiding start, the computer goes into the self test mode. Either the 'check engine' light will flash or the odometer will read any codes stored. The light will probably flash once, then twice. This is code 12 and means the battery has been disconnected within the last 50 to 100 key starts. When it flashes 5 times followed by 5 more, that is code 55 and means end of test. Being a 2001, this truck might be either way. Any other codes will show something the computer thinks is out of proper parameters.

As long as it's not your primary driver and you can take you time, the plenum is definitely doable for a reasonably driveway mechanic. I'll get into the plenum later but other things to look for are;

The brakes. Remove one front and one rear wheel to look at the brakes. Rusty calipers and thin pads means you may be doing a front brake job. If the truck pulls consistently to one side when you hit the brakes, one caliper MIGHT be sticking. While you're there, look at the rubber flex hoses. If one or both is dry rotted, replace them right away. That might also be the reason for the pull to one side. On the rear, pull one drum off and see how much shoe friction material is left. Also look at the seal on the rear axle. If it's dry, you're golden. If the truck has a current MOT inspection, these should be good.

The clutch and transmission. If the truck will go from a dead stop in third gear, it should have some life left in it. Go through all the gears and make sure they shift smooth. If someone drove with their hand on the shifter, it can wear out the synchronizers and cause grinding going into gear. You can avoid the grind by double clutching but most people can't do that.

Rust, again, your MOT people look for that. Mine is a '96 and it had a bunch of little spots that I filled in with metal and body putty but there is some rust in the floor that was beyond my limited body talents. The paint on mine was terrible and several different colors. It didn't affect the way the truck drove, I just take care of my equipment and the paint offended me. Here's it when I got it home;



and as it sits now;




The tires are oversized and rub but grip really well. The camo highlights came later as my machinery paint paint job blistered and rather than repaint the entire truck, I rattle canned a few blobs here and there.

Lastly the plenum. You didn't say how many miles on the engine. My speedometer drive pinion is for a 3.92 rear end and I have 3.55 so my speedometer read high. When my plenum blew, the odometer read 168,000 miles but the timing chain looked more like 150K or so. The oversized tires make it rear right on the money. If you need to repair the plenum, I went ahead and went over the engine. I didn't pull the heads or exhaust manifolds, but everything else on the top and front of the engine came off.

The truck had been using a quart of oil every 600 to 700 miles. My oil sending unit was seeping causing the oil consumption. I replaced that, as well as the cap, rotor, plug wires and plugs, with the distributor in place, the fuel injectors, and went into the timing chain area. This involved removing the water pump and when I did that, the hoses mostly looked good BUT, the bypass hose was soft and squishy and just waiting to fail. This is that little hose that always fails when it's right around freezing and it's raining when you have to fixe it.

So check the bypass hose on the water pump.

While I was in there, I noticed the harmonic balancer was coming apart. I replaced that. The timing chain itself had some slop but might have lasted a little longer, but I was in there so it got replaced. I went with a double roller and it will outlast the rest of the truck, maybe even me. (I'm an Olde Pharte)




I had removed the radiator, all the hoses and with the water pump and everything out, there is plenty of room to stand in there to work on it. When it went back together, I used a new water pump, even though the old one was good, because, why not?

One caveat on tear down. The intake bolts are torqued down in very light tightness. I found two broken intake bolts. I managed to get one out with an EZ out. The other I had to drill. I ended up using a Helicoil kit to replace it. Lots of towels were used to keep metal particles and crud from getting into the engine. I also replaced the valve cover gaskets to stop some seeping there. Again, why not? I even found the tika tika tika noise it made when idling. There was an old flattened beer can under the intake along with some oil soaked cigarette butts.

I used all new hoses, flushed the heater core and took my time reassembling everything. Anything that looked sketchy I replaced rather than have to go back in. Tag any wires or hoses you disconnect, take lots of pictures with your phone if the truck sits for a bit waiting on parts so you don't forget how things go and just take your time. Cleaning helps and when you DO have to have an MOT, they will be impressed with the condition of your equipment. It's the really nasty stuff they look closely at.

I also do an oil change and coolant flush on EVERY vehicle I buy. That way I know when it was done last. My father wasn't much of a mechanic, but he did tell me to always figure on brakes, tires and battery on any used car.

Lastly, a little eye candy to compensate for a bored old man rattling on.

 

144,000 miles.

 

Thank you for such a detailed response, and thank you for the eye candy.

 

At 144K the timing chain should be good for a while. It won't be a waste of money to replace it, but if the oil changes have been done regularly, you have some miles left. Where has the truck spent it's life? Near the sea, you want to watch for rust. Check the coolant. I use a hydrometer to see how cold it's good for. The lower the freeze point, the higher the boiling point. I remember Jeremy Clarkson always talked about how useless American pickups are in Britain. You can either add a tonneau cover or train a large dog to ride in the bed. That will stop people from trying to get a "5 finger" discount from stuff in the bed.,

You might also, if you buy the truck, see about getting a bumper sticker that says "Yes, this is my truck. No, I won't help you move."

Don't forget, if you get the truck, post pictures. We're strange that way.

 

Bought it!

I bought it! Drove absolutely brilliantly. I'll post some better pictures when I pick it up next week.

I presumed it was a grey/gray import from new because it carries the correct age number plate for a 2001, but I dug around and it was delivered new in Belford, NJ, and imported to the UK from Florida in 2016.

 

Wow. Nice lookin' truck. And, of course, it's raining.

 

Thanks. Really not keen on the third gen wheels but I can forget about finding some factory rims in the UK for a decent price.

And of course! I do my best car buying in the rain. I can't see any of the scratches so I'm more tempted to buy.