hey just found this forum. this past week i purchased a 1996 dodge ram 1500 5.2 2wd truck and i love it! 138k miles. runs real strong! the only main thing is rust it has(bottom of doors,frame,bottom of cab were the doors are). but other then the rust and minor other things its great. i purchased it for $6000(im financing it though). any ideas what i should do first? i mean i know the basics i will be doing like oil change,tranny fluid and filter change and changing the rear axle fluid. spark plugs,ignition wires,distributor cap and rotor. also ill be doing air filter,fuel filter and pcv valve. but i had some questions...

1. for engine oil i see alot of you guys use syn. oil. now i have no known leaks(only a week owned so...lol) should i go full syn.? ive always just used 20w50 and its ben great to me and the cars ive had. also about the engine restore. ive heard great things and nightmare stories about it. i just dont want to do something to mess the truck up.

2. im getting real bad mpg. i filled it up with $55@2.89 a gallon and ive marked the miles. and when it hit 50 miles i have 3/4 left. that is only 200miles a tank which correct me if im wrong but it holds a 26gallon tank right? now i mainly do city driving(school and work that it all). but this is crazy. thats like 7-8 miles per gallon! i know its in need of a tune up just from that sign. anything u guys can recommend or is this normal for the 5.2 engines?

3. radio is bad. i already ordered a factory one off ebay but after some reading on this forum, its mainly due to the cup holders being above the radio and condensation can leak and mess up the radio. im planning to move the cup holders to the bottom of the floor so this it doesnt happen again

4. i noticed its a little delayed when i hit the gas. like if im at a light and i punch it, it doesnt go for about a second then goes. any ideas what it can be?

im sure once i do the tune up alot of the little problems will fix them itself out but just wondering if these are common.

the rust is a big problem(its from new york originally). frame is solid but has alot of it everywhere. floor boards are good even the bed is good. the body of the cab where it is around the door is bad. holes and such. hopefully it isnt a major pain in my *** to fix! [:@]

here is a pic of her...

 

anybody home?

 

$6000 is pretty high for a 96 2wd with alot of rust.... And the rust if deep at all is usually a pain.

 

Its hard to say what the reason for you bad mileage is, but i wouldnt go by the guage alone. The best way to calculate is when you fill up. Top off every time and then take the mileage driven and divide by how many gal of gas you just put in. The guage usually isnt too accurate. Also, if the engine doesnt burn oil or oil pressure problems, i wouldnt go to 20w-50. Stick with the 5-30 or 10-30 also for MPG reasons. As for synthetic, its hard to say. It won hurt the motor, in fact it will clean it VERY well and if there's any sludge plugging a bad gasket it'll leak. Roll of the dice on that one. Go ahead and do the tune up, and then see what you mpg is. Then you have a baseline. Later!

 

Boy I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think you got took. That is a high price for that year of truck.

The best advice I can give you is take that piece of **** back to whomever you bought it off of. This truck is gonna break your heart. You will have many problems with it. Trans, fuel pump, water pump, bad mileage. These trucks are a pain in the you know what. I have never in my life have owned such junk. I have had my truck for nearly a year now. I have put only 6000 babied miles on it and have done nothing but work on it. TAKE MY ADVICE and return that truck. HEED MY WARNING !!! These trucks suck. Sorry to offend anyone, but they arent worth a crap.

 

Actually my truck is EXACTLY like yours, except I have the premiuim rims and no camper, but the color is the same.

As for problems, I did have a $2500 transmission rebuild, but my dad drove it for 6 months with low fluid, so I really can`t blame the tranny. The water pump recently went, but at 112,000 I`m really not surprised. The a/c doesn`t work, but that`s very common in this part of Tx. Cat went about 100,000. I just gutted it.

These trucks are not junk, I really don`t see how you could have much more realiable of a truck. $6k is a little on the high side, but if you like the truck, who really cares.

And my milage is about 12/16. I would guess if you unclog your cat and tune it up, your milage will improve.

 

yea i know...6000 is on the high side but it was my only choice. i had a 91 chevy caprice with 220k miles but it finally crapped out on me. sold it to a friend for a couple bills and i needed anything to get to work and school. only had $800 with bad credit... so long story short, i got this truck with 800 down 280 a month for 2 years andf 3 months aint to bad for my situation. i know its not new but its a good truck. runs real strong. water pump and tune up parts is fine as long as the drivetrain is solid. and so far(knock on wood) the engine has no leaks, runs good and shifts good(thank god). i'm gonna do the oil change, air filter, fuel filter, PCV valve, and the spark plugs within the week. Hopefuly that improves the gas mileage.

 

congrats on the new ride !

 

Do yourself a favor and complete the tuneup and fluid changes before getting too worried about fuel mileage and such. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and air filter will make a difference. After you complete that work then look into what may need done to make it a better performer.

I'm assuming you're on a limited budget so I won't mention any of the performance mods others have done to help their vehicles out. There are a couple you could try that don't cost much except time, but wait until the tune up is complete.

In your case purchase the recommendedChampion Plugs. There are other choices available but they are all more expensive.

Good luck with your new Ram and remember, every make of vehicle and every product brand has it's detractors because they had a bad experience. If everybody had as bad of an experience as they did, the company would already be out of business.

 

[sm=smiley20.gif]good deal.

im still wondering about which type of oil to use. i really wanna try synetic because of how clean it is. the drive train has a 6month 6k mile warranty so i suppose of i develop any leaks i can take it back. do any of you use synetic?