Ok I'm in the process of selling my beater car and putting that money into my truck since it's my DD. Heres a brief history on the truck.

It's a 97 ext. cab Ram with the 5.2 and 153,000 miles. I've recently replaced the radiator and tstat with a 180. I've also just done a full tune up as well. I work at a diesel repair shop asa service writer, so I had our lead tech get his Modis and hook it up to my truck. I had a CE light when I bought it, and wound up removing the bulb.I had a code for running cold too long, and catalyst failure.

The truck has dual exhaust with no cat, and the parts store told me it was a code for catalyst failure. So I didn't worry about it. This summer, the truck tried to overheat once, so I replaced the thermostat with another 195. I noticed the truck still ran at about 210 degrees. I took the stupid advice of a friend and swapped the thermostat with a 160.Come to find out, the rad was cracked at the side and I was missing it. Finally replaced it, but left the thermostat for the time being.Well, when it got cold the 160 tstat caused the new code as the gauge wouldn't even move. So I swapped it back with a 180 and all has been well.

Now I'm up to date. Here are my questions. All are not related, but I wanted to make1 post instead of 20.


1.) I get about 10 mpg in the city. I've checked and I do not lose a drop of oil between changes, so I've ruled out the plenum failure. Plugs are gapped correctly and brand new as well as distributor cap, button, and wires. What else can I check? Dad has a 99 Ram with the same engine with 230,000 miles and he gets 14 mpg with the identical everything to my truck. I get about 260 miles per tank on 87 octane gas and my rpms stay below 2,300 99% of the time.

2.) My truck reads about 40 lbs. of oil pressure while driving and about 35 at idle. As I said I don't have any oil leaks, and the truck doesn't smoke a drop. But again dad's 99 Ram usually holds about 45 at idle and about 60-65 driving. Just seemed kind of odd that his oil pressure would be better than mine with almost twice the miles.

3.) I've been wanting to use an additive to clean my engine, but I'm not sure the best route to go. Heard a lot about seafoam, but I'm not sure just how safe it is. What's the best to use? And proper procedure?

4.) My fuel gauge bounces more than most other Rams do it seems. When I reach 1/4 tank and have to get on the brakes, it will shoot up to almost 3/4 of a tank and come back down. Then when I leave from a stop, it will drop to E and ever so slowly work it's way back up. Is there something I can do to clean the sending unit with it in the tank? Or would replacing it even help? It works, but is highly annoying. I know it fluctuates, but this seems to me to be excessive.

5.) I think my tps may be acting up. The truck will sometimes have some trouble shifting when I'm driving. It might jump into another gear for a split second and come back. The transmission has less than 2k miles on it and the throttle cable is centered as it should be. How much are they and how hard are they to change?


I'm also going to try the over the top adjustment on the steering box this weekend. My steering is fairly loose and I just read the tsb about it. Hopefully I won't need anything else. I'm also replacing the top portion of the dash and installing a new headliner.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I had quite a few questions to ask you guys. I numbered them in case someone only wants to answer one question instead of all of them. This should be an easier point of reference. Thanks in advance!

 

your steering may be loose because of a steering part i cant remember what it is called but turn off your truck with the windown down look at your tire, and turn the wheel it the axcl shifts back and forth then its worn out otherwise no clue about the others

 

Always possible. Hopefully its the steering box out of adjustment. It's never been touched from the looks of it, and from what I've been reading it may have been out of adjustment from the factory. I'll start there and if that doesn't fix it, I guess it's time to start replacing stuff.

 

hopefully it never comes to that

 

Its called a trac bar, DOdgeman22

 

Trac bar would be on a 4wd wouldnt it? Mine is a 2wd. Anyone else have more suggestions?

 

Does it have coil over front suspension??????

 

1. front 02 sensor - controls fuel trim. have you got one in (or two). i'd replace it. leave rear O2 alone - its does nothing. if you have big tires and an incorrect speedo/odo make sure you are correcting your mileage in your mpg calculation.

2. this can be affected by oil thickness/type, oil filter, etc. i'd try a cheap gunk engine flush. you pour in about a quart of solvent stuff. crank the truck and let it idle for 5-10 minutes, then drain and change the oil and filter. if it still reads a little low (here comes the flames), i'd put a pint of stp in it. i'd also use 10w40 instead of w30. after that i wouldn't worry about it unless the oil light comes on.

3. no personal experience with seafoam, but it seems ok from the reports. i don't use anything.

4. fuel sending unit is inside the tank and integrated with fuel pump. seach here for some of HankL's posts. i think he recommended chevron fuel injection cleaner and hope for the best. the fuel pump is a little pricey and a lot of work to change.

5. tps is on drivers side of throttle body. they cost about $40-50. 2 screws (#25 torx i think) and an electrical connector. reset pcm.

6. look through the diy at the top for instructions on tightening up the play in the steering box. it helped mine a LOT.


good luck.

 

On the steering box,I adjusted it today. This took an entire 10 minutes and the difference is actually pretty amazing. It's as tight as a new one now. I'd recommend everyone do this if you feel some play before spending a lot of money on stuff you may not need.