Ok well I'm going to be taking an 800 mile trip to west virginia and living there a few months, so I need to make sure my Ram will make it. Without my income tax back, and I doubt i'll have the money in hand in 2 weeks, I need to know some preventive maintence I can do on a verrryyy low budget. I know the heater core leaks, and i've lost a considerable amount of oil (which i presume is the plenum) and my tranny has been acting up, traveling at 65-72 mph between 2400-3200 RPM's and doesn't seem to engage in 4th gear. Tranny fluid was at level though. I'd like to put all new fluids everywhere, but I can't work at my house because my Nova has been parked in my work place cuz I had to move it from where it was, and I don't think I can afford a coolant drain, syn. oil change, diff fluid, tranny service, etc. So I'm posting this to get some ideas from anyone who has traveled this far with a few issues.

 

When you want it to shift into overdrive, try revving up the RPMs a little (no more than 3000-3500 at absolute most) and then let off the gas suddenly. That always made my Dakota kick into OD.

 

Yeah I tried that and it went to 4k and just kept going. IDK if the intake/plenum may have anything to do with it? I also think my tranny needs service in terms of bands, filter, fluid, etc. My check engine light flashed last week and i think that has to do with a clogged cat, but one of our mechanic buddies said you can tell if the cat is clogged because there wouldn't be much flow out of the pipe, and there was exhaust flow.

 

take along motel money and cab money for the ride back.
i can barely make it 40miles without a MIL coming on.
Granted my tranny is shot, but it still goes through all the gears normally.
good luck on your trip.
I would put all your $$ in to tranny service from what I can tell. You can drive a bit with a bad plenum gasket.

 

Lol yeah i figured a few puns would come along, but when all this stuff was going wrong i reset my mile marker thingy whatever term you want to call it to roll back to 0 and i've gone at least 800 miles and it's just run the same. I feel confident it can make it there as long as I bring along a few quarts of oil and coolant. It's the tranny stuff I'm iffy about, because I know the cold in west virginia is different than the cold in florida lol.