Any ideas if this is a common/faulty thing to happen? I checked the oil levels and they look fine. The coolant temps were ok but the oil temp gauge was almost pegged to the right most of its first drive home. It wasn't on the red however this scared me a bit.

Any ideas?

 

These trucks don't come with an oil temp gauge. Do you mean the oil pressure gauge?

 

It's whichever gauge is on the bottom right. Maybe thats coolant temp? I could have sworn it looked like an oil temp icon... I did smell coolant a tad when I drove it so you could be right. I would feel much better about high coolant temp than high oil temp .

 

I wouldn't feel good about either of the two.

 

Bottom right on my truck is the fuel gauge. Oil pressure is top right, Coolant temp is bottom left, Voltmeter is top left.

 

Yeah not to say that I feel good about it but better than oil... High coolant temps are usually an easy fix.

I believe my bottom left was fuel, top left was oil pressure, top right was voltage? and bottom right i guess to be coolant temp now. I'll go check coolant levels and such when I get home.

I just bought the truck and brought it home last night so I haven't had much time to check it out...

 

Thank you all for the quick help! I'll report back when I check it out.

 

Umm, well...bottom right is fuel on mine too. And all the other rams are that i seen on ebay 98+...

So are you sure? Just to be sure your right that its on the right..., Look to your right and you'll see the radio. lol

Seriously, im kinda wondering what your cluster looks like. Gotta pic? We can help you more since our dashes seem to be different than yours if you had a pic. And yea, high coolant temp= engine overheating= Damage. So i hope you didnt overheat it too bad if thats what your lookin at.

 

I could be wrong about the year, it may be a year older but it looks exactly like the truck in your sig.

First let me state that I am very educated in cars. I build motors and can rebuild tranny's and have fully built racecars etc... I'm just new to this truck .

Yeah I know overheating is never good. I don't want to damage head gasket or warp the head. I'm not sure if it was really hot or if there is just a bubble in the system. I did smell coolant once so maybe theres a leak. I didnt' see any drops under the car after it was parked for a few tho.

The gauge didnt' stay pegged, it kind of fluctuated near the top. The radiator wasn't steaming and I didn't hear coolant boil when I checked under the hood although it was only a quick oil level check and a glance over...

I honestly got such a good deal on the truck from a friend that simply needed money that I dont' have a ton of details on the truck. He doesn't either since he got it from a prevous business partner that owed him money.

I do know that a new (used) motor was dropped in just before my friend got it. He drove it maybe 30 miles total then I bought it. It did sit for about 5 months or so during that period however.

 

Ok, so maybe its a 96 or 97. My mistake.

The gauge cluster looks like this if I recall correctly...