Truck is a 2000 1500 SLT. 4x4 with the 5.2

Ok so I'm browsing and reading the stickies and FAQs currently and some of my problems I think are addressed and some not, but I would like to consolidate them all into one thread here and get some advice as I believe some may or may not be related to one another.

Starting with the engine. Until the truck gets warmed up it generally makes a pretty loud hissing sound. Sounds like something leaking/vacuum sucking. I take this to be a leaking plenum gasket? What is an estimated install time for replacing one with the APS kit?

Not sure if its related to the plenum or not but the truck sputters and hesitates noticeably. When its cold it is most noticeable. It will occasionally stall out when sitting at a stop sign. Once it warms up it runs smoothly. In addition, when you shift to neutral the idle will return back up and it will almost run smooth. It backfires under acceleration sometimes and you have to floor it to get it to downshift and rev up just to get it to smooth out and accelerate. I've heard this sputtering and hesitation can be the distributor needing to be re-indexed, the back firing I'm not sure.

The truck was daily driven for months and the transmission was fine when it was being driven consistently. Lately (after a summer of being seldom driven) the torque converter is slow to build pressure and then engages harshly. If you are sitting at a traffic light and go to drive away from it the engine will sometimes rev up a bit without any movement like you're in neutral and then the torque converter will lock up and slam into gear. This doesn't always happen though. The fluid level is fine, could it be a clogged filter or is it more likely that the converter is going bad/needs to be rebuilt?

The abs light and the brake light are on along with the check engine light. The speedometer doesn't work at low speeds but will occasionally catch up at about 70. I assume this is the gear in the tailhousing of the transfercase? Would this also cause the abs light and brake light to come on since the abs computer has no speed to read off of? It does not have ABS up front.

Also finally does anyone know what the towing capacity on one of these trucks is? I don't have the owners manual. I'm not sure on the gear ratio but the other specs are above.

Also are they prewired for a brake box and is one just plug and play if there is a trailer plug out back? Where is the plug if they are?

Thanks for your time and help in advance. (I'm still reading through the stickies as I speak)

 

Just remembered to include some info. Its got about 90k on it now and one other problem that I forgot.

When the hissing it bad, I lose brake pedal feel badly, its as if I'm bleeding the brakes and the pedal is just willing to go to the floor. I assume this is something to do with the vacuum booster which would in turn be affected by a vacuum leak? Generally if I pump the break once they are fine, or they correct themselves soon. There aren't any leaks in the system and I'm not losing fluid, they work great most the time.

 

welcome to df. you may find it better to run separate threads for each problem, otherwise in turns into a big ****ing mess.

hissing sound is probabky just a leaking vac hose or brake booster. plenum leak doesn't whistle as far as i know, nor does it stop when its warmed up.

you can try servicing the transmission. stock trans are crap. some problems can be fixed in/around the valve body and sensors, others are more serious. not really any trans experts around since montec left.

speedo problem is probably rear abs/speed sensor in top of the diff. if not that one, then trans tail housing.

heavy towing with stock transmission.. you might be ok, you might not. you definitely need a big cooler.

 

...as far as the trailer brake prewire...mine was not. however, the controller is not hard to wire up and i just mounted the plug in the bed since i pull a gooseneck.

+1 on the rear speed sensor in the top of the diff... not too big a deal to replace.

that hissing noise you are hearing when it is cold or at idle is probably the gasket between the TB and the air box. once your in the truck and at highway speed you usually wont hear the hissing. that gasket is like 2 bucks at the parts store.

 

so the sensor on top the diff will cause my speedometer not to read correctly? like i said at higher speeds it starts to catch up but up to about 45-50 it reads zero

 

yep

abs light...brake light...laggin speedo? thats the "speed" sensor

 

awesome, i was under the impression that the speedo was solely driven by the speedo gear in the tailhousing (i just assumed thats how it was setup because that how it is on jeeps)

 

if you could take the truck to auto parts store and have them scan it for abs sensors that will tell you what one it is. As for the ABS sensor in the Diff
I have know idea if that will cause the speedo not to work correctly.