It had a tune-up and oil change right before I bought it. I am thinking that the mechanic was probably not so good at his job and routed a wire wrong, or that from all this rain it got a bit of rain in somewhere. I cleared the code when I changed the O2 sensor, so I will see if it comes back or not.

The reason I think it has a deathflash is that 1) its newer, 2) no pinging at all. my old ram pinged only at higher RPMs. this one doesnt ping period. 3) runs poorly.

I have yet to check out the plenum. I've got a whole list of things to do to this thing so I'm slowly making my way through everything...Need more nice days outside.

 

that rust aint nothing...that can be fixed pretty easily...and id do it soon before it gets real bad...but other than that, its a good lookin truck

 

Thanks. I plan on doing it sometime in spring. I've never done bodywork but it shouldn't be too bad.

The doors seem pretty solid, I'm hoping that it is just surface rust and I can just wirewheel it off. The back fender will either need a new panel or a lot more bondo. What would you guys do - a new panel?

 

i have the bottom of door/rocker panal problem...im using fiberglass resin, fiberglass, sprayfoam, body filler, and look at my rocker in my sig, a chunk fell off lol...but my doors are pretty good...but the bottom side is only pretty much bondo....

Dont know about the fenders....i only have rust on my rockers/doors

I got the paint from the dealer...that door in my sig i repainted outside with spraycans lol....but hey it looks good

 

The actual rockers are good. Just my bottom of my doors themselves are starting to rust somehow. It doesn't look like it's ever had bodywork down there. Its strange.

I probably will just spray mine too.

 

Made a few trips to autozone, napa, carquest, and the stealership. Here's what I've found so far.

The steering stabilizer needs replaced. I ordered a Skyjacker single kit for $56 shipped. Beats $150 from the dealer (for real?).

O2 sensor got replaced, $80.

Bed still needs done. I'm debating between Rustoleum (~$50) and Herculiner (~$90) roll-on. I'm doing a lot of searching and stuff on them before I pick one. Might start a little bit of it this weekend..Lottts of sanding to do.

Body work still needs done. I need to buy the panel for the back still, as well as all the paint. I can get a 1/2 pint of both colors for $80 or so, plus the clearcoat/primer (spray cans), or I can buy 5oz. cans of them at the dealers for ~$9/piece. What would you guys do?

 

loose the cheater poles and running boards too

 

+1 for losing the poles and boards.

 

my 96 5.2 had more ***** than the 2001 5.9 I have now with 48K miles (with dealer authorized software update or DEATHFLASH). My 96 had the mopar PCM, 24# 4 hole injectors, Headers, MSD and a gutted cat (with no CEL on the gutted cat).

But even the 1996 truck lost power up hills, but that was because of the plenum (150K miles).

Get a chip, plenum, cat and tune and you will be set. Save the cat for last...most money (unless you can weld)

 

I have been debating about taking the boards off (just hoping to not find rust under there!), and the poles will prob. be off soon. I also have to put my grille guard on eventually here.

I am looking for a chip now on ebay, bidding on some...hopefully next week it'll be in, along with some of the other stuff...hopefully.