i drove to indiana today to take my truck to the guy that rebuilt my tranny, because i had the code p1740 tcc/overdrive selenoid. we drove it hard and light....he said it definatly does not have the power its supposed to. this is my first ram so i dont know what they are supposed to drive like, ive just been driving it, but it seemed slow...didnt know if it was just because of the 318 or not. he said it doesnt have near the power it should. sooo im going to do a complete tune up on it.
heres what im going to do so far..

replace cat with high flow (still has stock cat)
new plugs/wires
new fuel filter
maybe a plenum fix if i have the $ (about how much does it cost to have it done?)

any other things i should do? i need your guys's opinion on what the best plugs are to run with these trucks. it is a 01 1500 4x4 with 125k miles

 

FYI, no fuel filter on these trucks. Only has the sock on the pump.

 

Stock type Champion copper plugs, NGK V-powers, or Autolite 3923s (a heat range colder than stock).

To have the plenum fix done, and not do it yourself, will cost you in the ball park of $300 or so for labor, and this kit from Hughes which is $86 before shipping, and a Felpro gasket set (upper and lower) which is about $25. Don't get the "plenum gasket" from Felpro that is on O'Reillys site, as that is actually the upper intake manifold gaskets, and not the "lower" one (the plenum one). Don't know why O'Reillys hasn't fixed that yet, but they haven't.

For a high flow cat, I'd recommend Magnaflow. 2001s, BTW, don't have the 2 inlet/1 outlet cat like earlier rams, they have a single larger 3" inlet/single 3" outlet converter. I tried to tell my exhaust guys that when they did my exhaust system, they wouldn't believe me until it was up in the air and then they admitted their computer was wrong.

 

defintly do the pleum i guess you will feel the difference i checked mine last night its bad i am going to do the kegger mod and throttle body mod too. should feel major differnce

 

i just got a chance to look down the throttle body, the throttle body flaps are black..but when i looked down..i didnt see much black at all...it just looked wet. only a hint of brown/black color in the midle.

but....my exhaust smells like antifreeze...what are the symptoms of a head gasket leak or cracked block? i took some antifreeze out and put in some water to mix it better...and the antifreeze was dirty looking...

 

You might want to drain and flush your cooling system.

 

Do as you said, but I wouldn't replace the cat until you do the plenum.

The plenum you can yourself, save you some bucks, is not hard at all, just set aside a weekend to do it (It shouldn't take you but 6-8 hours, but you always have to allow time for small problems and hold ups). Then proceed with a new cat. I also wouldn't throw plugs in it until you do the plenum. The plenum is prerequisite before all of that, because if you leave the plenum, it will ruin all those other new parts in no time. Even if it isn't gone, it will go in the future no doubt about it.


As far as your coolant problem, how does your oil look? Does it look milky? like a jamocha shake? That is a good way to tell if you have a leaking head gasket.

You'll get it figured out, these are great trucks once you get them running properly.

 

thanks for all the replies

i drained the coolant out when i pulled the radiator out, and put new coolant in. but i only drained it from the radiator.

i would love to do the plenum myself, but i need my truck every day of the week, and i dont have much mechanical knowledge...im sure id be able to do it, but idk. and i beat on the cat whiel i had the truck in the garage, and i could here pieces in it so im def getting that off.

the oil looked dirty, becasue i need an oil change...doin that tommorow. i dont really have time to work on my truck myself. i go to college everyday and work construction soo i stay pretty busy and need i my truck everyday. when my truck is down...i use the old chevy 454 farm truck

 

I had bad luck with Champions. My Neon doesn't like them and neither does my lawn equipment. I suggest NGK V-Power's. I would also do the distributor cap and rotor.

 

Replace the distributor cap and rotor too.