Hi, I just purchased a 97 Ram V8 Magnum 4X4. It is a decent truck, but there are a couple of minor issues I want to fix, and I'm hoping I can get some advice on here.

Door Locks
The door locks fuse was removed, so I dropped a 20A fuse in there, and the driver side lock works fine, but not the passenger side. I tried with both switches on both doors, but the passenger side is not working. Is this probably the actuator or possibly a bad connection somewhere?

AC Vents
This is a weird problem. When I'm just idling or driving normally, the AC comes out just fine from the vents, but when I accelerate, it comes out the top and floor vents only. Could this be a vaccum issue or an issue with the vent direction?

 

Door Locks
Good chance the actuator is simply unplugged or bad or the wire is cut somewhere.

AC Vents
Use the search function on the forum and search for wild vents. There is a 10+ page thread on it. Probably a check valve is bad.

 

ok, took the door panel off and played around with it. When switch is pressed, the door lock motor turns, but doesn't engage, so I assume it is stripped and I just need a new actuator.

I discovered another problem as well. I have a transmission fluid leak, where the dipstick housing meets the transmission. Is a there a seal there or what?

 

Yeah, its just a grommet. Easy to deal with, just messy.

 

is it something I can do myself? I assume I will need a new grommet, what si that piece called? Is it just a compression fitting, pull out the housing, slip on the grommet, and press back in?

 

It might just be an o-ring on the base of the tube. Dealership could tell you, might also have one on the shelf. It should be pretty easy to do yourself.... keep in mind, when you pull the tube out though, I suspect you are going to get a flow of trans fluid out of there......

 

I don't think I have a dealer nearby, but I will look and see. Is it something I could get at an Autozone?

 

ok, so I need to find the o-ring/grommet and then probably a check valve for my vacuum system.

If I can't find a dealer nearby, does anyone know if Autozone or O'reilly would stock anything I could use?

 

I am sure either would have what you need. If nothing else, in the "Help" line. They make some rather esoteric parts for our trucks. (they made my new PVC grommet, and the inlet tube to the water pump from the heater core....... that I put on my truck.)

 

Ok, I followed the vacuum line today, looking at the check valves, and I noticed that the pipe going from the T to the vacuum reservoir was broken. So, I patched it the best I could, and then found another broken piece where it comes off the main vacuum line. I'm going to drop in another patch there and see if that fixes things. If so, I will replace all that line with vacuum tubing.