I had been looking for a cheaper budget truck that I figured I would fix it up and would get some good use out of it. Mainly just wanted to use it for either light towing or when going traveling through the mountains during the winter.

I found my 1994 Ram 1500 with 216k miles for about 2 grand. Took it for a test drive and everything seemed solid, ran really strong, transmission felt firm no slipping or jerking, and the 4WD went into gear and gripped and felt good. I talked to their mechanic who said he looked it all over and said the only thing they did was replace the 02 sensors to meet DEQ standards (should have got that in writing or asked for a bill on that). I went ahead and paid the money and headed home which was about a two hour drive.

Well when I just started my journey I was following my friend who gave me a ride up there and noticed that my headlights were flickering, great its getting dark and my headlights are malfunctioning. My marker lights stayed on and were not going off so I continued to suck tail of my buddies dodge charger and got it home. I found that the headlight switch was faulty and replaced it, BOOM fixed.

The next thing I did was I noticed the valve covers were leaking pretty bad so I replaced those and put a fresh filter and oil in it. I also did the air filter at the time which had some oil residue on it. I have been losing oil but I am not throwing any blue smoke. The next thing I did was a tuneup, the plugs and wires were absolutely shot and the distributor cap contacts were crystallized that when you touched them they just turned to dust. The good thing I got out of that was none of the spark plugs had oil residue they were nice and dry so I am not sure where my oil leak is coming from? After this it seemed to idle a little rougher but stayed well above 500 RPMS and never seemed to sputter and act like it was going to die. I had a check engine light on for an egr valve and a couple other things so at that point I took it to my mechanic.

He put on a new serp belt and replaced the EGR valve then reset the computer and all the lights are gone now. However he said that my transmission was going out and it needed to be replaced and quoted me $2200 for just that alone. I had a hard time believing that as when I drove it never felt like there was slipping or hard shifting. He said something about the fluid running so thin that it was starving for fluid, something to that extent. He said that I would have issues during cruising speeds and that most likely a check engine light would come back on (which it hasn't) the original code before it got reset was for the transmission temp sensor, which I dont have one. I also asked him about my oil leak and all he could find was the rear main seal on the transmission is leaking. Then he basically blew me off.

After I got it back it seemed to idle even rougher, still would hang at about 500 RPM's but never acted like it was going to die. Now the real issue that has arisen is that when I am driving regardless of slower speeds or highway speeds if I press the accelerator just gently enough the truck makes slight jerking motions. It is hard to explain but as soon as I give it more gas it stops and goes. It is very sporadic, I can never seem to get it to do this same thing every time I do the same light pressure on the accelerator. Also if I use the cruise control it never does this either, it is only when I manually press the gas peddle and give it barely any gas.

At this point I am wondering if I hosed myself on this truck and if I should try to just sell it and recoup any losses. It seems like I fix one thing that it just gets worse, based on what I have done so far it looks like the previous owner did not take good care of this vehicle. I am thinking of either doing a fluid flush and filter replacement, see if there is a lot of metal in the pan. I am also wondering if I should change out the shift solenoid if that could possibly be the problem? I want to hope that this ugly betty isn't a complete loss and there is still plenty of life. I am hoping that some people could throw out some ideas of anything I am missing? I know it may seem far fetched but with the auto locking hubs is it possible my 4WD is trying to engage due to a vacuum leak? Also I do have a pretty bad exhaust leak which I am getting fixed and the catalytic converter may be shot too but I wont know till I get it to the muffler shop. The current leak is right after the converter, I cant seem to hear or find a leak on the main manifolds. I also checked the transmission fluid and it is not super dark it is red to the color and it doesn't smell burnt and it is full so its not low on fluid. When I also got it whoever wired this thing up with fog lights and such did a terrible job so I ripped that all out so it was stock electrical.

Any help is greatly appreciated I attached a couple pics, the body is pretty rough and the paint is pealing of course.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...um-thread.html

 

Well, it looks to be in pretty good condition at least. But, it IS a HIGH mileage truck, so, some repairs are to be expected.......

Your trans is probably fine. If it shifts good, and doesn't slip, don't worry about it. Changing fluid and filter sure wouldn't hurt though. Do NOT flush the trans. Bad move.

You should read the first few posts in the Plenum thread, stickied at the top of this forum. Its pretty much a standard failure on these engines, and my guess is, it hasn't been addressed on your truck.

I am curious what brand O2 sensor the PO put in there.... The Bosch sensors are cheapest, but, our trucks don't really care for them.... and can exhibit some odd behavior. To test if that is a contributor to your driveability issues, simply unplug, and go for a ride. Problem gone/reduced? Replace the sensor with an NTK, or Denso sensor.

Also, with that high of mileage, I would HIGHLY recommend changing out the timing chain and gears. That was one of THE BEST things I have done to my truck to improve driveability.

Welcome to DF!

 

The way you describe how your truck behaves under light acceleration and with the rough idle sounds like you may have a misfire going on. They can be tricky to pinpoint; don't expect the computer to throw a code.

My first misfire had the exact symptoms you've noticed and happened a month after buying my truck. Turned out to be cracked cylinder head that burned a valve. It got progressively worse until that cylinder probably didn't fire anymore. Luckily, I bought an extended warranty on the truck!

A couple years later, my next misfire was actually a spark plug. I ran myself around trying to figure out what it was. Compression checked good. Turns out, after studying the porcelain of the spark plugs (that weren't very old), one of them was arcing down the porcelain. New plugs fixed it. Actually, one of the new plugs had a chunk of porcelain missing. Luckily I saw that before installing the plug. Always examine and gap new plugs before putting them in.

I also recommend dropping the trans pan to dump the oil and put in a new filter. Pan gasket & filter are available at most parts stores. Use only ATF +4. Walmart sells it the cheapest I've found: about $4.27/qt. You can try and measure what comes out so you know how much to put back in, but check it multiple times after refilling and cycling through the gears slowly (checking it in neutral not park) before you take it out and drive it. Took me a few checks and top-offs to get it right where it was full.

+1 on the plenum repair and +1 on the timing set.

*Edit.. Forgot: Plan on at least changing all fluids. I'm thinking anything you haven't changed already (Front and rear axles, transfer case, anti-freeze, brake fluid, Power steering) If you can't change them now, at the very least check their levels now to make sure nothing is low. It's easy to check them too.

 

94 will never set a misfire code. They simply don't exist in OBDI vehicles. The PCM doesn't even monitor misfires.

 

I appreciate all the feedback it has been very helpful. I did try unplugging the 02 sensor and going for a drive and it still felt the same no change there. Base on all the help I got a good list of what I need to do next.

Plenum
Gears and timing chain
New fluids

I am probably going to go back and check all my work when I did the plugs and wires, maybe I got one hooked up in the wrong place or like you said a bad plug was installed. I did check the gap before I put them in. Hopefully it isn't a bad valve or a cracked head that would not be good I would be hosed at that point I think =(. I will keep an update on my findings as I go along, appreciate the help.

 

I wouldn't go spending a bunch of time and money on the timing chain and plenum and stuff until you do a leakdown test on the cylinders, including a dry and oiled compression test to test the valves for seating and sealing.

It'll cost you about 25 bucks for the compression tester and a couple of bucks for some heavy oil to put in the cylinders for checking the valves.

 

Ya I think you are right, I am on call this weekend but I am going to make an attempt to do this and I'll let you guys know the results. If the engine is a wash I am not sure I want to vest anymore time and money into it. I did find a guy on craigslist with another 5.2 motor for sale for $350 but no specs on miles or what not. Just that it runs great and no leaks.

 

EVERY engine for sale on CL runs great, and doesn't leak, or, was freshly rebuilt.......

The truck really doesn't look that bad..... might be worth sourcing an engine from a more *reliable* place... wrecking yard, or whathaveyou, that you can actually see the vehicle it came out of, and have some idea of how many miles are on it.

 

Yeah, Look for engines that are still in the truck(or taken out of the same truck) so you can see the miles on it. (Parting out truck)