Hello, I've recently purchased a 1995 Ram 1500 Single Cab with the 360 motor and auto trans. Odometer reads 227,XXX miles. I just have a few questions about this truck before I really dive deep into it. I'm trying to get it road trip ready before the mid of April. So far, I've changed the oil, put a new wiper motor on it, replaced all the fuses following the diagram in the service manual, replaced the upper radiator hose, replaced the TPS, the temperature sending unit for the gauge, and I've just bought a lot of other parts, such as spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, ignition rotor, wiper blades, air filter, and lights all the way around.

The bad:
1.) The most serious problem I have with this truck is the transmission. The seller told me that the transmission was replaced a few years ago, and according to the service records I found in the glovebox (invoices, receipts, etc.) the transmission was replaced at 197,XXX miles in 2013 and has since had about 30,000 miles put on it. I noticed that the shifting is very late, with it shifting at about 3,500 RPM's. It goes through 1-2-3 but no 4 or overdrive, which I believe is due to the mess of wires underneath the drivers side of the truck. I was told that a dog ran through the neighborhood chasing a cat and ripped some of the wires off, and it does seem like the wires were destroyed by excessive yanking. According to the service manual, these wires lead to the O2 sensor on the cat and a overdrive solenoid. The radio harness is also butchered with the harness being cut off and wired straight up to an aftermarket radio. Luckily, I'm an audio guy so that's not much of a problem. I've gone to the junkyard and gotten the connectors for these things, giving myself about 4-5 inches of wire on the connectors. I plan on changing the trans fluid soon. I have read about and studied the adjustment of bands, as well as a possible failure of a throttle valve cable(?). Would it be a good idea to adjust these bands as a measure of preventive maintenance? Or should I leave them alone? What are the consequences for wrong adjustment?

2.) The headlights don't work. On the passenger side, there's a mess of wires that have seem to be clipped off for an unknown reason. Blinker on the passenger side works, but not the drivers side. The running light on the drivers side works, but not the passenger side. Neither low/high headlight works, and the stalk on the interior seems to not allow the toggle of high beams, but more of an intermittent type deal, like flashing someone. Brake lights, tag lights, blinkers and reverse lights work. Any idea of a fix for this? Or where those wires could lead to?

3.) The interior. Well, the dash really isn't bad considering the year. No cracks on the top, but the plastic faceplate has a piece missing near the cupholder, and I pulled the cupholder out because it wasn't in there right. The climate controls and overdrive button seem to be very loose, I believe because wherever they mount is broken or has missing screws. There is a piece of the grey plastic behind, I think it's called the frame, broken and missing in a few places, and the plastic and vents above the glovebox are cracked. Is there a fix or replacement part for this piece? Or am I just out of luck?

4.) The blower. It seems that the climate controls work, because I can hear the blower motor come on, but it makes a helluva racket. When I bought this truck I had no idea of the temperature due to the faulty unit, so I blasted the heater on my way home to prevent possible overheating. The blower motor was LOUD, and I couldn't feel anything through the vents on my side, but passenger side floor vents were blasting heat. No matter what setting I put it on, it always blows out of the passenger side footwell. After getting home I decided to conduct a test. I turned my truck off, then put my key to run so I could hear the blower without any droning from the exhaust. I put it on a low speed, it spun on low for a second then just over revved itself, blowing very hard. No matter what speed I put it on, A/C or not, it does this. It spins faster than the high speed. Could this be caused by a faulty resistor, or a faulty motor? And regarding the flow of air, is the director door stuck, and is it controlled by vacuum?

Thank you for spending your time on reading about my problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

Welcome to DF!

1. Adjusting the bands is a good idea. Torque 'em to 72 INCH pounds, then back 'em off two full turns. (on both bands.) Tighten the Jam nut. TV cable (throttle valve) is likely a contributor to your shifting issues. It runs from the throttle body, down to the trans. If it is adjusted too tight, or jammed up, then you get screwy shift points. Check and adjust it. Procedure is in the service manual. (which you can download here.) You can also sort your trans wiring with the wiring diagrams in the manual. I think there are only three wires that go to yours. (One for O/D, one for power feed, and the third for torque converter clutch.)

2. Check out the wiring diagrams for the headlights, should be able to sort out your issues. (diagrams are in section 8W of the service manual linked above.)

3. I don't think you can get the sub-structure for the dash any more. Best bet would be finding one in a junkyard. (good luck with that as well.....)

4. Check the resistor block for the motor, sounds like it is shorting out. As for the vents, most of them are vacuum controlled. Temp is cable controlled. Make sure you have a good vacuum source, and the lines didn't get screwed up when the stereo was installed.

Moving this to second gen Ram section for ya.

 

The vents sounds like a vacuum issue. There is a live that goes in right by the AC lines in the firewall. It's small (like 1/8 diameter) black plastic hose.

 

Alright. It's been a minute and I've been doing some digging and fixing, and here's what I've found out.
I found that the mess of wires around the trans lead to the O2 sensor on the cat and the other goes to the OD. Which, if I'm guessing correctly, is the reason why the OD button on the dash doesn't light up. As I was observing I noticed a very likely culprit to my transmission problem. The throttle valve cable is shot. The insulation is cracked in a few places and there's enough rust to spice your chili with on those places I also noticed the return spring is stretched on about 5 of the coils. I pushed the linkage all the way forward and gave her a test drive, and lo and behold the ol girl shifts through all the gears. Although it is a significantly early, which is suspected due to the faulty cable. When I give her the juice she shifts into second gear which makes first almost non existent. When I do this it pulls the linkage back and sticks it in place making the shifting all weird, I'm guessing simulating 3/4 to full throttle all the time. I'm thinking a trans fluid change and a new filter, a new plug for OD, a new spring and TVC and some adjustments of the bands will make it seem brand new.
Now with the lights, I reconnected the wires under the hood to themselves, and I have running lights now. Although, I still don't have regular headlights or a blinker on the front drivers side. I had my dad stand in front of the truck as I flashed the high beams, and the headlights came on. I believe this is caused by a faulty stalk. I'm not sure of how I could test this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I also decided to pull the codes after I fixed the wiring and O2 sensor connection. This is what I got:
27
35
45
I know why I'm getting code 45, but I'm not too sure about the others. If any insight about what could be causing these codes would be greatly appreciated as well

 

27 is an injector control circuit code. Trouble is, which injector??? Do you have a misfire on one cylinder?

35 is radiator fan control circuit..... Which seems really odd, as you don't even have an electric cooling fan.

 

Code 37, my bad. And it doesn't feel like I have a misfire, she runs smoothly with no hiccups.

 

Ah, 37 and 45 are related. Fix one, the other will likely go away as well. Check the connector at the trans. Sometimes the wires will pull out of the connector, and short together. Makes life way to interesting.

 

Like Hey you said all good advice, don’t know what part of the country, but I am hitting up the pick a part next week, if I find a dash that’s already broken, I can break off the piece you need. My dash has cracks as well, will be trying carbon fiber cloth and resin. Will let you
know if it works.

For the tranni, I don’t know your model, but some dodges need to have their level checked in neutral. It may be low on fluid as a simple fix.