OK here it goes, 98 Ram 109,000 miles 3 questions
1. The cat was repalced last year, I understand there is a recall. I have a receipt- do I just mail it to D/C and hope the reinbusrt me?
2. The truck looks great after all these years and miles EXCEPT the lower doors are rusting/rusted out. My dealer WILL NOT HELP? am I expecting too much? and it looks like the tailgate is starting (the rust starts in the seams on the fold over of the sheet metal.
3.The trans is starting to slip (?) the truck will not shift into 3 it just holds 2nd and ther rpm's will climb all the way to redline if allowed. I have to back out of it and then it slips right in. What am I looking at there?
Thanks in advance, I really need to keep this truck at least 2 more years (saving for the Mega cab) unless the government makes TPS mandatory then I will buy B/4 such an unnessasary item is on the truck. John

 

Your best bet would be to look in the sticky thread about the recall up top. I think someone gave a number to call and see about the recall. The dealer doesnt have to do anything as long as its out of warrenty. I cant really help with the tranny problem..sry..

 

The tranny problem I would check the tv cable adjustment on the throtle body and if that doesn't help change the solenoids in the pan and have the tranny flkushed and put atf+4 in there. Alot of times the only thing wrong with these trannies is the solenoids go bad and and people just keep on driving till they burn something up or they run streight to a tranny shop and the tranny shop suckers them into a new tranny. So before you get suckerd spend the $200 on new solenoids if adjusting the tv cable doesn't help.

 

The door rust is a common problem, but I wouldn't expect the dealer to do anything about it. You're well out of any warranty area. If they're already out, your best course of action is to have the doors replaced...either with 3rd party aftermarket ones or ones from a junk yard. And once you have the new doors on there, it's best to peel the door panel off once or twice a year and clean/flush the insides out. It's the drains at the bottom that plug up.

 

I just had a body shop down the street, repare the rust on the bottom edge of the passenger door. The drivers is fine. The drain holes are not low enough and the rake of the truck keeps the moisture at the front edge. Had him replace the outer door to window rubber also. They were bulging from rust between the layers of rubber on the back edge.

The window rubber was $70 per side from dealer and he repainted to the lower body line. $420 total..

 

I have the same problem with the rust on the bottom of the doors. My brother had just told me about a month ago that if you had less then 100,000 on the truck that they would replace the doors. Not sure if it's true or not. It didn't matter to me, I am well over the 100,000 mark.

 

My drivers side door started to rust out down in the corner a couple of years ago. I got mopar to pay to have the door replace. Pain in the ***. I wished I just had the body shop fix the smidgen of rust. I too have a small amount of rust on the tailgate. Even under warranty, mopar refused to repair it. I got some rust converter and after roughing up the area at the seam, applied it let it dry and then touched it up with some forest green extra paint I had from the door work. It's been 4 years and it hasn't come back. It's not worth the mess of replacing the door unless you want a paint line on the roof of the cab, the ruber thing that goes up around the roof never sat right again, the black tape between the doors had bubbles and they effed up the plastic door panel when they put the door back because it wasn't aligned correctly. I'd use that rust converter stuff you can by at Wally Mart for 3 or 4 bucks and do it yourself. But that's just moi.

 

no i dont think your gonna get the dealership to do anything about the rust i have a 98 and am starting to get some rust alond the drivers door at the bottem one of my summer projests is going to be buffing off all the rust then im gonna get some rust inhibiting primer spray it on there them have my rockers sprayed with that spray in box liner stuff if the rust comes back by the time it gets through it wont be my problem

 

not your problem.....are you saying u might sell your ram???? haha j/k but if you do i want your grille guard!!!! dibs!!! haha anyways how much do u think that spray stuff is???

 

Thanks for all the info, what is the tv cable? and will a friend/trans repair guy know about the solenoids? John