So I was heading to the hills with my boat and I realized that I needed to put my truck into 2nd when climbing a particular hill. I have never had too before. Usually I just turn off the OD and everything seems fine, but for some reason the power wasn't there. I figure it needs a tune up (hasn't had one in about 50K miles)

The typical tune up includes changing the spark plugs but what else can I perform to help get some of the horses back?[&:]

I already get the oil changed every 3K-4K miles. I just changed the tranny fluid and flushed the radiator about 3K miles ago.

 

There are many things you can do. I do a full tune up every time the seasons change. it's over kill but my truck runs better now than ever and I have 259,xxx miles.

I usual due

1. spark plugs wires cap and distrubitor
2. oil change
3.pcv valve
4. clean the throttle body
5. clean or replace the air filter
6. run a can of seafoam through the intake manifold using the break booster vacuum hose
7. use an engine flush in the oil to clean any deposits out (you can also use seafoam for that to)
8. tranny flush filter and band adjustment
9. breaks and rotors
10. check and grease ball joints
11. check brakes
12. check and clean o2 sensors when I had them
13. clean iac sensor

I have found the easiest way to do the plug wires is to just yank them all off and start with the #1 plug which is marked on the distributor and then work your away around the distributor in a clock wise or counter clock wise whichever you prefer.

I can usualy do all of that minus the tranny in about 3 hours. I usualy take the truck in to have the transmission serviced

 

use mopar cap & rotor... from my experience on my ram & jeep, they last the longest. you might also consider autolite 3923 plugs, they are good for up to +5 hp over other plugs. standard plugs, not the platnums. Wires I'd recommend the MSD superconductors, they are a little more expensive than the std auto parts store ones but they are worth it.

Get a K&N drop in filter, swap oil over to Mobil 1 synth or Amsoil, also run mid grade or premium

 

From recent experience, I'm going to give you some words of warning: before you change the spark plugs, squirt some penetrating oil down the hole once or twice a day for a few days to loosen them up. I recently had a plug break off in the head and I'm up to about $1600 in repairs at the stealership. Also, make sure you hit the screws on the distributor cap, too--mine also broke when I removed the distributor cap and that was another few hundred bucks for a new distributor. And the weird thing is that they actually felt like they were loosening while they were shearing off.

Penetrating oil (PB Blaster, not WD-40) is your friend. Maybe this was unique to my truck, maybe not. Hope it helps.

 

you shouldnt have to get a new dist. they should be able to use an easy out to get the broken pieces out. clean up the threads with the right size tap and you should be good to go...