i have a 2001 ram sport off road with the 5.9 right now. Im not happy with it at all and it seems to be taking a dump on my at the moment. Went to look at a cummins today and she must of got a little upset because before i could get out of town both front rotors had locked up on me. The cummins i was looking at is a 2001 4-door, short bed, 4x4 with 92k miles on it and some wear and tear. I was wondering what would be a good price for this vehicle, i have not yet owned a diesel and have been looking for years and just now put my mind to it.

 

around 18K depending on overall condition, this is what Kelly Blue Book is saying

the big things you will need to watch out for is the lift pump taking a dump and killing the VP44 Injector pump, and the '53' block.

 

i was on the TDR looking around earlier and saw some things about the lift pump VP44 and 53 block but couldnt find much detail because im not a member there. If you could give me some more details on these i would very much appreciate it(like what to look for and signs of stuff going wrong). also i was looking into mods and sounds like 4' exhaust, intake and chip or programmer are about the most widley used. what are some good brands for intake(K&N??) and a reliable programmer?

 

the 53 block was a block that was cast in Brazill. the issue with this block is the exhaust sidewater jacket is only 5.5mm thick instead of the required 11mm. for some this is an issue, for others they have no problems at all. what normaly happens is a crack develops longitudinaly behind the exhaust manifold. there have been many speculations as to why this crack occus, most say it is from the torqu of the engine, but for what ever reason it happens the crack can develop on bone stock trucks, yet there are some heavily modified 53's out there with no problems, it is just hit or miss. to tell ifthe truck hasa 53 block crawl under the truck with a flashlight and look at the front of the block just above the oil pan. if you see 53 in 2" numbers then it has one, however if you see a string of numbers and letters that are hard to make out then you have a block that was cast in Mexico and these have been among the heaviest blocks due to thesteel content used was much higher than what Cummins specified.

the Lift pump and VP44 go hand in hand. . .the stock Carter electric Lift Pump that is used on 98.5's-05.4's is a known issue with DC. they tend to die without much warning. when these pumps die on the 3rd gens it is not as much of a problem, however on the VP44 24 valve engines it is since many internal parts require constant lubrication and cooling diesel provides, when the lift pump dies the inlet flow to the injector pump pretty much stops. the first sign is what can best be described as a dead pedal or back fireing. you will get some CEL codes. if you catch the lift pump issue early enough you can save the VP44 from terminal damage, however if it is ran for extended periods without proper flow the internal distributer will in essence weld itself closed due to the heat generated. one way around this is to remove the stock lift pump and replace it with a higher volume and capacity pump like the FASS pumpor a walbro kit. both of these pumps flow more fuel at higher pressures.

personaly, I would stay away from K&N filters or any type of pre-oiled filter on these trucks. . .they draw in MASSIVE amounts of air and this will dry the filter out much quicker. also if you dont have the filter oiled properly it will allow dirt in and this will damage the turbo and score the cylinders. my personal favorates are the nanofiber filters, or any paper mesh filter. I am running a Napa 2790 BHAF, and believe me, this thing is huge and bairly fits in the space provided. I cannot remember the other names of filters, but the dry filters are going to be your best bet.

exhaust, well, any exhaust will do in all reality. the stock exhaust is a 3.5inch from the turbo to the muffler inlet, after the muffler it turns into a 4 inch exhaust. however your best improvement in terms of EGT's will be going to a 4 inch exhaust right after the turbo to move those exhaust gasses away from the engine.

programmers. . .that is a touchy subject. . .edge has a good programmer for the 2nd gens, TST as well. but your biggest baddest ponies will come from the smarty 2nd gen programmer.

 

I bought my '01 back in 2004, It was the quad cab, short bed, auto, SLT 4x4, 94,000mi. I paid 14,500 for it because it had been in an accident. I sold it in October for $14,000 after I had put 40,000 more hard miles! No probs, just a couple of minor repairs do to age. The only reason the prices were so low was because it was side-swiped, BAD. I dont know if the guy lived, but I'm glad they fixed that truck (that sounds horrible). If it had not been wrecked, the prices would be a couple grand higher, but just as close. I miss it