I have about U.S. $1,500 to spend, and have been looking at a few dodge ram vans- white cargo ones. I never owned anything but a motorcycle and a beetle before, and neither ever gave me issues, so I really don't know much about mechanics, much less price issues.

Every van I've checked at a lot is assured to run great, but when the engine it turned on, sounds like it's on the verge of death. Most of the vans being sold on craigslist claim transmission issues, or 130,000 to 150,000 miles on it.

So I am primarily worried about the transmission and engine issues- if I was to bring one of these vans in to a certified dodge dealership for work done to have either the whole engine outright replaced, or the transmission replaced, preemptively within a few moths of buying this before it would die on me- what kind of cost would I be looking at? I see a few, more expensive used vans saying they had their engine rebuilt or transmission- but as it is craigslist out of my pricerange.

Most of the vans I am looking at are late 80s to mid 90s. It's a generic, all round question on those two costs. In the cincinnati area.

 

In 2001 I bought an '89 b250 318 TBI with 127k miles.

The Previous owner was a family man, who seemed a good sort.

Claimed he had the Tranny rebuilt a couple months before.

His wife heartfully took my arm at the bank after the transaction was complete and said please take care of it. I forget their cute nickname for it. The teenaged children looked like they would no doubt miss the privacy it gave them through their formative years as well.

5,000 miles and 6 weeks later, I was at the mercy of a national chain transmission rebuild center, who took me for 2800 dollars.

I got another 50 K miles from the engine before poor compression, a cracked head and excessive oil consumption had me pay another $2700 for a full rebuild. Later I realized full meant partial, and learned how to replace a camshaft myself. And the new radiator they put on was predestined to disintegrate after 2 years.

I understand your predicament, but realize the possible/likely repairs you ultimately will face within the next 75k miles will far surpass the asking price.

Also realize that Few Van transmissions will last past 130K miles, if that, and any for sale around that mark are for sale for that reason rather than the fact that they didn't qualify for the cash for clunkers handout or the owners were sentimentally attached to it but it was too inefficient and the kids had gone off to college anyway reason.

Over 8 years later, I still have the same vehicle, and am way more attached to it than the previous owners, but I've also replaced/ fixed dang near everything that could wear out.

With much help from those more knowledgeable than myself, on this and that other d....talk forum.

So,.... See you around, or not.

My advice, Research how tranny fluid should look and smell.
Pink and sweet versus dark red/ brown and burnt, even a little, especially a little.

Also make sure you get a fuel injected one. Post '88 I Believe. The fuel economy makes up for dealing with any potential ECM sensor issues common with older fuel injected engines.
Choose your Van wisely. Hope for the best, then expect the 5 fingered prostate exam.
Best wishes.

And never, ever let any quick lube chain store touch your tranny fluid/ filter. Anybody but your Dodge stDealer will use their Universal fluid, unless your bring 12 quarts of your own ATF +4 fluid and watch them use it for a flush, or 4.5 to 5 quarts for a pan drop.

They would otherwise replace it with their cheap universal dextron/mercon, and most any previously healthy chrysler tranny will start shuddering itself to pieces after that good intentioned preventative maintenance.

ATF +4 only.
Repeat.

Atf +3 works as well but is no longer made/ distributed.

 

How's that saying go...if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.?

Wasn't it you that also had the fiasco over having to rebuild a junkyard rear end?

 

Yep, that was me. Another 1600 dollar adventure.

 

Hopefully you don't play the lottery, cause it's nothing but money down the drain for someone with your luck!

 

LOL funny

 

I'm on my second Dodge conversion van. My first one was a '77 with rear bubble windows! Now I have a 1990 B250. When I decided I wanted another van I first checked on the cost of a paint job since many olders ones have worn out paint. The local body shop told me $5000.00 to repaint a van. So I decided to find one with good paint & interior. You can probably figure a van will need mechanical work. If you don't care about the paint, try to find one that someone has put some work into & they have receipts to back it up. I decided to get the one with the good paint & interior. I've had to rebuild everything else. So you may want to find a mechanic who can do a check on something you look at, just so you'll know what it needs.

 

Once I buy this thing, I will be posting pictures of it to see if anyone can spot a obvious issue with it.

Transmission never last over 130,000 miles. That is great. How do I know if the transmission is on the verge of death? What am I looking or hearing for? And your saying it's a good idea to bring it ASAP to a dodge dealership to get it's fluid changed to ATF+4- any other quick, crucial changes I should do to keep everything from going down?

What is the life expectancy of the perishable parts I should be looking at for planning down the road? Transmission every 130,000 miles, radiator ever 2 years? I know it's not going to be exact, but would like to hear your experiences.

 

I would recommend you take your potential purchase to a mechanic for an inspection before you buy anything. They can check the engine compression, seals, brakes, shocks, ball joints, U joints, steering gear box, etc. All these parts amount to alot of money. Good luck

 

I had a '90 B250. The only thing besides a tuneup and brake pads that I had to do was rebuild the tranny. We did it ourselves, in the yard. And what we had to rebuild was the OD unit; the bellhousing internals were pristine. We ended up buying an OD unit from a pick-n-pull junkyard and swapping them out as it was easier - we don't have a shop press - we did replace the clutches and steels outside of the direct drive unit (that's what we needed the press for) and the bands and seals.

Once we replaced the rear seal again, as the bf damaged the first new one by mistake - the tranny was better than it'd been since we bought it. The PO had the tranny flushed about 5k miles before we bought it and the dummies filled it with Dexron, leading to its early demise at about 130,000 miles.

I only sold it because it got crappy fuel mileage and we mostly tow the race trailer with the RV (440/727) now. The interior was perfect.