Hello,

I'm looking at buying a 1990 ram van 350 with 166000kms on it, a bit of rust and a cracked windshield. I'll be using it for a 4500km trip loaded to the roof with gear. could anyone offer some suggestions on items to check for, that commonly fail on these vans and could be either a safety issue or cause it not to make my trip? I'm going to check it out and take it for a drive tomorrow afternoon, would love to have some knowledge behind me. Also opinions on value of the van given the very brief description of it would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance.

 

That's 103,000 mile to those of us in the states.

Value (in US dollars) base on condition.
Excellent: $1,250
Good:$1,050
Fair: $725

There's nothing special to look out for with these vans, they're fairly durable and trouble free. Like any vehicle, they need maintenance and care. How well it lasts on your trip is based on how well it was taken care of.

 

Thanks for your response, you'r estimate in price is about bang on with the asking price which is reassuring. Are there any semi obvious visual signs or sounds of previous abuse to watch for or listen to while test driving it? Any specific questions i should ask?

 

I'd check the color of the tranny fluid and give it a good sniff. Wipe the tranny dipstick on a clean white napkin. Pink and sweet is ideal, red acceptable if it doesn't smell burnt, and if it is dark red or brown and smells burnt, run away. A new or rebuilt tranny is a minimum 2 grand, and it is rare they last beyond 130k miles.

The springs are 20 years old. They are tired. When you fill it to the roof with gear, it's driving behavior might scare you.

You have to be the judge on how well it has been maintained and how hard it has been driven. I like judging the latter by the wear on the brake pedal. The corner closest to the Gas pedal. If this is heavily worn, the person who drove it most likely could not hold a steady speed and was always accelerating or braking, stressing the whole drivetrain with this idiotic hurry up and stop driving mentality.

 

Just check the obvious like ticking or knocking sounds from the engine. The condition of the tires. Not just tread depth, but cracks in the sidewalls and down in the bottom of the treads.

Squealing or grinding noises from the tranny and rear end. Tranny slippage and smooth shifting. See if you can look through the front rims to see how much of the brake pads are left. The backs are drum brakes, so you cannot see them. The exhaust pipe can tell you how the engine has been running. If it's sooty it's been running rich, if it's oily then it's burning a lot of oil, but if it's fairly brownish in there, then the engine is running good. Bounce each corner and see if it stops bouncing within 3 bounces to let you know the shocks are good.

Pull out the engine dipstick and look for a brownish milky looking substance which is a sign of moisture in the crankcase. Run the engine with the dipstick out and put your thumb over the hole to feel for a build up a pressure as a result of cracked or worn rings. Open the radiator cap to see if it's green (good) or rusty (bad). Run the engine to see if you get a lot of air bubbles in the coolant, which could indicate a blown head gasket. Pull out the tranny dipstick and smell the end of it. If it smells burnt, that means tranny trouble. Test to see how good the heater works, the wipers, the turn signals, the 4-ways, the brake lights, the parking brake.

It's been my experience that when you look like you know what to look for, the owner will fess up to any known problems to avoid embarrassment.

 

Couldn't that also just mean it saw mostly city driving?

 

Awesome tips landyacht and alloro, especially the one about the tranny fluid, i wouldn;t have known to check that or what to check for if i did. very much appreciated. I feel much better not going in "blind" so to speak. So if everything above looks good I'll be looking for some tips on preparing this beast for a long drive.

 

Um yeah! Keep reading.

 

Just to follow up, i didn't end up getting the 1990 1 ton, the valuable advice you guys provided likely saved me a bunch of troubles. I made a checklist with the tips in this thread and used it for all the vans I looked at and it was very much worth it. So as of now i am the proud owner of a 2002 3/4 ton Ram van that runs and drives like new. thanks again for the great tips guys.