Hello!
I'm thinking about buying a dodge ram van, and I need to know, is this a really reliable van, or am I in for a lot of surprising problems? Here's the craigslist post for the van : http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hn...087795778.html

the guy said he might drop the price down to 700$ for me.

it has 113,000 miles on it and I'd like to know if anyone here has started to have problems with their Van and what miles do they start occurring around? I understand that vehicles will run differently depending on the maintenance they've been given but I just want to know what I should be watching out for. I see that a lot of people in this forum have starting problems.

I'm going to be converting this Van into a camper-van if I buy it, so it needs to be reliable or at least fixable, with no mystery problems. also, when I go to test drive it, what should I look for (under the hood). anything I should watch out for? I'm bringing my brother along to check out the van and he went to school to be a mechanic for awhile, so is there anything I should tell him? Thanks for your help.

 

Well, with nearly every vehicle there will be issues. The question is how big are the issues for a Ram Van.

A few things to point out. The van is a 1994. That's the first year for the new generation body style of the van and the beginning Magnum engine series for the vans. The Trucks had the Magnums a little sooner.

Read up on the TSB section here for the 1994 year. http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1994-index.htm REMEMBER to read the TSB and verify if it applys to the Ram Van as well. Most are for the trucks/SUVs.

One thing to note, the side slider door is a great feature when it's working properly. Keep that door well lubricated. Also check the door seals often. That's one of the big issues.

If you run with load E rated tires (Mine BFGoodrich Commercial TA's) the mileage will be better than load D or DL/XL rated tires. Also keep the front wheel bearing packed with lithium high temp grease for reduced friction and good mileage.

Oh, the mileage of the van puts it close to replacing the CAT and the O2 sensors. Usually these tend to go after 90K miles.

The engines run great for the most part. If you do get the van, read the other postings here to understand what it takes to keep things going smoothly.

 

Vans are frequently put up for sale when the owner first experiences tranny issues.

I think the average life is about 130 k miles. I got 132 k.

I'd sniff and inspect the tranny fluid closely. If it appears dark and burnt it has been neglected. If it looks brand new, the owner might have tried to fix an issue with a flush or a pan drop.

If ATF +4 was not used the transmission is a ticking bomb.

 

Thanks for the help from the two of you! This is definitely enough information to decide that this one may not be for me. I really appreciate the help! From the sounds of it this may have been a pretty regrettable purchase so yeah once again thanks for the info.