What can I expect from a 5.9L gasser?
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Joined: Nov 2012
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What can I expect from a 5.9L gasser?
Hey guys, recently I acquired a 2002 Ram 1500 5.9 from my uncle who no longer used the truck. Got everything checked out, inspected, new tires, all that fun stuff. Now my only concern is how long can I expect this truck to last me. It currently has 130,000 miles. The engine seems to run strong, however I am considering new plugs and coil pack since I'm pretty sure the current are OEM. The truck does have a newer transmission with less than 25k miles. From what I understand these engines are pretty durable. After browsing some posts I have noticed plenty of gentlemen out there with 150k+ on these trucks. Upon picking up the truck though I felt that the transmission wasn't engaging properly on some occasions. Not sure if its just me, but it does have me somewhat concerned as to the lifespan that I can expect from this beast. It won't be a daily driver, but for what I have in it now, I'd like to see it last me for the next 2-3 years. Does anyone have any insight or experiences that they could share with me concerning this vehicle? This is my first Dodge so I would really like to know about anything that I should be looking out for before I get to a point where I am putting too much money into the thing. Any and all comments/suggestions are much appreciated!!
Champion
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,710
Likes: 2
From: Skagit County, WA
Service the trans and have the bands adjusted. Keep on top of maintaining it and it should last quite a few years.
Pull the intake plastic air hat off the top of the throttle body, open the throttle blade, and shine a light down in the intake plenum. If there is a light coat of oil, that's fine. If there's a puddle of oil at all, look into the intake plenum gasket replacement.
Other than that, it's the typical used truck stuff - unit bearings, ball joints, tie rods ends, bushings, etc.
Pull the intake plastic air hat off the top of the throttle body, open the throttle blade, and shine a light down in the intake plenum. If there is a light coat of oil, that's fine. If there's a puddle of oil at all, look into the intake plenum gasket replacement.
Other than that, it's the typical used truck stuff - unit bearings, ball joints, tie rods ends, bushings, etc.
Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,165
Likes: 2
From: Alberta
The 360 is tried and true, in the good old days of trucks, the 360 was dodges anser to the chev 350, ford 351-400, and than powerd the Cordoba!!! your not going to great mileage out of this engine, but than again ford and chev engines of the same cubic displacement were also hard on flue, with up keep and maintenance and some after market up grades you will have a great ride..
