Hello folks. Tomorrow I will own my first Dodge product (unless you count my '91 Plymouth Laser RS) in the 34 years I've been driving. I am helping my Son out and taking his 2001 Ram 1500 5.2 longbox off his hands so he can get a more gas friendly vehicle (Jetta) for his commute to his new job. He had only owned it since November when he was working north of Sudbury Ontario (cold, snowy) but has now moved down to somewhat more normal conditions. The truck has 185,000 km on it and was owned from new by the Fire Department up there until about a year or so ago. The truck was obviously well maintained while in that ownership. The truck is a quad cab long box with a Raider Viewliner cap. The cap is only a year or so old, great shape. He was ready to give it away and had a lot of "interested parties" looking at it but I figured it was worth hanging onto for a little longer and giving it a good cleanup and fixing the "Bugs."
The three main issues are:
1) Temp. gauge only goes past the 1/4 mark and it doesn't put out the heat it should. I have a 195 Thermostat to put in for that and hope that fixes the problem.
2) The ABS / Parking Brake lights go on and stay on when you start to drive the truck. (this scared a lot of people away from buying it). Thanks to this forum though, I quickly learned it is likely the Rear speed sensor. I bought one of those today at the dealership as well.
3) Both rear doors are ceased closed from lack of use. The driver side doesn't disengage at all when lifting the handle so I'm assuming it is the top and bottom rods that aren't doing their job. The passenger side would disengage at the top but not the bottom. I gave them a good dose of PB Blaster yesterday morning and my Son said the bottom is now starting to move a bit. He sprayed it again today and I'll tackle the issues on the weekend.
Hopefully these issues will be easily fixed. He also had brand new Michelin xice winter tires put on in December.
Today I had him Emission Test it at his work (he works at a Chrysler dealer) and it passed even with the other thermostat in!! It passed it's safety check in November. I really can't see it needing anything. he was getting between 580 and 620 km per fillup so I figure about 13 l/100 km or so?? Does that sound average? And.. is it normal to pass emissions testing if the thermostat isn't working right?
I'm giving him $2,500.00 for it so he can get his Jetta. With two Corvettes, a Mazda6 and a Mazda B2300 I don't really have room for this truck (even though my Wife keeps saying I need a "Real" truck. ) So I'll give it a good cleanup and sell it. I could really use a truck that tows though.
Anyway.. Thanks to the guys on this forum so far for sending me in the right direction for what I've already looked into. Ya never know.. I may be here for a week or maybe longer..

Paul