'93 Truck Questions

[Lordsman]

Hey guys,
I'm looking at a '93 Dodge CTD 4x4 to possibly buy. The truck is an ex. cab dually with about 115,000 miles on it. When I test drove it here's what I noticed. Some back & forth play( about 2-3 inches)in steering wheel, the driver side door drops down a bit when opened, busted right rear tail light cover, the ABS light and emergency brake light stay on all the time. It's a 5 speed, runs good, the grid heater works, all dash buttons, and a/c work.
Where is the jack supposed to be?
Seems like good truck though,can you give me any insight on the above problems?
Brake light is probably just a switch.
Can the door can be adjusted?
ABS light? I have no clue. But the brakes work good.
Let me know what you think as I like this truck, but need to feel comfortable about repairs before buying it. Thanks.

 

[J DeMaio]

Sounds good. I just bought a 92' about 5 months ago and it runs very good even though it has 173,500 miles, they'll run forever if you take care of them. These trucks seem to sell very high, miles don't matter, these 1st generation trucks, depending on options and appearance sell anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 which is above book. They'll do anything you want them to. Hoped this helped!

 

[Racer Brown]

I've found these trucks have a weakpoint. The Getrag 360 5speed transmission is junk! They are prone to bearing failures and other problems. I'd be careful on this as I just bought one back in December and had to work on the transmission within 1k miles after I bought it. So far, this is the only major problem I've seen with mine. I've has some minor things like the A/C, brakes on the front, etc, just normal stuff but the transmission could blow up into something big if it develops problems. Some of the guys in here have changed them over to the NV4500 but that is going to cost about 3grand before you're through. I went through the Getrash a couple of months back and now it's got about 2k miles on it and seems to be OK. I can't say how long that will last though. Have a reputable mechanic look it over before you buy. It may be worth the money in the long run. Racer

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Ken-1993 W350, Cummins TD, 5 Speed, 4X4, Club Cab, LE, K&N, Straight Pipe, 4:10s.
http://users. lynchburg.net/ken0069

 

[Scott Elliott]

I bought my 93 D250 in Jan. I can't comment on the trans as I have an auto, but I have recently had to do brake work: front rotors, pads, upper and lower ball joints, repack the bearings, replace axle seals, rear brake shoes, etc. My driver's side door also sags a little. Due to a T/A I now need a new front bumper. In the message center, only my "wait to start" and "water in fuel" light works... the others have never come on... probably burnt out bulbs. The rear brake/turn signal assembly is very simple to change out. On my truck, the jack is located under the radiator overflow bottle, behind the front right headlight. Over all, I love my truck. See my sig for details. I hope this helps.

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1993 silver and black D250 club cab,le, long bed, 2wd, automatic,3. 54 anti-spin, 95000 miles, stock truck except for the K&N air filter, and US Gear Gauges (tach, pyro, trans temp, turbo boost)

[This message has been edited by Scott Elliott (edited 05-22-2001). ]

 

[drives mopars]

i have the same truck bot at 100k
for 15700 $ put 6 k into it

door can be bad at hinges i had mine welded
cost 100. 00 chk door pins, water under carpet, yes the trans will go bad
i put a nv 4500 in mine
brakes, rear will leak at axle seals
fit, a shim works well, also emergency
brake cable at drum will need to be wired
down to stay on, front may shimmy
some if loose , keep rear brakes always
adjusted up. fronts will go 100k that way
3. 54 axle ? and any overloads? read option list under hood next to hatch,
brake light means rear problem with anti lock , mine stays on all the time,

hp these can produce about 125hp more than the 160 hp , pump up, injectors, 14 or 16
turbo and 3'' exaust. steering check
shaft at box , i replaced my shaft with
a borgonson ? bill

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1993 w350 ex cab, banks,nv 4500 in
open exaust, pw Injectors are in. Big rig flaps,tach in,. Its loud and goes ok, for a 93,Ham radio Call KK6dm
has ability to communicate any where in the world. Headliner shelf
5 antenna's 18. 6 @ 74mph
in qtr , 210 rw hp 285 hp
at flywheel.

 

[Lil' Dog]

Just bought one last week, not 4X4 and a 3/4 ton. The steering is a good point to haggle on but can be fixed with an $8 (Cdn) bag of parts and drives like new... got the part No for Mopar. Grab the shaft coming out of the steering box just above the coupling. If it moves thats the small ticket, if its solid, may require some adjustment to the box itself. . Had the coupling problem with this one when I got it home, 2 hours and new steering!!!

Don't let them scare you about the Getrag. Heck my old one was original transmission at 400,000Km and the mods pushing 230 Hp. Like all things they need more TLC. For me, rather have the 5 spd. Auto wasn't without fault either!!!

Try to reset the computer on the truck by disconnecting the battery first to see if the RWAL/Brake system will trip again. Small problem can be fixed with some cleaning of connections to the diff etc.

Jack is under the front headlight, front of fender against grill on air filter side.

Good luck, sounds like a good truck.

J-eh

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Jason Hoffman
93 D250LE CC 5 spd 3. 54 LSD. K&N. Banks Pyro/Boost gauges. E&M Custom seats. Bosch H4, PIAA 80W/80W HdLites. Cummins Power Booster member.
185,000 Km (115,625 Mi)

FOR SALE - 89 D250LE 5 Spd 3. 54 LSD Reg Cab. "tweaked pump", BD Injectors, 3. 5" Exst tail section straight.
237,500 miles (380,000 Kms) 7850 Hrs.
89 Pics/March 2001

 

[Lordsman]

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like someone bought that truck if their financing goes through. If not I'll grab it!

 

[Dieselman359]

Hey Lordsman, sounds like a pretty good truck to me. About the steering, a Borgeson steering shaft would probably take care of that. Concering the jack, I wondered that same thing when I bought mine. Found out in the owners book that 1-tons don't come with a jack. The factory ones are too weak, or so the story goes. The door probably just has worn out hinges, like mine used to. Never had any problems with the brake lights. I'm with Lil' Dog when it comes to the Getrag. Mine works great, I put Amsoil in it and I think that it works like a charm.

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'93 D350 2wd Club Cab 5-speed,146,000 miles,K&N,Amsoil throughout,Borgeson Steering Shaft,Isspro gauges(Tach,EGT,Boost,Engine Oil Temp. ),16cm Turbo Housing, "My Dream Exhaust"(5" Chrome Stack)

 

[Wayne M.]

Lordsman, Hope you have a chance to get the truck! and if not,I hope you find one. It sounds like it needs some TLC. A new hinge, a Borgeson steering shaft, and a Vaccuum pump/ brake warning light switch. Mine has the same problem that has been repeated in this post, which is the red and amber brake/ ABS lights flash on and off. I think I have this traced to the low vacuum switch. It is near the left hood hinge. This switch is to tell us of a vacuum supply loss, since on a gas engine if there were a problem with holding vacuum, the engine would not run properly.

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'92 W250,3. 54,auto,reg cab, raven hi top cap, tach,boost,transtemp,pyro. 16cm housing.

1971 Plymouth Duster 340 Autumn bronze, Black buckets/console. 8 pt roll cage, other racing mods. 12 second bracket racer. BOMBing not done yet!!

 

[jsimpson]

4500's are not without their problems either. They are notorious for losing the fifth gear nut!

 

[Jim Curry]

Hey Lordsman;



Most of your questions seem to have been answered . As to the brake light situation, as was stated eairlier, checking and cleaning the connections at differential refers to the ABS sensor that is located on the top of the differential. If cleaning the connections does not work the most likely and least expensive thing to try is to replace the sensor. It is a dealer item. The next place to look at might be the ABS controller. On my 93 4x2 D250 it is a black plastic module located behind the glove box in the upper right hand corner. AS was stated in one of the other posts'you can disconnect the battery for several minutes to reset this controller. You can do the same thing by unpluging the larger wiring harness from the module . This way you do not have to cut power to the entire system. I do not remember which one it is but there is one of the terminals that you can ground out on this module to have the ABS and brake lights in the dash flash out a fault code to help track down an ABS problem. I will try to find the info on this but maybe some one with a service manual can lay there hands on this info and post it before I am able to find my copy. The module can be had after market. I bought one from PEP BOYS. I would check brake adjustments and condition first , then ABS sensor, then check for vaccum leaks . Lets all hope that it is not the ABS vaulve because they are expensive.





Sorry for the long post. I'll shut up now. Hope you can get the truck or find another for even a better price.





Good Luck Jim Curry

 

[Hutchew]

Check it out for the infamous 'cowl cracks'!

Might wanna do a search for 'cowl cracks' in the first gen forum so you will know exactly what you are looking for. It's not an expensive fix, but if the truck has been abused or ranch-roaded a lot, it may have more serious problems in this area. The whole front end (more-or-less) has to come off for the repairs, so if your not mechanically inclined, you may wanna stay away from a truck with this problem. Good luck with your endeavor. First gens rock!

 

[arrowsmith]

if the brake lite and abs lite are on it could be a vacuum leak or bad booster

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

deja vu sounds like my truck, here is what i did to fix some of the few minor probs that you mentioned. As for the steering wheel play i fixed mine with a steering coupler rebuild called a shaft package from dodge cost about $4. 00 bucks, although not as good as a borgeson but for the price who is complaing. the abs and brake light in my case was a bad power booster check and see if you ever get a hard pedal especially in slow traffic. the door hinges are probably bad shimes around the pins. listen to the trans at low and accelerating speeds lugging the engine etc if these trans are bad they usually make a bit of noise. these trans can last as long as they don't pull heavy all the time. overall a great truck i couldn't be more plaased just got back from a 3 k mile trip to texas and back some parts i ran the truck wide open for hours never missed a beat

 

[Lordsman]

Hey there,

I ended up getting a '93 W250, auto w/ 205k on it but in great shape. I have a few posts it as you may see. A/C was out ,I found the wires to compressor motor rubbed out on frame. Put on a new driver door hinge, and this truck is way cool.

I'll need a new transmission someday. It's all setr up for work & drive it every day. Thanks for responding.

 

[jsimpson]

enjoy!

 

[CToney]

ABS Light

In Regards to the ABS Light mine stayed on all the time too. To fix open glove box and then open it too far to gain access behind it to a wiring harness and unplug it your abs light will go off.

Our trucks have a primitive abs system. The brakes will function normally with it disconnected but with no annoying light.



CR Toney

 

[scott4glamis]

try adjusting the trans linkage and bands, check the fluid level in nuetral with the engine running ,3/4 qt low and i had all kind of slippage, also

check to see if your floor is wet , rusted or moldy under the carpet, cowl cracks are usually the cause. keep on ramming , old school rules

real trucks have 1/4 windows!!!!!