Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Found a 2002 white auto, 24v for sale, took for test drive, poor power

[SRay]

Hello, my friends found a nice 2002 24v for sale, 4wd, short box, auto, Laramie.



They took for test drive, found it has poor acceleration, sounded tired. Only 360,000 k. What are several reasons for this?



The truck also has engine oil all over the front, seal? Or blow by tube by the fan?



No engine codes unless its been deleted.



It's at a dealer.



Also, my two friends are ladies and been around Dodge Cummins for years. They know a thing or two about the trucks. Apparently the owner gave them a hard time that they don't know anything about those trucks cause they're women.



I wished I was there with them to give the guy a boot.

 

[DAN V]

My truck is slow also when I first start it up after sitting for awhile. Nothing that a tuner or a set of injectors can fix. Maybe a Smarty. As for the engine oil all over the front, I pulled my blow bottle and just ran a hose down the front of engine to just below the front axle. No more crap on front of engine.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

If there's that much oil at front of the engine (blowby bottle!), you can bet the radiator is pretty well coated with oil and the dirt/dust it collects as well - can cause high coolant temps...

And if that's 360K miles, that's enough to start seeing performance fall off as well, from a WIDE variety of related causes...

 

[Cosmo]

I'd be hooking a fuel pressure gauge up to it before making any sort of offer. If it's low on fuel pressure, it's a sure bet you're looking at a couple thousand dollars for a lift pump and new injection pump, which might be the reason it was sold by the last owner.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

If poorly maintained, it could be getting tired already. I bought a '96 with 351,000 on it and it was definitely past its prime, now at 476,000 it's definitely getting tired and goes through oil pretty fast.

As for low power it could be as simple as a MAP sensor. Dirty or bad MAP sensors can greatly reduce power and they often don't set codes.

 

[Sticks]

I would tend to agree with the suggestion of checking the fuel pressure, or have an independent shop do an evaluation on it pre-sale. Doing a compression test is not all that expensive.

These engines are known for 500k+ and keep going strong. I have a co worker that just rolled 700k on his '99, still running strong MPG keeps going up, and he is only on his second VP, and second Auto transmission.

 

[SRay]

Thank you everyone, they have decided not to buy it. It looked like brand new in the interior, body. It was just tired. It only had 360,000 kilometers. Quite possibly one of the sensors.

We'll see what else we find.

 

[HBarlow]

If poorly maintained, it could be getting tired already. I bought a '96 with 351,000 on it and it was definitely past its prime, now at 476,000 it's definitely getting tired and goes through oil pretty fast.

As for low power it could be as simple as a MAP sensor. Dirty or bad MAP sensors can greatly reduce power and they often don't set codes.

My old '01 HO/six speed suffered a failed map sensor. Power was down but it ran okay and pulled a trailer back from near LV, NV. I took it to the local dealer where I was told nothing was wrong with the truck. My egt and boost gauges told me I was right and they were clueless. I spoke with Bill Stockard and Joe Donnelly by phone and each, separately, suggested map sensor. I returned to the dealer and argued rather heatedly with the service manager and told them the suggestions I had been offered. Once the tech was pointed in the right direction he quickly proved the map sensor was bad, replaced it, and all was well. Without gauges its hard to detect.

 

[SRay]

HBarlow: good thing to have gauges. I had gauges installed 2 months ago. Very handy.

Can't believe how much trouble a map sensor can be. Doesn't throw codes and people would be throwing parts on only to find its a simple sensor.

Is that what the dealer was hoping to do? Put on a new pump, lift pump for more money? Or not enough knowledge to be diesel techs?

 

[SRay]

HBarlow: good thing to have gauges. I had gauges installed 2 months ago. Very handy.



Can't believe how much trouble a map sensor can be. Doesn't throw codes and people would be throwing parts on only to find its a simple sensor.



Is that what the dealer was hoping to do? Put on a new pump, lift pump for more money? Or not enough knowledge to be diesel techs?

 

[HBarlow]

In my case which occurred probably in 2003, it was just lack of knowledge by the dealer service department. The people involved didn't own any Cummins-powered Ram let alone an HO/six speed which was dramatically more powerful and could accelerate much faster (w/RV 275 injectors) than they were familiar with. They didn't understand boost and egt and simply thought the truck ran fine as it was. They weren't trying to sell me anything, just didn't think anything was wrong with it and didn't know what to do. That incident was the basis for a happy story.

The young tech who repaired it with my (from Stockard & Donnelly) suggestion was proud when he repaired it. I immediately saw intelligence, ability, and a great attitude in him and when we went out for a test drive I recruited him to do all my personal service and repairs on weekends. We've been good friends ever since. He has done 100% of my work since that day. He and his family will be out here at my farmhouse next Saturday to perform a five year 120k service on my '08. He owns my original '01 HO/six speed that he repaired that day. I arranged several years ago for him to buy it from my son-in-law at an attractive price when they were ready to pass it on.

He has done similar work for several of my friends over the years as well.

 

[bry1216]

In my case which occurred probably in 2003, it was just lack of knowledge by the dealer service department. The people involved didn't own any Cummins-powered Ram let alone an HO/six speed which was dramatically more powerful and could accelerate much faster (w/RV 275 injectors) than they were familiar with. They didn't understand boost and egt and simply thought the truck ran fine as it was. They weren't trying to sell me anything, just didn't think anything was wrong with it and didn't know what to do. That incident was the basis for a happy story.



The young tech who repaired it with my (from Stockard & Donnelly) suggestion was proud when he repaired it. I immediately saw intelligence, ability, and a great attitude in him and when we went out for a test drive I recruited him to do all my personal service and repairs on weekends. We've been good friends ever since. He has done 100% of my work since that day. He and his family will be out here at my farmhouse next Saturday to perform a five year 120k service on my '08. He owns my original '01 HO/six speed that he repaired that day. I arranged several years ago for him to buy it from my son-in-law at an attractive price when they were ready to pass it on.



He has done similar work for several of my friends over the years as well.

Harvey,

I would like to know the test procedure used to test the MAP sensor. Is it a certain ohms range?

Thank you,

Bryan

 

[HBarlow]

I can't tell you how to perform the test, I had to wait in the lounge, but I remember the tech telling me at the time that he used a fancy multimeter to read millivolts. I think I remember him mentioning 5 mv but could be wrong. In my case, the map sensor was providing a lower voltage than required and was determined to be bad. He replaced it and all was well.

Bob or sag2 can tell you if they see your question or if you pm them.

 

[Cosmo]

I just tested one about three weeks ago, but I don't remember the procedure. It was easy though.

 

[JR]

Harvey,

I would like to know the test procedure used to test the MAP sensor. Is it a certain ohms range?

Thank you,

Bryan

Here ya go

http://m. bluechipdiesel.com/site/vp44diagnostichelp.html

If you dont care to read the whole article scroll down about 3/4 of the way or so. He describes how to test for voltage, the sensor for resistance, and how to do a "live" test with the vehicle running down the road.