Some Rams end up in broken homes....

[dmurdock]

Lift pump was dying, so off to the dealer I went (here's that thread) https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=285075#post285075



Anyway, while I was there, the tech (a true diesel afficianado and "performance friendly" to boot) invited me back in the shop to show me some examples of poor maintenance. I saw more, but here's what I remember:



One poor 3500 4x2 (think it was a 98. 5 or 99) was in because it was using oil. Well, he showed me the underside of the truck and it looked like it had been ziebart coated or something, this thing must have been leaking oil forever. Sticker from quick-lube showed oil had been changed 5 days earlier, and when it was brought in it was already 4 quarts low. Truck was brought in because it was burning oil (and leaking it) and had an injector miss... probable head gasket failure. They couldn't even drain the radiator because of the amount of bars-leak in it. Airbox looked like it had never had a filter in it, the inside of the fresh air hose (you know, big hose which runs from air box to turbo) looked like it had been soaked in gunk... . I mean the inside, it wasn't dusty, it was downright dirty. I saw the air filter, it was so dirty it had been sucked up against the center post in the airbox so hard the mesh screen ripped (and went thru the turbo and the engine). The turbo vanes looked like somebody had went at them with a chisel. I mean it looked like somebody had tried to run this thing on gravel instead of air, it was horrible. I looked at this truck for a long time and I honestly feel that the hood had never been opened until 6 days ago when it went to quick lube (and whenever oil or bars-leak was added).



I kick myself for not having my digital camera with me, the pics would have been priceless. It's probably for the best though, some of you would have had nightmares... .

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You can't fix stupidity.

 

[illflem]

dmurdock, if it had green dingle balls hanging from the mirror and a purple fur dash cover that was my truck. Took me four years to figure out that you have to pull a stupid handle under the dash to get the hood open. What gives with that lame handle? All my other hoods opened from the front.



I also have a question, isn't it normal for the radiator water to be black with milkly looking stuff floating in it? All my other cars looked that way but this POS Dodge has weird looking green stuff in it.

 

[Andy Perreault]

Whoever the moron is who owned that truck is probably bad-mouthing Dodge and Cummins for building such a lousy truck and motor. He probably does nothing but complain about them, his truck, and the dealership that he took it to.

Andy

 

[The patriot]

If my mother in law owned one of these, that would be her truck. In fact, her whole family is like that. I cant check the oil(on any of their vehicles) without changing into coveralls!!

The worst mistake I ever made was letting her family know that I went to school for auto mechanics.

What Joe said

Eric

 

[JR2]

That ought to be a hangin offense.....



A good friend of my parrents is a psychologist and he likes to say that the average IQ is 80 and that makes half of the people in the world stupid. That truck was obviously owned my a member of the lower half. .

 

[Steve M]

I hate to see or hear of that. It makes me sad. I know it's just a truck but for me it's almost like an abused pet. As an American, I have that redneck affection for trucks and Harleys. The owner should be guilt ridden and ashamed.

 

[merryman]

My Father-in-law (long since passed away), was a really good guy. I considered him a good friend, but he absolutely did not do "maintanence". He would occasionally check the oil and add if real low, and would add water if the radiator was "real"low. Other than that, he put gas in his cars and drove them.

The amazing thing to me was that I never knew of him to have a break down. He would drive a car several years and trade it off. It was not that he had disregard for subsequent owners, he just was so non -mechanical, that stuff just did not seem to register.

What was out of sight on the car was just a mystery to him and he did not have an interest in it.



Vaughn