3500 Dodge diesel under water. Any Hope for revival?

[WilliamBos]

If looking used, is there anything to look for that injectors are about to go, or were ignored, and replaced possibly too late?

 

[joe t]

I'd probably spring for a brand new one if I was in Kens position, they are so much nicer and not much more money if you get a basic one. A SRW 6 speed base model would be worlds nicer than his 97. It is almost nicer than my old 07 Laramie.


Sometimes I wish I still had my 07 Cummins. Was so clean you could eat off the motor and was always garage kept. The suspension was built too. The 07 5.9 was the beefiest off all the 5.9s because it had enhancements like metal intercooler and a slightly stronger transmission build and some other nicer stuff compared to the older ones.

Think I had 130k on it pushing a lot of power through the stock 4 speed auto and it lasted. I had a valve body done to it. Oh also probably 75% city driving too like downtown type of stuff.


It is hard to justify keeping the truck when I was able to sell it and buy a used Tundra that was newer and had less than 1/4 the miles on it and more features/comfort and pocket an extra $4000.

 

[WilliamBos]

When truck shopping time comes, gonna look at new. All the SCR hick-ups should be ironed out by then!!

 

[joe t]

If looking used, is there anything to look for that injectors are about to go, or were ignored, and replaced possibly too late?

They seem to go 200K unless heavily abused. Surging, missing, rough idle, hard starts.


Rebuilt ones are $1000 from F1 and I've had a quote to install them for $350. This was on an 03 work truck my old superintendent had.


Waterpump lasts around 60-75K miles and takes like 15 minutes to change out.


Lift pump sometimes gets weak, not to familiar with it, but not too expensive.


Think the valves need to be adjusted every 150K.



I'd highly suggest a 2wd or keeping the stock tires/wheels if you get a 4x4 because they like to eat front end parts.


Stock clutch and transmission are good to 800ft/lbs without abuse if you want to hot rod it.

 

[joe t]

When truck shopping time comes, gonna look at new. All the SCR hick-ups should be ironed out by then!!

They already have been. Cummins is going to Urea which is going to help the mpg out.


I like the Ford personally now days.

 

[WilliamBos]

They already have been. Cummins is going to Urea which is going to help the mpg out.

I like the Ford personally now days.

I love Duramaxes, but love the Solid axle set up on the Ram, and the simplicity of the Cummins.

Hoping GM has improved the front unit bearings on all the trucks by then. My 04 1500 has had a few replaced.

Will price out both when looking.

 

[dodge man]

The truck should only smoke a very little bit at start up, just a puff. The truck should also start within a few seconds of cranking when cold or hot. Long crank times can be a sign of injectors going bad. Oil analysis can find fuel and or water in the oil. The common trick to check for engine blow by is to take the oil fill cap off and turn it upside down over the hole. With the engine running the cap should dance around a little bit from the engine vibration but not blow off. There are you tube videos of them flying off from all the engine blow by and pressure.

Also the truck should only put out a slight haze and heavy throttle settings. During the day you can see anything from my truck, but at night you can see a slight haze in the tail lights of the cars behind me.

 

[mikehaugen]

look at it this way Ken maybe the man thinks you have a few more years then you thought and you need to get 1 more newer truck that will take you that far

Or it means the end is near:O

Hopefully beltman is right!

 

[joe t]

I love Duramaxes, but love the Solid axle set up on the Ram, and the simplicity of the Cummins.

Hoping GM has improved the front unit bearings on all the trucks by then. My 04 1500 has had a few replaced.

Will price out both when looking.

The front axle in my 07 Dodge was pretty inadequate but I had lift and wheels/tires. They supposedly upgraded them some.

 

[WilliamBos]

The front axle in my 07 Dodge was pretty inadequate but I had lift and wheels/tires. They supposedly upgraded them some.

Ball joints and unit bearings?

What about the axle shaft joints? (Forgot the name??)