My Truck Lives!!

"Ram_Riot_6" (tony-ram-riot)
08/06/2017 at 20:48 • Filed to: None

I moved to Chicago last July and sadly had to leave behind my truck in Texas since finding parking for one car was hard enough. I returned to Texas a little over a week ago, so it was time to dust off the truck and get it road worthy after sitting for a year.

The truck started right up with no issues which was surprising. Unfortunately, that is where my good luck ended. The trucks vacuum leak had greatly increased from when I parked it the year before and now prevented the truck from reeving at all and it died shortly after starting. I popped off the air filter and pulled out the vacuum line diagram and noticed one of the lines to the carb had come off. Slid it back on and fired it right back up and it ran and revved like normal.

I drove it around the parking lot and it seemed to run decent enough to make the 5 mile trek home to diagnose why it was running a bit rough. As soon as pulled out of the storage lot and onto the street I knew the problem was more severe than I had thought. The truck would not accept more then maybe 5% throttle input or it would stall. This caused me to reach a top speed of maybe 25 mph. I managed to baby it home stalling a few times along the way.

I’ll admit that I don’t know much about working on cars as the main purpose of my having this truck is for me to learn and learn is exactly what I did. I began reading service manuals and googling the symptoms I experienced; sluggish acceleration, stalling in gear, runs great in park, etc. I spent hours doing this and came up with about a dozen problems.

I plan to drop a new engine in the truck for more power eventually so I didn’t want to spend much to get it back on the road. After my research I concluded that I could replace the fuel pump, fuel filter, and ignition coil for less than $50 as those components seemed to be the most likely cause and cheapest to repair. I finally got them installed to day and started the truck up and it ran better than itever has in the 4 years I’ve had it!

It’s great to be back in Texas with my pride and joy road worthy again.

I love the hood ornament

tl;dr Truck sat for a year. I diagnosed and repaired the problems for the first time on my own.

DISCUSSION (11)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Ram_Riot_6
08/06/2017 at 22:04

Congrats friend! I’m not a big pickup truck guy other than car-based pickups (mostly European), but I do have a thing for old pickups...mostly because, compared to the pickups of nowadays which cost as much as a luxury car, and almost nobody actually uses as a pickup...they were nice and simple, reliable workhorses that earned their keep. :)

Nice old RAM you have there, Richard Hammond would be proud :P

You remind me of my intent when I finally import my FIAT 126p in the next year or two to Canada...I intend to learn how to do things on my own with that car, and already picked up and red a Haynes manual through a few times, plus have digital copies of several other service manuals and owners manuals in several languages :P

shop-teacher > Ram_Riot_6
08/06/2017 at 22:19

Nice work!

Ram_Riot_6 > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/06/2017 at 22:51

Thanks! Its a lot of work, but the truck takes all the errors on my part and just keeps on going. They Haynes manual is fantastic for learning how to do most jobs.

I think your future Fiat would probably fit in the bed of my truck with room to spare haha. Maybe I’ll get a tiny car one day and try it

shpuker > Ram_Riot_6
08/07/2017 at 00:04

One of my favorite generations of Ram. Looking forward to whatever you’ve got planned!

What’s it have in it now? 5.2 or 5.9?

Ram_Riot_6 > shpuker
08/07/2017 at 06:36

It’s got the 5.2 which is a great workhorse but barely manages to get out of its own way.

shpuker > Ram_Riot_6
08/07/2017 at 07:21

Yea the older ones are a bit sluggish. You could always do a swap to a 90's 5.9 down the road! That’d make for a helluva combo

Ram_Riot_6 > shpuker
08/07/2017 at 09:56

That’s the current front runner right now as you can get quite a bit more power out of them with little spent. They’re also cheap, plentiful, and bolt right up.

shpuker > Ram_Riot_6
08/07/2017 at 10:34

Exactly. Plus the trans options with it are pretty good. I think you can get everything up to like a manual from a 2000's Dakota to bolt right on

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Ram_Riot_6
08/07/2017 at 13:28

Haha, if you’re ever in Nova Scotia a few years from now! :P

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Ram_Riot_6
11/14/2017 at 15:46

Nice truck! I love my hood ornament too

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/truck-day-1-1820380625

Ram_Riot_6 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
11/14/2017 at 16:47

Thanks! It’s definitely my favorite part of these trucks. Second favorite thing is how they can sit for ages and get running with so little effort.