Free to a good home

From : arkanerd

Q: -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving on thu 30 dec 2004 142807 gmt tbone t-bonenospam@nc.rr.com wrote hello i own a 1996 ram 2500 v8. this is my first truck and i think its awesome! i want to make sure its running great so i dont mind putting some money into it to make it run better! i just drove the truck 200 miles ski trip i averaged between 70 miles an hour with some stop and go driving in one small town and some mountain driving small mountain. from what ive read i thought my truck would get 14-16 on the highway. the problem is that i only averaged 10 mpg. i know im not driving a compact car but i thought my highway mileage might be a little higher. does 10 mpg seem a little low i think there might be a problem already checked the tire pressure it was good im going to 1 check/change the fan clutch 2 change the spark plugs and wires 3 check the u-joints i do hear something 4 check the calipers anything else to check the truck does have wide mud type lets just say they arent street tires on it could that also effect highway mileage also is there an electric fan modification for this engine i would say that your tires are a big part of it especially at 70 mph. mine 97 1500 can get around 16 highway with the 5 speed highway but that is the best that it can do and it is usually a little less. since your truck is a 2500 it probably has the 360 and it does weigh more than mine so i would expect it to get a little less right off of the top and with those tires... it would not be a bad idea to check the things you mentioned above just for the sake of maintenance alone. you can put electric fans on just about anything but if you are doing it to increase mileage i dont think that you will see any measurable improvement and certainly not enough for them to pay for themselves. thanks you are right about the electric fans. ill price a new fan clutch and the electric fan setup and if they are close ill go with the electric fans. just remember you get what you pay for. cheap electric fans are really just cheap fans and will ahve a short service life. im basing much of my knowledge of this engine on my brothers isuzu troopers motor which was a v6 gm motor. my brother had a bad clutch fan and a caliper stick and both killed his mpg. just remember that you are comparing apples to oranges here. your brothers isuzu is a much lighter vehicle with a less powefull engine and is more effected by things like a jammed fan clutch than your heavy ram will be. i hear a noise from the left side u-joint and a whine from the fan area so im guessing those might be bad. i would take a look at the front end for what is causing the noise first. a pending failure here is a bad thing. the noise from the fan area is probably coming from the idler pulley or the tensioner. i used wd40 to figure out which one when mine started making noise. unless the clutch is jammed it will not reduce your mileage. ill do the easy stuff and see if that help plugs tires o2 sensor. what tires do you have on it i might be running rich because there is a bit of a gas smell from the exhaust...how can i check that if you are running that rich youre plugs should show it. does your ce light work. if the o2 sensor is bad it should set a code. so many things to fix and so little time! thanks for your reply. youre welcome and good luck. please post replies here. .

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From : dick puter413atyahoo com

tbone wrote i agree with this. a few years ago i had a 1990 f150 with the 302 v8. couldnt get rid of it fast enough i went to sears for an oil change. i needed to xmas shop and figured id get the oil done at the same time. the sears tech told me he needed to check the entire electrical system of the truck at a cost of over $300 just for diagnosis. he said the alternator was putting out too much. also told me the volt gauge in the truck was faulty because it showed a normal reading. i asked him what he was doing messing with anything other than an oil change with my truck. i left and never went back to sears. i drove the truck another 2 years without a problem before trading it in. i wouldnt trust sears automotive to even look at my grandmothers wheelchair. bob i hope that you were not dumb enough to pay him for non-requested and unauthorized work. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving no way. i paid for the oil change and left. but he knew i was pissed. bob .