Please help, I want to take my kids camping!

From : mac davis

Q: let me tell you about the dodge hemi. i work for a financial company looking at investing into a company that provides assembly line automation. i ended up hooking up with some people in the auto industry. i actually went to the testing facilities where they were working with the new 5.7 hemi. they were putting it through hell! i mean non stop at 4000 rpm for weeks on end. they would then stop it cool it in this freezer and then bring it out again. this was not a prototype. this was the final version and not tweaked in any way. i think they put what would be close to 250000 miles on the engine. it was amazing! there is a difference in just running an engines at 4k rpm for days at a time and one in an auto with a load being taken on and off and started and stopped very often. i once had an engine problem where the engine was working and sounding beautiful while the car was in park. even reving up up sounded good but as soon as a load was put on it it bogged down and died the only reason i didnt buy a dodge with a hemi was because the dealer was an ass and i still have issues with dodge trannies believe it or not i am a toyota man for now but i am shopping for a dodge 2500 with a hemi. anyway do not worry about this engine. it was built very well. if anything make sure you have yourself covered on the tranny. the hemi is built like a tank. do not regret it. .

Replies:

From : jerry

my a/c isnt working in my 97 ram pu and i noticed that the a/c clutch does not come on and drive the compressor at all. i checked to see if it spins and it does. is their a way to test the clutch their is a 2 prong electrical plug leading too it and is it just a matter of putting 12 volts on it disconnect the connector on top of the accumulator cylinder-looking thing next to the firewall on the passenger side - has a/c hoses coming out of it and stick the ends of a paper clip into the connector the part on the wire not the part left in the accumulator. with the engine running and the climate controls in the a/c position if the clutch engages youre low on refrigerant and need to get the leak found fixed and the system recharged. dont let the clutch stay engaged for too long this way - just long enough to verify the problem. .

From : budd cochran

i lucked out with an excellent low key salesman the small problem i had was with the sales manager that thought he was hot shit. thats usually the case. salesman wants to work with ya and then the hot head financial manger is the one feeding them the lines to tell ya. i have too many friends that used to sell cars i hear the shit the financial manager tells the sales person to do to the customer to trick them. its horrible. my experience at the dealership was the complete opposite. i knew what i wanted 03 quad cab 4x4 manual ac convenience group ant-spin tow package and work group with cloth seats. they found a flame red one about 150 miles away. i knew the invoice from kelly blue book and got it for $50 under that then a $2500 rebate on top of it. they ended up driving the truck part of the way when their trailer broke down so i complained about that. the sales manager started to cop an attitude with me so i went to the general manager. he took care of the sales manager and threw in a cd changer for their mistake. i told them i was paying cash even though i had my own financing taken care of so no questions about my credit. i have found their body shop to be very professional too. hold on! it was in for a small paint rub on the edge of the drivers door and a misaligned tailgate. both were taken care of promptly and finished perfectly. after 1200 miles i can say nothing bad about my first dodge or my buying experience with dc. hd by the way. i really dont care for car salesmen in general you have to go in prepared for exactly what they did to you. sometimes the best thing to do is just walk out the door. i lucked out with an excellent low key salesman the small problem i had was with the sales manager that thought he was hot shit. just thought i would share the 3 week nightmare i went through buying my 2003 dakota. yes this will be my last daimlerchrysler product. now i know many are going to jump on me about buying the truck after all this problem but there are a few reason why i did. first both dealers ran a credit check lowering by rating 5 points each time called my insurance company each time and having my policy changed to the new truck and had me believing i would not find the truck equipped the way i wanted until 2004. day 1 - go to dealer 1 and get price. day 2 - go to dealer 2 and get price. day 3 - return to dealer 2 and ask for price on a certain truck i want and ask for a price. leave 1 hour later with no price. was told to go to dealer 1 and dealer 2 would beat their price not what i wanted. drive to dealer 1 and ask for their best price on truck they found and another dealer. price was right so told them i would buy it. day - 4 5 days later dealer 1 calls and said truck was sold by other dealer but they have one with same options and a few extra. no problem! so i drive 15 miles and find out the truck did not have the tow package i wanted. they told me i had to buy today or miss out on $500 trade-in rebate. no sale wanted tow package. salesman hints about the amount of time putting together this deal. day - 5 dealer 1 calls and tells me they found another truck asked them to fax the info to save me the drive. salesman once again hints about amount of time spent on deal. 3 hours later salesman calls and wants to fax the info i reply i will not deal with them anymore seeing he was so concerned about his time and not mine. return to dealer 2 to try my luck there. could not find any truck i liked with tow package. was informed that i could had the hitch myself. i asked about the transmission oil cooler and was informed all dakotas had them. so i agreed to buy the truck. day - 6 4 days later dealer 2 calls and tells me the truck is in from the dealer who had it. i asked if they were sure it had the transmission cooler the salesman said he would call me back. returns call and informed me they were wrong and the truck did not have the cooler. seeing the truck was already delivered i went through with the deal. day - 7 went to pick up truck what a bad day. first they made a $50 error in their favor on the price. then they told me the interest rate was 4.79 not the 4.25 we ha din the first meeting. after i complained they claimed they had a coupon for 4.29 so i bought the truck. now why should i be happy with daimlerchrysler waited days to find out the original truck i wanted was sold to someone else. two weeks to buy a truck and then have to come up with another $300 to add the hitch and transmission cooler i wanted. payed $300+ extra for items i really did not need but wanted a blue dakota. then they try to charge a higher interest rate then quoted the first time. now would you buy a product from a company that treats customers this way i dont believe ill be looking at daimlerchrysler products when it time for my wifes new car. dault@s

From : pig bruce

scanman wrote i am now looking for other tires i just may get rid of all the michelins. a very unhappy consumer! that a boy ...... throw away the three remaining tires worth $600 and really show them who is boss. you know your spare still gives you four new tires and a cheap spare is much cheaper than a complete set. personally i wouldnt blame michelin dc bought the contract from them and if road hazards arent covered then they simply arent covered. did you buy one of those extended contracts ...... wait until you read the fine print on those. jerry -- character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. .

From : budd cochran

no the poor mans way is to loosen things up with a long pipe cleaner and apply a suction sourse to pull the gunk out of the tube. using compressed air will only push the stuff further up the tube and/or into the condensor part and it will plug the tube up again. can someone tell me where the a/c drain tube is on my 2000 grand caravan es w/ 3.0 v6 there is water in the frame or so it seems.... we can hear water swishing when we turn corners and when we stop water leaks from the frame area along the entire passenger side. i called the dealer they said it is like the a/c drain is blocked. i know the right way would be to take the whole thing apart clean it and re-assemble. the poor mans way would be to clear out the drain hole with compressed air right any thoughts thanks! lee .

From : freakydaddyo none thehouse

this is a multi-part message in mime format. --------------05a7f154e6c4e6c72b03b8f2 content-type text/plain; charset=us-ascii content-transfer-encoding 7bit will it run okay with the 318 heads i forgot to mention that the 318 heads came from a 1985 318v8. budd cochran wrote yes but swap the heads so you get the bigger valves too. budd james edmonds wrote will a 1985 4-barrel intake from a 360 v-8 fit a 1976 318 v-8 tia --------------05a7f154e6c4e6c72b03b8f2 content-type text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name=bigdodge.vcf content-transfer-encoding 7bit content-description card for james edmonds content-disposition attachment; filename=bigdodge.vcf beginvcard nedmonds;james x-mozilla-htmlfalse adr;;;;;; version2.1 email;internetbigdodge@bellsouth.net fnjames edmonds endvcard --------------05a7f154e6c4e6c72b03b8f2-- .

From : tbone

i asked that question myself a couple of months ago on this ng. i never did get an answer. in the start of this thread steve said he has pushed his to 5500. i personally dont see any reason to go much past 4500 since peak torque is at 3200 and top hp is 4200 i think. i guess when you hit the rev limiter you will know what redline is. ;^ hd what is the redline on the 4.7 dodge engine in the quad cabs havent been able to find that information anywhere yet and the tach on the dash is not marked at all. thanks. steve i think that your assessment of the 4.7 in the dr1500 is correct. most folks that i know that have em are quite happy with either the stick or auto. i think that you will find especially on this ng that a lot of guys are gearheads and are simply not satisfied unless they have the biggest heaviest...... etc. etc... but in the real world the 4.7 is more than adequate when used within its design intent. as far as your expectations of the performance enhancement you expect to realize from the aftermarket accessories you mention i would caution you to take the claims put forth by the website with a grain of salt. it has been my experience over many years that the only outcome of these accessories is to fatten the wallets of the vendors. chryco service manager member sae @twister.southeast.rr.com steve the springs in your new ride are quite a bit stiffer than your gm. put a bit of weight at the tailgate and youll be surprised at the difference. the old chevy/gmc heavy half had the same issue the standard gm 1500 springs are very soft - to give a more car-like ride - but dont provide the payload capacity whereas the heavier springs really need a bit of weight on them. i put over 250k miles on an 81 gmc heavy half and made a point of keeping some weight in it for that very reason. oh yeah - that truck had an 85 hp 250 cid i-6 3 on the column and a 2.72 rear end with oversize 7.00-15 tires. knowing what that truck would do and what i did with it its not surprising that yours will out-perform it in almost every way. enjoy your truck and ignore those who think that you have to have a monster engine to pull a small boat. .