A lot of people just cut a hole in the tub to get to the fuel pump... Because you've gotta drop the axle too.

Que?  Service manual just says "Drain, undo 2 j-bolts, drop tank."

Sorry, I'm thinking of another dodge.

Last night, I was driving to Lowes to buy door handles, and we witnessed a pretty bad car accident. Three people went to the hospital via ambulance, and had I not seen it, and gotten out to assist, he would be in a lot worse shape. He was walking around in 3ft circles before I got him to sit down, then he immediately lost consciousness. So, yeah, after working a full day on Saturday, that woke me up.

On the way back from the grocery store and Lowes, I noticed that when I'd hit bumps, I'd lose power, and the "Check Engine" light flashed and tach twitched. It's done this before... It's what left me on the side of the road in Washington DC, and what left the truck sitting in my front yard full of bathroom remodel debris for about an hour.

So I keep on it, trying to keep it moving, and it decides to stop right at the same spot as the accident earlier. lol. Karma. Apparently Regio doesn't like it when I make him stop to assist hurt people -- he'd prefer I just keep charging on.


It presents as a no-spark situation when you break it down to simplest pieces. But, all of the relays (fuel pump and Auto Shut Down) under the hood and the AC Compressor Clutch click repeatedly when I turn the key to run. I'm thinking one of two things:
1. Bad fusible link
2. Bad ECM

It will crank and crank and crank until the cows come home. No matter if the relays are clicking away, or if they're doing nothing. The fuel injectors in the TBI don't fire if the "relay clicking" stuff is going on. There's no spark if the relay clicking is going on either.

I'd normally suggest that it's a bad hall effect sensor, but that's probably not the case with the way the relay clicks happen. I've replaced both relays under the hood, except for the AC relay, so I know nothing in there is bad anymore.


This all leads me to my question... Should I replace the fusible links with fuses?
Some people (on the internet) say that you can't, because fusible links are better than fuses, because they don't burn out with startup currents for inductive loads. My question to that is why not just spec the fuses correctly? lol.

I'm thinking a fusible link providing power to the ECM is partially broken, because I've already replaced one fusible link for the power windows, that one acted up when I'd go over bumps, and took a long time to diagnose why the windows would magically start and stop working.

hitting a bump and seeing this just sounds like a bad or poorly seated connector.

I would be checking common connections like the bulkhead. often known to be bad.
or some common ground. as clicking implies poor circuit if it works later and isn't due to battery or charging issues.

as for fusible links vs fuses, I think you might get away with a slow burn fuse, as that is really all it is. but I am not sure that is the solution.

Yeah, I've gone through every single connector. Not the connectors. I'm going to check the bulkhead connector here in a bit. I didn't even consider that, but I'm going to try putting a fusebox in the engine bay to get rid of the fusible links. If that doesn't work, I'll put a fusible-link box in, like what came in my 260z.

Here's the issue:








All that was wrapped up in about two rolls of cheap electrical tape. Some of the splices actually seemed like they were wrapped in athletic tape, then covered with tar.

So, now I'm mapping out how I'm going to fuse everything:



I can probably have everything mapped out tonight, then purchase the fuse block and get it mostly built out on the bench and just plop it in the truck and solder and heatshrink the connections to the existing harness.


I'm not keen on it dying on the road leaving me, my pregnant wife, and groceries sitting on a busy highway again.

Well, I just tested every 12v line in the whole truck.

None of them are bad. Everything that should have power does, except things powered by the ECU. It looks like it's the ECU. So now I get to leave it alone for a week. My wife now absolutely hates it, and wants me to get rid of it, but I think an eBay ECU might fix it.

volts is not amps.

that is like continuity. sure it completes the circuit, but if you can't draw enough amps to power something, then it doesn't work.

I am betting based on your pictures, that something isn't making a good connection.

you need to gut the wiring and start again.

That's been the plan for over a year now, lol.

To follow up:
1. No spark
2. No fuel.

But I've got air.

I suspect it's the ECU, because that controls the IACV (Idle Air Control Valve) and it no longer fires up when I turn the key to run. I just rebuilt the iacv a couple months ago, and I tried the one off my w250 just to check if that was causing anything. It's good, but the ECU isn't commanding it.

Sooooooo. I'm going to jumper the distributor to see if I can get spark and fuel, but that still doesn't explain the IACV.

I have a new SMEC (the ECU) coming this week, since they're known to burn out/desolder themselves anyway it will be good to have a spare even if it's not the issue.

I'm only familiar with the later Magnum engines but the injectors and coil are both on the same relay (called the ASD relay in later rigs at least), not to mention of other stuff. I'd be looking into why that relay isn't working.

ASD relay is working, I've tested it, and swapped it with a known good off the w250. Power is coming into it, and out when expected.

It was my first guess after verifying all the fusible links.

Probablt tomorrow night I'm going to scope the injector drivers, the hall-effect sensor in the distributor, and go from there.

The cloth electrical tape could be legit - it's not used much any more, but it's still around.  "Friction Tape."

Regarding the fuse block, the guys at RamchargerCentral advised grabbing one from an older Jeep Cherokee out of a junkyard. Lets see....Here is the one they recommended.



A bit overkill for my purposes (tow wiring), but you appear to have more issues than mine.

Good call. I was considering grabbing something from West Marine... I didn't even consider JY parts to do it.

That hall sensor is the next place I'd be looking.

Hall sensor is bad. I scoped the output, and there's no output, and when there is output it is not perfect square wave...


I'm going to test with the distributor from my w250 tomorrow to test this assessment.

Time for an HEI upgrade, sounds like.

I had a pickup from that era.  the 318 was gutless, the brakes sucked, and it got about 10mpg.  

In 4x4 Low, it would go anywhere, full of gear for the entire hunting camp.

If mine were a 383 with an extended cab, I would still own it.

My trans leaked around the dip stick tube.  I dropped the pan 4 times before I found the leak.

It's got a larger cam in it, 254 grind. It will actually pin you in the seat.

The brakes do suck, no getting around that.

It will go anywhere you tell it to, even if you accidentally tell it to drive up the side of a jersey barrier. It just says "OK."

That's a common place. My original transmission was leaking at the front pump seal, not even the front seal.

It now has a 727 transmission that I rebuilt in it. Totally solid.

It was the ECU. Distributor didn't do it, so I swapped the spare ecu. And it fired right up.

damn it.




Wednesday night I was driving home, and didn't see a nice big depression in the road, because the headlights suck. So, I hit it pretty hard.

I heard a pretty loud "thud, crunch, crack" and an interesting popping noise. I figured it was probably just the leaf spring hanger moving, and didn't think much of it.


Last night while driving home, I made the hard right turn into my driveway, and it made the same crack noise. So, yeah.

Good times.


I have freshly painted springs with new poly-bushings.

DOH!  Took me a while to see what the problem was.

Maybe we can get together and make one reliable RC out of them?  Monkeyboy's machine is down on no fuel, suspected bad fuel pump.

I have some newly refurbished leaf springs leaning up against the wall in my garage...

I wire-wheeled them, then hit them with rust converter, then covered with epoxy paint. Then, I pressed in new poly bushings.

I just have to get the new springs in tomorrow, so I can do a shake down before driving 5 hours to CWE4 on the 12th.

So, yeah, it was snapped pretty bad. The new leaf springs are in really nice shape, so hopefully they'll actually put up to the limited abuse I throw their way.

That almost looks like a cold-shut from when the material was first rolled out.  I'm surprised it wasn't caught in QC....nevermind.

That's why I posted pictures. It looked like there was a defect that was covered by one of the leaf straps and never caught by the Mexican Chrysler assembly force.

Now I just need work to let up, so I'll have time to get the "new" springs installed. Right now I'm working 12-13hr days on a project.

I'm looking forward to seeing this truck at CWE4.

Great project!

The refurbished springs are in. Took me about 3.5 hours, but it's done.

Should of just bought a new set.  I have replaced springs with old leaves and had them break again. Maybe i am just unlucky.


I got new rear springs from truckspring.com, they sell fronts too.

I got this set for $50 shipped. I think I paid $28 for the bushings, and maybe $25 for the new bolts. Cheap is the name of the game here.

I'm still not sure I'm going to keep this truck at stock height, so cheap for now is OK. I may go with a 2" lift soon.

Good point i bought a rough country 2 inch lift just so i  could get new fronts on a k5. For the price of front  springs i got a kit with 4 shocks, 2 front springs w u bolts, and rear block with u bolts. I believe it was under $300 from e bay. Rough country was the seller, i made offers on there auctions and gotmit significantly cheaper than the buy it now price.

Good tip. If I can find a whole kit for under $300 I'll be pretty happy.

Went to a friend's range today. Drove the RamCharger about 93 miles all said and done, and got to drive it downrange, since 300m is a long way to hoof it.

I rewired the sketchy wiring in the engine bay, and the aux switch under the dash. I think the kid must've smeared axle grease on the bare wire before twisting them loosely, and then wrapping in about a foot of shitty electrical tape.

The main electric fans come on at 185F from a thermal relay in the radiator, tripping a 40A relay. There's a switch that goes to the dash that allows you to turn them on manually for offroading, precooling before a big hill/mountain, or if you're stuck in traffic.

The switch also provides an independent circuit for the original AC fan, giving some cooling in an "oh shit" moment should the main fans have an issue.


I added some fluid to the rear diff, and hopefully the strange clank/clink noise will go away again.

When replacing the springs, I broke both of the old ones taking them out, because apparently 291k miles of northeastern weather seizes things together. The shaft that went through the stabilizer bar (known as a sway or anti-roll bar to the non mopar world) was worn from the stabilizer bar, and when I torqued the nut, the shaft snapped.

I figured it'd be easy to find new ones, so I just lashed the sway bar to the frame and left it alone for a while. Today I started looking for the end links, and struck out, very quickly.

Dodge no longer makes those endlinks. There is one seller who seems to have bought all of the NOS across the country, and is now selling them for $109 on eBay. I decided I was going to weld some grade 8 nuts onto the old bushing carrier, but that wasn't going to happen, because they were cast steel/iron, and I'm nowhere near good enough with a TIG to make that work. In retrospect, I should have just cut the riser shaft and the head of the nut off, then welded those together, but I thought I could do it. I tried pressing out the rubber bushing, but failed miserably, as the bushing started to disintegrate as soon as I got some pressure on it from the press. I tried welding with the bushing in there. I got it tacked, then it all went down hill from there. I started with about 15a but then bumped it up to 30A to get a good puddle going, and then filled the garage and my helmet with rubber smoke. Oops. I tried again, and still couldn't get good penetration without destroying the rubber.

So, I came inside, trolled the internet for approximately three hours to find thi on summit racing's website, cross referenced the part numbers, found that I could get it locally. So, I went for this:

http://www.autozone.com/parts/suspension-steering-tire-and-wheel/sway-bar-link/valucraft-sway-bar-link/toyota/tacoma-2wd/2001/4-cylinders-l-2-4l-mfi-dohc/526738_10302_3499/

Which looks almost like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4WD-Sway-Bar-Link-1978-1993-Dodge-Ram-4-WD-Ramcharger-Trailduster-/262063060628

And looked like what I had in my hand. So, I called autozone, and they had ONE. One of them. Only one. But, the non-value brand, they had four. I asked them to hold 'em, drove out there, and got it. The kid who rang me up asked what car they were going on, and I just laughed at him. He told me that it didn't matter, I've got a lifetime warranty on it anyway.




So, now it's got a sway bar that works.

The other day, I was driving to work, and the "check engine" light was blinking/flickering... So I ignored it.

Then, a day later, I saw it again, so I tapped the part of the dash it sits in. And it stopped flickering.

lol, which means you broke the bulb, or knocked it out so it couldn't ground to stay on.

those only get power when tripped, not likely you "fixed" it by tapping on the light.

I understand how they work, I just thought it was funny.

It still turns on when it's supposed to turn on, and will flash out the CEL codes when it's supposed to, so I'm calling it fixed. These trucks will show you a CEL/Power Limited Light if the plug for the CEL/PLL is loose.

CEL still blinks occasionally. Oh well. I keep tools with me.

I have this strange shake, had it for months, finally getting around to looking at it. My transmission mounts (the rubber pucks) are totally shot, so I need to replace those anyway. Engine mounts may be shot too.

There's a slight shake at off-idle when it begins to move. 5mph or under. I'm pretty sure that's just the tires being chunky.

There's a shake at 37-48mph. Doesn't matter what gear I'm in, 4wd or 2wd, dirt road or paved. No change if I'm on-throttle, coasting, or neutral throttle. Truck is totally smooth above 48mph though. It feels like driveshaft, but the u-joints are still good (no play in 'em) and the axle doesn't have any visible damage.

Any ideas on what's causing the shake?

The shake could be related to your mounts being shot. Had an '89 1/2 ton 4WD that had a shake like that when my trans mount went out.

Update - Monkeyboy's 89 is alive!  Fuel pump and tank went back in....well, like a couple of monkey's fucking a football. Specifically a 48 year old monkey who knows a LOT about cars, but not Dodges, and a 16 year old monkey who knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING.

Now contemplating a Magnum swap.

My goal is to find a junked 2003 ram with a 5.9 magnum in it so I can harvest the engine, ecu, and wiring harness.

There was a guy on Cl who had that exact setup for a very reasonable price. I'm me if you want his contact info.

Knocked out an oil change, checked all the fluids (including differentials), and greased the front (in front of the transmission) grease points in 45 minutes after work tonight.

I discovered that I must've forgotten to tighten the valve covers while the engine was really hot, because every single bolt was "kinda loose" explaining the oil drips. So now the entire engine and transmission is covered with a thick coat of oil, road grime, dirt, dust, and cancer again.

I noticed some bubbles of ATF on the dipstick when I checked it... Some research lies ahead for me tonight. I'm not excited about finding out what that is going to take to fix. It was about half a quart low, so it might have been nothing.

Everything still leaks. Bushings are good, alignment is spot on. Tires won't balance, so it still shakes (tires seem slightly oval) at 3-5 mph and again at 35-48mph. What strikes me as odd is that it's a tenth harmonic, not a smaller harmonic... Heh. The tire issue causes the tire tread blocks to be scalloped odd-even outside teeth. It's really interesting looking.

So far so good, still moves under its own power. The other truck is still getting body work done in the garage, so this one sits outside. Not a big deal, but when. It snows, it's gonna suck.

I don't even know what it used to cost so have no clue on cost today.

Spring shops that work on big rigs often have a tool for cutting tires to be completely round.

You are removing rubber from the tire, so there goes some of your tire wear.

But a round tire should wear better and more evenly so this discussion can go back and forth.

I doubt I would go get the tires cut since they already have that wear, but to some extent I am wondering if the rims are out of round or what is up with your setup.

And then again I look at my little jeep tj on solid axles ad 31 inch tires and just shrug and know I would run it and not worry about it and just rotate tires and not worry about it til I was looking at getting new tires.  And with new tires I would work on figuring out if the rims were a problem or the tire or what, and maybe fix it that time around.

Tires on my jeep will last another 5+ years I guess at the current rate of use.  Even if I got rid of my trash truck and used the jeep for everything, still not gonna wear the tires out in 4 years I bet.

Yeah, I'm not worried about the ride quality in the ramcharger. I'm going to replace the engine mounts and transmission mount bushings next chance I get, and that'll be it.

Tires will last another 20k or so. I've got about 10k on the truck now, so that's not bat for a $600 set of tires. The next set of tires I may be more picky. While the Treadwrights are nice offroad, the buzz on-road is mildly irritating. Then again, it's not really a comfort vehicle like my wife's SUV.


Like you said, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Right now I'm considering a megasquirt system, or maybe a 94+ magnum v8 engine, so I can get MPFI and programmable a ECU. Seems like there are a lot of rusted out Durangos showing up on craigslist and facebook for-sale groups lately.

I just did a ms replacement on a 2000 durango motor.
didn't do the od just kept the 727.

I am not fond of MS. It was the cheapest way to replace an existing efi, but if I had to do it over again, I might spend the extra on something else.
FAST efi, or wait till FI tech supports MPFI.

But we are talking a jump from 500 bucks (not counting efi pump, filters, regulator, hoses, surge tank, etc.. just the computer and wiring harness) to about 800 maybe 1200. Depending on the computer you want and how programable it needs to be. If you want spark control, that could toss in another 300 for other systems for a compatible distributor.

I even bought a complete MS box so I didn't have to build or test it. But there were a lot of odd issues since it was a mopar. A few bad directions and just some plain bad luck. My coil died while I was getting the system to work and it made me rewire the whole thing, thinking I didn't wire something right.

the 96 and back odb1 systems are apparently easy to transfer the existing harness and computer, but then you lose programing on them. but easier to get up and running with the trans.
You can buy a chopped harness to run it directly with like 4 wires to hook up, but that was something crazy like 800 bucks.

Eitherway I am glad to help out and lend some experience to it if you decide to go that route.

Good advice. As much as I'd like to swap in a different engine, that's out of the box more powerful, I don't think it's in the cards. The current EFI system on it is fine for the mostly stock 318.

I'm going to have to play with the idea a bit more. So far I've got my old ECU disassembled, and I think I could fit a megasquirt in there with great ease. I would use the stock plugs, wiring harness, and everything I could from the stock engine management system. The idea would be to keep a system that I could swap back to a known-good SMEC if needed to limp home or to a location that I could fix it. With a modifiable tune, I could eek quite a bit more out of the cam and catalytic converter-less exhaust. According to the factory service manual, and everything I have found on the SMEC/SBEC generation of chrysler engine management systems, there's no way to tweak the timing without reflashing the EPROM, which I'm not too fond of ripping out the potting compound on the SMEC to get at.





Single layer, double-sided. Everything is really easy to trace out, and it looks like it shares of that generation's typical designs. The good thing is that the actual engine controller from the original SMEC from my truck works, the power control board is what went bad, hence the removal of the potting compound to test shit. It may be the transistor, which appears to be difficult to find information on.

Over the past 24h I have discovered that I think I can tune this ECU. That'll let me give it more timing and fuel so I can actually get the use of the whole cam. If it goes well, I may be able to put a bigger cam in it.

Huge props to the stuff the guys at Turbo-Mopar.com have been doing for the past several decades.

It looks like it's chip-able just like the old-school Honda OBDI ecus.