1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

[rightpedal]

I just got put in charge of buying a 96-01 Dodge 2500/3500 diesel for one of my clients. They are actually going to pay me to buy them a truck. What do I need to look for? Any options that are better than others? (turbo/non auto/manual ect) You guys have any good links for info?

Big thanks in advance.

Steve

[1988montecarloss]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

they all have turbos and IIRC the auto trannies are pretty weak.

thats all i know :P

[jauguston]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

In that year range there are two different 5.9 engines. In 98.5 they changed from the 12 valve mechanical controlled engine to a 24 valve engine that has electronic control. Computer control for engine management and electronic throttle-no mechanical throttle linkage. It is called a ISB. I have a '99 ISB in my motorhome and it is a great engine. Better than 11 mph towing a Samurai total gross 22,000 pounds motorhome and toad.

I do not know the advantages of one to the other but the ISB is a good engine.

Jim

[rightpedal]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

Thanks for the responses. Jim you got to post up about the vw powered samurai. Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks
Steve

[JOES66FURY]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

go to http://dodgetruckworld.tenmagazines.com/

lots of good info here....


Keep an eye on the front end, the drag links are garbage on these and will casue vibes and "pops" when turning the wheels left and right lock to lock......

depending on the part of the county your in the doors like to rust....

[DanStokes]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

The only part of the truck I really know is the ISB engine. We flogged the snot out of 'em on the dyno and they took it. There was a bad run of blocks that would crack after heavy use. Look on the passenger side near the freeze plugs. If there is a substantial rib there it'll be OK - the bad blocks had a smaller raised reinforcement around the freeze plugs and almost no reinforcement between them. Hopefully the posted link will give more info on this. I reblocked one of them but the rest of our fleet was OK.

Dan

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

the new ones have more power and great prices , buy new

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

the other day , I worked on an 01 duramax that was actually serviced and taken care for it's life , a pleasant ride for sure

[bearphoto]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

My dodge is an 01 and i've got 105k miles on it. Not had one bit of trouble with it, even still has the original batteries in it. Oh ok, so i messed up and put some gas in it earlier this week but that was taken care of with minimal trouble. According to the service dept, the only two weak areas of the truck were the auto trans (i've had no trouble) and the fuel pump (which i just replaced).

More power than you will ever most likely need, rides pretty good too.

[dieselgeek]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

I just got put in charge of buying a 96-01 Dodge 2500/3500 diesel for one of my clients. They are actually going to pay me to buy them a truck. What do I need to look for? Any options that are better than others? (turbo/non auto/manual ect) You guys have any good links for info?

Big thanks in advance.

Steve

Later is better. My "bad block" ISB is a '98 and it has 350,000 miles, doesn't burn a drop of oil. There were steady improvements over the years, like brakes! an 01 will have discs front and rear, which is good. A 98 has drums in the rear, but far bigger front discs than a '97. Usually the track bar is worn out and causes woes in the front end.

Do they want a 4x4? can it be a manual trans? Manual trannies were far better in these trucks than the automatics.

Regardless of year, the Cummins diesels are far cheaper to maintain than any other diesel, and cost less to make live a long time too.

What you want to beware of, is the fact that most owners are redneck morons and "stack" electronics boxes (bubba thinks if one electronic fuel enhancer is good, two or three must be better!) - you can look for things on the ISB's such as "pierced fuel pump wire" but some of the boxes were plug&play and harder to detect. Any Cummins shop can perform a compression test and give the engine a look to give you an idea of it's condition. the ISBs have a good logging system that will report things like "maximum RPM" and "max temps" and total engine hours, which is helpful.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

wait for mahindra

[68 Valiant]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

Check the front end out closely.

[rightpedal]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

Joe I signed up for the forum and will start posing questions later today. Dan and DG thanks for the informed responses. Bear I actually felt a pit in my stomach when I read about your fuel issue. I did it in a VW but was fortunate enough to have a guy pull up with gas cans that was happy to siphon off the mix. Spidy my feelings exactly on new but it's not my money. What's a mahindra?

Here is the real skinny on the truck. I had a much more involved conversation. It seems he wants to use biodiesel and read some were that 96-01 dodge trucks were right for the job. :-\ I think there was some cross information reference biodiesel and cooking oil. The cooking oil guys seem to like the pre 98 mech injected trucks and that got morphed into the specks I gave. All that said I am going to have a tough time convincing him one way or the other.

Any thing I should know about biodiesel? let em fly!

Steve

[revolutionary]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

I know that if it pulls a loaded enclosed trailer with a manual tranny you'll break 5th gear about every 3 years. Not too hard to change out though.

[Bamfster]

Re: 1996-2001 Dodge diesels?

My bro has an '01 w/ 79K on it. So far, 2 injector pumps and 1 TC. Other than the injector pumps, he's happy with it. When he decides to buy a new one I'll probably replace my ford with it.