Diesel Tech and Product Information for Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel Trucks
Robert Patton of the Turbo Diesel Register, and Brandon Parks of Geno’s Garage are featured speakers on Dodge Pod, Truck Talk Media’s podcast series on all-things First Generation Dodge diesel.
You have your preferred parts cleaner. Hopefully it’s not gasoline.
If the water-in-fuel light comes on, the first thing to do is to stop driving the truck. Repeat, STOP driving the truck.
Believe it or not, one of a brake fluid’s most vital characteristics is its ability to absorb water. Yes, you read that correctly—brake fluids absorb water by design…
(or How to Change a #5 Injector) Solving the mystery of a vehicle’s mechanical problem can require some lengthy detective work—as demonstrated in this repair that I call “The Case of the $942 Fuel Filter.” The initial complaint by the Ram Turbo Diesel’s owner provided me with scant evidence for solving the problem: “It runs good,” he said, “for a while after I change the fuel filter, but it has low power.” I doubted that the fuel filter was the culprit. But I had little to go on. This would…
When I was a small boy I was live baggage on family trips from the Northeast to visit the grandparents a thousand miles away in Indiana. There were no Interstate highways – just the promise of the Pennsylvania Turnpike with its four smooth concrete lanes and many child-pleasing tunnels. The rest of the way was two lanes, small towns, and diners with steamed-up windows. Constantly in the way were highway trucks, only lately powered by weak-but-economical six-cylinder Diesel engines making 160 horsepower. Drivers knew what was next on their routes,…
Background The Turbo Diesel Register editor called me a couple of months ago asking some questions about DEF systems. It seems that the folks at Geno’s Garage had been seeing an increase in phone calls related to the high cost of repairs to their DEF equipped trucks, specifically for the DEF emissions components. After our conversation, I did not give it much more thought and was going to cover another topic in TDR Issue 102. It just so happened that I was going to look at a customer’s car in…
A Cummins diesel engine and four-season climate present a challenge to batteries. East of the Sierra Range, winter lows dip below zero while the high desert summers spike thermometers to 106°. Arguably, summer heat is hardest on a battery, though either temperature extreme takes its toll.
I’ve been putting off replacing the heater core in Red Ryder (a ’98 Dodge Turbo Diesel) for a lot longer than I should have. I’ve been keeping a car blanket in the cab during the winter for a few years now. It generally takes about 30 miles at highway speed to bring the cab to a comfortable temperature when the outside ambient temperature is in the low-40s. I hadn’t observed coolant leaking in the cab…yet. On the return trip from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in January this year there were some…
After installing a steering system upgrade, I visited a local alignment shop to check the toe-in specifications. Unfortunately, the shop refused to align my truck on account of a loose ball joint. I have known high volume tire stores to do this sort of thing to boost sales, but this diagnosis was no surprise, and it came from a shop that I trusted: After 150,000 miles, I knew it was ball joint replacement time.My analytical nature kicked in, and I decided to do some research before choosing my parts. I…