1986 Dodge D150 longbed from North America - Comments

The transmission started to slip hard no matter how much you babied it. Trans cooler lines both leaked (rub holes).I fixed this with two different pieces of 3/8 fuel line and clamps.

Trans still slipped, but was not as bad.I

added Lucas trans treatment. I did the same thing to our little wagon at the same time. And it worked! It save me at 700.

The only other thing I have done is a fuel filter (engine stopped running),Oil

changes, and tires $262 at Wal-mart.

This is truck for you if you need a truck and not a show piece. This truck has never failed to start and only left me walking once (previous owners fault).And it has cost me almost nothing to operate it. The 225 six is probably the easiest engine to work on. All this truck really needs is a radio (not there).Great truck for work or the happy home owner.

I have the same truck with a 360 v8. I have to agree, no problems in a year.

I bought a 1985 Dodge 4 speed Custom in 1998. I replaced the heater fan and one of the gauge lights was out... and that is it! I mainly bought it for hauling boxes of book to and from house to warehouse, so sometimes it will sit for 1 week or so, but every time it starts up! It is all metal and it feel and rides like a truck should. I just love it.

I love this truck, but the transmition just went out, At first I thought it was the torque converter, but no it wasn't, I had just changed the tranny fluid, and it was black as night, Then the very next day I went out to check the fluid levels in the tranny, and the fluid was black as night again. After about an hour of driving, the truck would be as gutless as can be. So I took the tranny out and replaced it, torque converter also. I was wondering if there was anyone with a comment who could help me to prevent this from happening in the future. I had just bought it and 2 weeks later this happened. It's a 1986 dodge d150 1/2 ton short box. With a 360 v8 4x4. Any comments would be appreciated.

Jeremy Simpson.

I have a 82 dodge d150. I'm 19, had the truck since I was 15, every "older" person told me that those motors are almost bulletproof. I doubted at first, but learned my lesson. Man, you can drive the dog *** out of that truck and it won't die, only problem I had so far was my intake/exhaust manifold gasket leaked, but was my fault for not knowing the "proper tightening " sequence, and my rebuilt carb wasnt too good of a rebuild. Only dangerous thing is that I'm used to small block chevys that lifters tap when it's a bottle low, heck a slant won't tap until it has a bottle left, but somehow maintains a 35 psi! It doesn't burn very much oil, the rear main is basically gone, if the clutch ever gives out with my driving then I'll take the time to change the seal until then.

To the guy with the black-as-night transmission fluid: Wow, that is a weird one! Badly worn transmission fluid can go to orangeish brown, but I've never heard of black. When you dropped the pan, did you also take off the ring gear cover and drain out the torque converter from its drain plug? (they stopped putting the drain plug in torque converters some time in the 80's, so maybe yours doesn't have it). Maybe there was some sludgy old fluid trapped in the torque converter that diluted your new fluid after you drove it. I assume that you also changed the filter? As long as the pan was off, did you also adjust the bands? There is another possibility that would be a killer... At the risk of asking stupid questions, is there a chance that the previous owner may have added motor oil in the transmission filler tube? I have seen a couple of people actually do this, not realizing that motor oil is different from transmission "oil". Because motor oil is made to reduce friction, once it gets into the automatic transmission, the bands can no longer engage the driving shafts and the clutches don't engage. All you can do is keep trying to flush it out of there by changing the fluid over and over until it gets diluted down enough.

I have a 1986 D-150 long bed regular cab with a 318 and a two barrel. I bought the truck off a lady for $500 and only put two hundred into it after it sat for seven years in her driveway. It only has 49,000 original miles on it and haven't any problems out of it yet. Working on making a 440 fit in it right now. Love the truck and the American muscle.

I think that 3 speed auto trannys are just trash in the dodges, my old 3 spd 2wd dodge, the tranny broke twice. I got a 4 spd manual tranny in my other dodge, I do a lot of towing and it hasn't broken once, I also haven't changed the gear oil.

Good truck, bad mileage. I also have an '86 dodge with a slant six and a 3 speed automatic Tranny, but I'm getting 15 mpg max driving 55 on the highway empty - loaded I get 12-13.

I'm 14 years old and I have a 1986 Slant 6 D150, and I love it. The only problem I ever had with it was the rot, but thanks to my Dad's friends they fixed the rot for me.

Strong running truck.

I have an 85 D150 with a slant 6. The only problem I have is when you start it, it shuts off, but after about 2 tries it fires right up.

I have an 86 D150 with a V8 318, it is an amazing truck. The previous owners ran the crap out of it, but it still ran strong until lately.

The transmission slipped a little, but now it's horrible. I put Lucas Oil trans fix in it and it helped a little, but it still makes a weird sound when it's running, it sounds like there is something plugging the exhaust. The sound is a loud ticking sound or something like that.

This started right after driving it in a snowstorm, it started to die a lot, and after awhile it started to make that strange noise.

I'm only 16 and not the best mechanic, so suggestions and opinions are welcome.

The truck is an 86 D150 2wd half ton automatic.