2001 Dodge Ram Pickup SLT from North America - Comments

2001 Dodge Ram quad cab 4X4 Sport. 318 auto... no power. BUT swapped 360 into truck and got a B&G (out of Michigan) ECU flash and a K&N Gen II filter and she can spin 35" tires without a problem.

Known problems with the Dodge is the dealers/dodge "flashing" ECUs so the engine doesn't "ping". That means your robbed of power. Getting your ECU re-flashed or a power programmer will help greatly. Also making sure your cat. convt. is not clogged. This will def rob power. Getting a 14" round k&n filter helps. Check your gears in the rear end... you may have Torque gears which slow you down.

Doing upgrades to exhaust, ecu, intake, rear end gears, plenum gasket all will help greatly. These are all talked about on www.dodgeforums.com and www.dodgetruck.org.

I've owned 7 Dodge Rams... all with the 360 and they are great. The 318 I had...145 on it and I didn't try any upgrades. I know the 360 very well and I went for the upgrade. It runs and drives great.

As for the transmission. If its taken care of and you have a transmission cooler on it it will probably last a long time. A lot of people don't have the filter and fluid changed in the trans and they wonder WHY the trans failed. Don't get me wrong dodge didn't build a great trans, but owners can take better care of the truck too.

Plus who wants a Chevy...lol.

Jeff

USMC

firstaidbuilders@yahoo.com.

I just learned that my stepdaughter was in an accident. Fortunately, except for a bit of whiplash sustained by her and three passengers every-ones OK. Seems she was driving her Dodge 1500 through a tunnel and the vehicle lurched violently. I found this site about an hour ago to see if this was a common problem. Reading the comments compeled me to sign up and add my own.

It seems while driving through the tunnel the thing lurched putting the rear end into the wall. It bounced off and went across two lanes hitting headlong into the opposite wall completely destroying the front end.

She bought this truck used about 6 months ago, not sure

about the mileage. Please be careful out there.

97 dodge ram 1500 4x4 225655 miles, i bought it at 72000 miles 8 years ago, only major parts replaced, water pump, radiator and hub bearings, best truck I ever owned, just bought 01 2500 4x4 with v10, if this one is half the truck of the first one I will be very happy,

2001 dodge 1500 5.2 L 4x4. 115,000 miles. Original engine AND trans still going strong.

The Trans was a little weird when I bought it 4 years ago, (the not down shifting or shifting up shifting too early problem most of you talk about) so I changed the governor/solenoid assembly and away we go.

I think many of you are being taken for a ride by shops either deliberately or because their techs are idiots. The electronic governer control on these trannys is a poor design, but replacing them ($200 range) is easy and usually solves most of these problems.

The issue is when you wait to long to do it and the transmission runs around at insufficient pressures... leads to slipping and burned clutches.

I use all synthetic ATF to keep the temp down and service it at 30,000 mile intervals to keep the filter clean.

Hope this helps! Find a shop that knows what your talking about when you mention this issue, or do it yourself! Simply drop the pan and change the gov/sol assembly. You'll need to get the PCM re-flashed.

For power, open up the exhaust and the intake.

Friends, I don't baby this truck and it NEVER lets me down.

I own a 2001 2WD with the 5.9L. Bought it used with 50,000 and it now has 91,000. At 70,000 had to have the transmission rebuilt. It started pulling to the left recently so I took it in for a front in alignment. The shop was unable to align the camber to specs due to running out of adjustment. There is no signs of this truck ever being wrecked. The dash looks like a jig saw puzzle with all the cracks in it, and now the A/C Condenser fan has had to be replaced. And last but not least the U-Joints went out at 65,000. I'm just holding my breath waiting for the next expense. I would not own another Dodge product if it was given to me.

Have an '01 Ram 1500/318/5-speed bought it new. Had about 5k miles and the front stabilizer had to be replaced, replaced again at 75k. Front rotors and brakes at 60k. Now at 93k the transmission is going out.

Gas mileage is horrid, if it could get CLOSE to the 19 (sticker) highway I'd eat it, every nut and bolt. Last time I checked it was getting 15... since gas has went up, I don't even want to know.

Hey, I have a 2001 Ram 1500 with a 360 and my trans has issues with gong in and out of passing gear around 65-70 mph. Someone said to check the ground to the computer? Any one have any other ideas??