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Got a free 1994 V6 4x4 Mighty Max here in Washington State! Say hello to Rudy!
Hello Mightyram forum!
my name is Alex, and I recently acquired a 1994 Mighty max 4x4 5 speed manual from a friend of mine who needed it off of her property. She owned the truck for about 10 years, and had many adventures and ups and downs in it, and named him Rudy the Antichrist. About a year ago, she decided she needed a "reliable" vehicle and decided to finance a newer car, and parked the max outside her rental house and let it sit. After some time she tried to start it again and it wouldn't fire, tried charging the battery and it wouldn't help. So, she let it sit still for 8 months, debating what to do with it. Then recently, her landlord apparently told her it needed to leave the property or she would be evicted. She promptly sent out an email on a chain that I am part of, and I happened to see it and respond in time to grab it from her.
here is how I found Rudy, parked outside of her house
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First step for me was to drag Rudy around the corner from her house to a location that would be better to work on him and get it out of sight of the landlord. Then, I threw some jumpers on him and sure as shit- he fired up. But when I took the jumpers off, he would die immediately.Attachment 24709
This made me question the alternator, and battery. So I ripped off the alternator, pulled the battery, brought both to an auto parts store. They say the battery is shot and the alternator is still good. My friend suggests I top off the battery cells with water and throw it on a charger and see what happens. I throw the battery back into Rudy, strap on the original alternator, and he fires up.
In the meantime while I was figuring all this out, Rudy got his first bath in a long time.
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and the next day, I drove him home to my house on his maiden voyage. He seemed to hold a charge and ran pretty decent. Shifted through 4 of 5 gears, tracked pretty good. I was happy. And he looked like a new truck after a proper cleaning.
then, I went to start him up the next day, and got the dead battery clicking.
after troubleshooting with a friend, we found a blown looking fuse near the battery terminal. With a little google time, we found that it was the alternator fuse. Sure enough, I threw in a new fuse and wham- I was holding a charge. And haven't had a charging issue since then which has been about 3 weeks now.
I put some fresh gas in him, sea foam, ran that through and a couple more tanks now. I am now experiencing blue/ white smoke from the pipe. Which is a bummer, but not surprising. I thought maybe it was the gas, but after doing my first oil change with some thicker 10w30 and an additive, I realized about a week later that my oil level was down pretty significantly. So I am guessing I am burning oil somewhere in the head or valve gaskets. Any ideas out there on troubleshooting this issue? I'm sure there's tons of info in the forums.
regardless of my light smoking issue, and some shaking of the engine, Rudy runs so well. The last owner put a clutch in 10k miles ago, and he shifts through the gears like a dream. He does have a little trouble starting up and needs some gas and love to get going. Never dies on me though.
last night I found a guy who was selling a 87 max and he had a topper laying next to it in the pics. I grabbed it from him for $60. Here's Rudy with a topper on him now.
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all in all, currently I have spent $150 on title transfer and registration, 40 on an oil change, 10 on sea foam, 4 on a fuse and 60 on the topper to get what I have today. Yes, I got this truck as a gift from my friend- and I am so grateful for that. I have lots of plans for Rudy, mostly making him as reliable as possible- maybe swapping in a newer cleaner engine. He is at 140k now, and his body is straight, with almost no rust at all(west coast truck baby). So I feel like a new v6 would do him well. Also a set of aggressive mud terrains on these old school rims.
thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates ! Thanks all!!!! I am open to input and ideas about him! Let me know what you think!
