Free 88 Ram50, lots of issues.
Hello, I have just acquired a 1988 Ram50 for $free.99 my list of issues in order of greatest concern are: the starter, the cooling system, the fuel system, the electrical system, basic neglected maintenance for who knows how long. It is a 2.6L engine originally EFI but someone has cut all the emissions out and the wiring for the ECU and EFI and converted the truck to run on carb, and the wiring makes me cry.
I got this truck for free mostly due to the starter. PO put a new starter in and it lasted 3 weeks then started grinding and not engaging. First thing I did was pull the starter on the side of the road with the single set of box wrenches that were left in the cab, come to find all the bolts for mounting and power were finger tight, I tightened as best I could with the tools I had and drove home. The starter actually engaged the flywheel at this point but made a horrendous sound but started the truck. At home I removed the starter and inspected the teeth, they seemed okay so u put it back together and tightened down the starter to the specs I found here, and also tightened the battery terminals since they could be removed by hand with no tools and the starter now engages almost every time but sounds to skip a few teeth then free spin. I have not inspected the flywheel yet for missing teeth but the truck came with new clutch kit and full trans rebuild kit so I will find missing teeth soon enough but I'm not sure if this is even the right starter, it fits in the starter opening but is super loose compared to any starter I have ever touched and the bolts seem to wobble in the holes, either wrong starter or the bell is worn out of spec.
My issue with the cooling system. I got it and driving home the temp gauge never went above the first tick just after the cold tick, but when idling for long periods it would heat up to the middle of the gauge at what would be "normal" operating temp, turning the heat on at all or driving again would put It back to the first tick. Upon stopping and shutting the truck off it would puke coolant everywhere. I installed a dash mount aux temp gauge I had laying around and it reads that the truck is always at 192 F which the oem dash gauge shows as the first tick, when it idles the aux gauge shows just over 212F which corresponds to the center of oem dash gauge. So I know the truck is not over heating but pukes coolant out and when it's cool and I open the rad cap the rad is quite empty like it's not pulling coolant back from the overflow tank. The cap is an aftermarket safety cap with the red pressure release lever before opening the cap from the PO, idk if this has anything to do with the issue. I read on here some tanks have a diaphragm mine doesn't not appear to have been a diaphragm cap and I blew into the overflow hose and it pressurized the radiator but didn't let the pressure out until I opened the cap. The radiator is full of stop leak so I'm thinking about a new radiator but I can't find any leaking anywhere on the cooling system tho I do not trust the cap.
The fuel system is horrendous it is a parts store $15 edlbrock electric inline fuel pump self tapped to the frame just at the rear of the cab and is fed by a lawn mower inline filter I have not followed it back to the tank so idk whats past the filter but pump forwards is awful and a fire hazard waiting all the pump wiring is alligator clips and house wiring twist nuts. Pump forward is the factory hard line fuel line to the engine bay then a part store fuel regulator and rubber hose to the webber 26/28 carb. Other than being jank as hell the fuel system works as it should I just want to replace all of it so that it wont catch fire and has fewer than 15 points of leaking. One issue it does have is if the truck runs for more than 40minutes the fuel pump either shuts off or overheats or vapor locks and stops supplying fuel until you pull the line between pump and filter and let the pump forward drain then reattach and start truck.
As I said in the fuel pump section the wiring is bad, the fuel pump wiring is switched off the resistor block that feeds the ignition coil circuit and is stealing all the coil power so I bet it will run better once I add an accessory circuit to the truck because it was once EFI all the switched power for injectors and ECU are gone its just the bare minimum to run lights, coil, and pump. And the pump is loose wires twist nut together then dangling down the steering shaft and alligator clipped to the ign coil. The rest of the wiring is pretty junk too and theres no reverse lights.
Any help and recommendations for what I should look at with the starter and cooling are much appreciated I would like to get this truck into daily driver status but it needs every seal replaced first the engine bay looks like the Exxon Valdez.
