Just bought an '85 W150. Needs work and looking for advice.

Hey all. I just picked up a 1985 Dodge W150 Power Ram Royal SE. It's got ~173,000 miles, a 318, 3 speed auto, 4x4 on the floor, and has a 4" Rough County lift. It's got a handful of problems and I'd like some advice on how to go about fixing her up.

Here are my issues:
1. The Oil Pressure gauge doesn't work
2. The Water Temperature gauge doesn't work
3. The Battery gauge doesn't work
4. The steering is very sloppy and loose. I can turn the wheel six inches either way with no response. The steering column is covered in grime.
5. It's leaking some sort of fluid under the oil pan and at the u-bolt connecting the drive shaft to the tranny. The u-bolt is covered in grime and there was a puddle about 1 foot across on my driveway the day after I drove it home. The puddle formed where the cab meets the truck bed, which I thought was too far back to be engine oil. The puddle is brownish black, and I can't determine if it's engine oil or tranny fluid. 6. Starting the truck is hit or miss, and when it doesnt start, I can hear something spinning inside the engine compartment. I think it's the starter not engaging the flywheel, but I don't know for sure.
7. The radiator cap leaks
8. It throws out a lot of white smoke on start-up, and smells like it's burning oil or coolant when driving.
9. The brakes are very stiff and I have to really press down on the brake pedal to stop the truck in a reasonably short distance.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I don't know the first thing about engines, or really trucks in general. It drives pretty good, minus the loose steering and hard brakes. What repairs should I be focusing on first, and what repairs can I do myself. I'm good with tools but never worked on an engine before. Is there a diagram of the engine somewhere online so I can see what all these parts are under the hood?

Here are some pictures: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

1/2. does the gas gauge work? if not could have a bad or loose instrument cluster voltage regulator
3. that is not a voltage gauge. it is a amp gauge they don't generally move too much
4. you need to determine where the slop is. with that much slop i would guess you got a lot of worn out front end parts. you should probably start by checking tie rods and drag links. you check tie rods by jacking up each front wheel individually and pushing and pulling at 3 and 9 on the tire. then from there you can also check the steering box itself for slop. you do that by turning the steering shaft coupler on the steering box and see how far you can turn it back and forth before the output shaft on the steering box moves. the steering box can be tightened up a bit if it is the issue. the steering shaft coupler is where most of the play is. most people replace them with a borgeson steering shaft but they are a bit expensive.
5. rear main seal is likely the leak at the back of the engine. very common on these. i would guess the other leak is on the transfer case output shaft seal. also you haven't mentioned it but i would almost be willing to bet the input shaft seal on your steering box is also leaking. another common issue with these trucks. that is probably the easier seal on these trucks to fix.
6. that sound is just the starter run on. it is normal for old mopars.
8. that smoke on startup is most likely just dried out valve seals. also how does the oil smell? if the oil is old or the truck not driven much then bad oil could cause it to smoke more than normal. also i recommend running shell rottela 15w40 oil in the engine. yes it is diesel truck oil but it is thicker so you will likely have less leak out and into the cylinders and it will also help clean the engine out. i have run the stuff in my 81 for a while and i got solid compression readings in it.
9. hard to say if stiff is a bad thing. brakes might be fine but your just not use to them. i know some vehicles brakes feel completely different than others.

if you plan on keeping the truck for a while you may almost want to buy a factory service manual. it would answer quite a few questions about part

I_chew_big_red said:

Hey all. I just picked up a 1985 Dodge W150 Power Ram Royal SE. It's got ~173,000 miles, a 318, 3 speed auto, 4x4 on the floor, and has a 4" Rough County lift. It's got a handful of problems and I'd like some advice on how to go about fixing her up.

Here are my issues:
1. The Oil Pressure gauge doesn't work
2. The Water Temperature gauge doesn't work
3. The Battery gauge doesn't work
4. The steering is very sloppy and loose. I can turn the wheel six inches either way with no response. The steering column is covered in grime.
5. It's leaking some sort of fluid under the oil pan and at the u-bolt connecting the drive shaft to the tranny. The u-bolt is covered in grime and there was a puddle about 1 foot across on my driveway the day after I drove it home. The puddle formed where the cab meets the truck bed, which I thought was too far back to be engine oil. The puddle is brownish black, and I can't determine if it's engine oil or tranny fluid. 6. Starting the truck is hit or miss, and when it doesnt start, I can hear something spinning inside the engine compartment. I think it's the starter not engaging the flywheel, but I don't know for sure.
7. The radiator cap leaks
8. It throws out a lot of white smoke on start-up, and smells like it's burning oil or coolant when driving.
9. The brakes are very stiff and I have to really press down on the brake pedal to stop the truck in a reasonably short distance.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I don't know the first thing about engines, or really trucks in general. It drives pretty good, minus the loose steering and hard brakes. What repairs should I be focusing on first, and what repairs can I do myself. I'm good with tools but never worked on an engine before. Is there a diagram of the engine somewhere online so I can see what all these parts are under the hood?

Here are some pictures: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Click to expand...

Hey,
I am brand new to the forum too. I do have a saying about cars.
It sucks when your truck won't go. It sucks way more when it won't stop!

My new truck is an 85 w250 318 auto. I imagine our trucks will be very similar.
So hey to you.

Getting brakes done this weekend. Front rotors are gouged like the grand canyon. Going to be an expensive saturday. Hope you truck is doing better than mine!