need advice on used Ram

[Old Mopar Guy]

After the replacement with "aftermarket" Control Arms the squeak was still there after the suspension was warmed up on a long drive. They determined that the aftermarket have this tendency and have ordered OEM replacements at their cost. Unfortunately we we had to head back to Seattle to our other home and won't be back till October again. The manager said and placed this in our R.O. that they ordered the parts and will hold for us until we get back in October. The manager even informed his boss who owns this shop incase anything happens to him between now and then so communication is not lost. I have the paperwork that states everything to cover my ass and make sure they follow through when we return. Whew!

FYI, the control arms that were in when we first brought it in were aftermarket as well.

 

[Jeepwalker]

2014 Ram has R1234YF Freon? Hmmmm

Sounds like you got a nice truck..
Enjoy

 

[Wild one]

2014 Ram has R1234YF Freon? Hmmmm

Sounds like you got a nice truck..
Enjoy

Some 14's do,some don't. 14 was the cross over year and the majority of mid year or later trucks have R1234yf

 

[Old Mopar Guy]

Yes, the R1234yf is very expensive too!

 

[Black1500Ram]

Thanks to all for your great feedback!
Being from Canada is a concern.

I will get underneath and take a close look of any rust or fluid leaks and condition of the suspension and etc.

I have asked for a service history. Since being from Canada it's not available. Just the Carfax. Hoping that since it has a battery blanket and the body and interior look in good shape, that up there in Canada it was well taken care of - hope!

We are in Maricopa, AZ. This won't go to Seattle, it will be for here in AZ.
Wish we had more time here than two weeks to look further (9 days remaining). We've personally seen other basic RAMs that were not acceptable. 3 others were on the internet and were awesome and gone in a day or two after posting!

Hopefully, this ride will be the one. Fingers crossed. If it's not, we will continue our search.
These days RAMs are all over the place. It's just finding the right one for the wife and I.

Were love the Longhorn with the brown saddle leather interior.

Thanks again everyone, I will keep you posted how things go when it arrives.

Erik

Edit I see you bought the truck but all the following still applies. I also see it’s higher mileage. Get redline oil and large filter in there asap if it’s a hemi.


Original post-

As a fellow Phoenician I honestly would steer away from rams. I’m a little sour with mine but I’ll try to stay neutral.

The hemi runs hot anyway, and you’ll see 240° oil temps pretty much always. Plus the Ram’s ac here in AZ sucks! The rear air is absolutely terrible; a sick infant could blow cooler air on you harder.

Make sure you’re ok with $100+ oil changes every 5k because for the hemi it seems only the best of the best oil prevents issues.

Those are pretty much the only negatives but the ac is really an issue imo for Phoenix. You can avoid the lifter issues by devoting to the librication strategies early on.

Read the synthetic oil thread in here as well as oil filter thread (Do not put 5w20 on the truck!!!!, use the bigger filter), AGS delete thread (if you search my lifter failure thread I have links to all these threads in my on post).

Other than that I do love the truck it was my dream truck prior to buying it. I’ve never gotten stuck with my 4x4, I do plenty of truck stuff with it and I’ve never been let down.

Also double check rear end gear ratio to make sure it matches what you want to do with the truck. 3.92 is great for towing and pickup but mileage is worse etc.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Make sure you’re ok with $100+ oil changes every 5k because for the hemi it seems only the best of the best oil prevents issues.

It's worth keeping your eye open: Penzoil Ultra Platinum comes on sale fairly often on Amazon (and Walmart). That's the time to buy a couple. I go longer than 5k between changes (it's synthetic after all). I've always just used the regular Mopar filter the book calls for. 170k+ miles on mine...

 

[Black1500Ram]

It's worth keeping your eye open: Penzoil Ultra Platinum comes on sale fairly often on Amazon (and Walmart). That's the time to buy a couple. I go longer than 5k between changes (it's synthetic after all). I've always just used the regular Mopar filter the book calls for. 170k+ miles on mine...

Agreed, I used to get PUP on sale on amazon but in my ignorance I always bought what the manual spec'd 5w20 and xg10060 filter. Now I have one or more failed lifters (more common on the 2014+ trucks)

I believe others are having good results with pup 5w40 and additives. Again, check out the Synthetic Oil thread.

Personally, once I open up the engine and replace stuff the engine will never see anything other than Redline or HPL again (rp-20-820 filter). I don't want to chance having another failure and hope to keep the truck to 250k or more.

 

[Old Mopar Guy]

What is the larger oil filter's Manufacture and part number?


You said not to use 5w20 oil. What weight is best?

 

[Black1500Ram]

Here's the links; I urge you to read through these threads for posts by hemimann and burla and others so you can also formulate your own opinions.

Synthetic Oil Thread
Oil Filter Thread

I believe the mopar filter is the mo-599

Forum consensus is Royal Purple 20-820 (if you can find it) or Fram XG2 for the largest filters.

"Medium" filters are Royal Purple 20-500 and Fram XG10575.

People are running Redline 5w30, PUP 5w40 with added additive, and Mobil 1 Full Syn 5w40 or even 0w40 to name a few. I'm currently running Mobil 1 but switching to Redline at the next oil change.

I would also urge you to change the trans fluid if it hasn't been done, there's plenty of discussion too on how the 8spd trans (if you have it) isn't a sealed "lifetime" unit like ram would like you to think. Redline, Amsoil Signature ATF, Valvoline has a spec that works also cheaper than ZF Unicorn Fluid.

But again, I urge you to read the threads (not all 4000 pages) search is your friend.

Congrats on the new (to you) truck!
As salty as I am about my lifters, it's still a great truck!

James

 

[Wild one]

What is the larger oil filter's Manufacture and part number?


You said not to use 5w20 oil. What weight is best?

Read the note at the bottom.This is from the big 700 page printed manual for my 2014,sadly this manual is no longer available though.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Does the 5.7 Hemi have oil squirters for the cylinders? I guess I don't know for sure.

Often it's a feature (on certain engines) that drives certain viscosities.


[Edit] I wonder if the 'big' user manual can be downloaded still. I have a hard copy of the 'big' manual for my year truck. It answers a lot of questions. My problem is remembering all the details in it ...

 

[Old Mopar Guy]

Thanks for the feedback. Greatly appreciated!

 

[Wild one]

Does the 5.7 Hemi have oil squirters for the cylinders? I guess I don't know for sure.

Often it's a feature (on certain engines) that drives certain viscosities.


[Edit] I wonder if the 'big' user manual can be downloaded still. I have a hard copy of the 'big' manual for my year truck. It answers a lot of questions. My problem is remembering all the details in it ...

5.7 doesn't have piston squirters,but the 6.2's (Hellcats) and 6.4's do,generally the 6.4's run a bit hotter oil temps if you're working them ie:towing heavy

 

[PaleFlyer]

Read the note at the bottom.This is from the big 700 page printed manual for my 2014,sadly this manual is no longer available though.

I gotta say, my '18 didn't seem to enjoy the 5W-30 when I tried it. PUP, with a 20-500 filter. (Didn't see the 20-820, and glad I didn't try and use that one, as the 500 "barely" fit, and required some "persuasion" to remove... '18 4x4 Rebel does NOT fit a 20-500 filter without a relo kit. Or modifications to the filter. IE flattening the bottom. It jams on the transfer case. Pretty sure the girthier 820 would have hit the engine/whatever is on the passenger side of the filter "spot". Drawing a blank right now.)

The 5W-30 on the '18 seemed too thick for it. Lost power, seemed sluggish. The 5w-20 PUP is much better IMHO for the '18.

 

[Wild one]

I gotta say, my '18 didn't seem to enjoy the 5W-30 when I tried it. PUP, with a 20-500 filter. (Didn't see the 20-820, and glad I didn't try and use that one, as the 500 "barely" fit, and required some "persuasion" to remove... '18 4x4 Rebel does NOT fit a 20-500 filter without a relo kit. Or modifications to the filter. IE flattening the bottom. It jams on the transfer case. Pretty sure the girthier 820 would have hit the engine/whatever is on the passenger side of the filter "spot". Drawing a blank right now.)

The 5W-30 on the '18 seemed too thick for it. Lost power, seemed sluggish. The 5w-20 PUP is much better IMHO for the '18.

You have an oddball 5.7,as most 5.7's seem to be happier with 5W-30,but if 5W-20 works in your truck,you should probably stick with it.But if you go through the oil threads,you'll find the majority of 5.7's appear to like 5W-30 over 5W-20.