Need technical advice on repairing a 2001 Dodge Ram with the 3.9L engine

Maintenance/Repairs
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This is for my mother-in-law, who is very poor, and not very adept at caring for her cars, either.

So Friday, while I was at work, the MIL came to visit her daughter and grandson, and when it came time to leave, she got a short distance and the engine was making a lot of noise and the steering wheel got very hard to turn. She drove the truck back to my house, and my wife gave her a ride back to her house.

Today, I looked at it, and found that the serpentine belt has shredded, the idler pulley has bad bearings, the power steering pump has belt pieces wrapped around it, and cannot be turned, the radiator is nearly empty, the radiator cap is bad, and the coolant overflow tank is nearly empty and missing the cap. The oil is so black it looks like it hasn’t been changed in years, and it’s about a quart low.

So with much effort, I was able to remove the shredded belt, which was wrapped around several components…except I could not free it from the power steering pump. I am sure someone here has some ideas or tricks for removing the shredded belt so I can see if the pump itself is bad or not?

On to the next problem. This truck is 22 years old, and still has the original radiator, radiator hoses, and water pump. I have no idea how long this has been driven with barely any coolant, or how many times this engine has been overheated. It may need head gaskets, etc. at this point.

Anyone have any advice on how I can quickly and efficiently troubleshoot this? I need to put together a list of parts to buy, and either order them online, or buy them locally, depending on cost. Needless to say, funds are tight, so I cannot replace a bunch of unnecessary parts like I would if it was my own vehicle.

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You’re probably going to have to use a power steering pump pulley puller to remove what’s left of the belt.

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Tester

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Non mechanic here but arm yourself with box cutter, wire cutter, vice grip, etc and hack away. Then check if everything turns ok. May need an idler (possible left hand threads) or may need to unbolt the pump. Normally they rarely fail.

Then as a good and successful son in law, pay for everything, change oil, add coolant and check for leaks. Schedule her to do a driveway hose change at your expense. You will earn points. At the same time might also get those test strips to check for combustion gases in the coolant. If yes start shopping.

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How to Remove a Power Steering Pump Pulley - YouTube

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Malfunction/Mother Indicator/In Light/Law! MIL!

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About all you can do on the cheap is to remove the old belt (may require pulley moved forward on shaft but probably not all the way off, just release tension as stated), install new idler pulley and belt, top off coolant (belt off, no water pump) and oil, P/S fluid also if needed (can puke out turning steering wheel not running), start vehicle and cross your fingers nothing else wrong… Make sure to burp the cooling system and drive around long enough for the vehicle to be warmed up, let cool back down check fluids and drive a little longer, bring back check for leaks (every time) and fluid levels… If everything seems OK, then change the oil, no need in changing it if the engine is blown… Keep in mind that driving around with no water pump can KILL the transmission from overheating it, I just got through building one for a friend that killed his, had to buy another core to rebuild (well the core was cheaper then replacing a few of the damaged parts)…

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So I bought the Maddox 12-piece pulley remover and installer set from HFT, and pulled the pulley off partway, removed the coiled-up belt threads, and the pump itself turned freely. Then, I put the pulley back on how it was. Thank goodness for HFT and their coupon special this weekend!

Then, I went to Advance Auto Parts and got a new belt, idler pulley, radiator cap, coolant recovery bottle cap, oil filter, and 5qt oil. By this point, it was night, so I will finish it tomorrow.

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I would replace the belt tensioner as well while you’re at it.

I hope your mother in law appreciates all the work you’re doing. Someone owes you a steak dinner!

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V6 is setback nicely in v8 engine bay. Fan should is deep.
I bet that pulley was whining for a long time.

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I expect what you are doing is about the best that can be done for this poor car.

Reminds me of recent “best of” podcast. Caller says he’s never changed the oil even once in 5 years on his 90 K mile car, wonders what to do? Tom and Ray are perplexed. Caller: “I want to keep my car in good condition”. Tom: It doesn’t sound like that’s what you want, you never changed the oil in 5 years! Ray: “Just weld the oil drain plug to the pan and don’t worry about it!” … lol …

I had a co-worker friend who never changed the oil or filter in her Corolla, just topped it off as necessary, worked ok like that for 5 to 6 years, then she sold the car and bought a new one.

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If the engine is leaking or using a lot of oil and you are adding a quart every week or more then you can get by for a while like that, But all that sludge that is building up in the bottom of the oil pan and carbon gets to the oil pick up screen and you will loose oil pressure and starve the engine bearings of oil, it will not last long with no oil pressure…

I adjusted the valves on a Toyota 22R (one of the best engines built at the time) and the top of the engine was completely covered in carbon/sludge (should have stopped at that point but I was young still lol) and after I finished the valve adjustment the customer drove down the road and the oil light came on, he turned eng off and restarted it, drove it a very short distance and the oil light came right back on… When I disassembled the engine it had starved the bearings of oil and the entire engine was caked in sludge and carbon… Found out that the customer had only changed the oil 3 times in 120K miles… I built the engine and sent him on his way…

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So I replaced the belt and idler pulley, topped off the coolant–was about 3/4 gallon low including the recovery tank, replaced the radiator cap and recovery tank cap, and changed the oil and oil filter.

While I was working under the truck to change the oil, I observed coolant dripping from the connection of the lower radiator hose to the water pump, which is a worm-drive hose clamp. The hose clamp was very loose and not aligned correctly. I moved it closer to the end of the hose and tightened the set screw, and the leak stopped.

There is a leak close to the driver’s side, unsure if it’s power steering fluid or brake fluid. The steel pipes which connect to the power steering pump are full of caked-on grease and dirt, and it looks like the steering rack itself leaks. The brake and ABS warning lights are on, but the brakes seem to work ok.

We took it for a long test-drive, and it did not overheat, and the engine ran ok. The suspension on this truck is beat. It rides like a truck with over a quarter-million hard miles, but it really only has 153,000 miles on it. Every imperfection in the road results in rattling and clattering from the suspension, in addition to the “worn shock absorber” ride.

I have already sunk about $140 into this thing, and my MIL will pick it up tomorrow. I think a professional alignment and suspension shop is needed, but I doubt she is willing or able to pay for that.

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You’ve done good. I can’t imagine she’ll spend $500 for shocks, etc. hard to bring a worn out buggy up to standards again.

Check the brake fluid level. Low fluid can flip the switch or even a parking brake lever not fully released. Don’t know about the abs nut just means ya got standard brakes instead. As far a a leaky rack, just make sure the ps fluid is up. I solved a rack leak once with just a bottle of stop leak. I. Was not about to put a new rack on and it worked for at least another 150,000 miles.

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Sounds like you got done what is needed to be able to drive it… As far as all the noises from the suspension, there is a lot of possibility’s to what they could be… Some could be very unsafe if loose, some not so much… If you are unable to, then I would have a good shop check the suspension for loose parts and safety… You can align a vehicle with loose parts but it will not hold nor will it be correct, when you are talking about 0.01 degrees being in spec or out of spec then a loose part will be out anyway…

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If leak continues, some of the pro’s here say a spring-loaded clamp is a better option. Harder for diy’er w/typical diy’er tool set to install/remove is the downside.

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Just need the right tools ,George.

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Tester

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$20 for the tool set seems like a pretty good value. Wondering if there’s a work-a-round for the $80 shipping fee?

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Anybody know what that 2-handled tool with the attached cable is used for?

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It’s for getting at hard-to-reach spring clamps.

Tester

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Thanks for the utube post. I can think of several occasions when such a tool would have prevented some knuckle scrapes. For example Corolla’s water pump is located at front of engine, pushes coolant front to rear through engine, then coolant exits at rear returns to water pump at front via a 2 inch diameter metal return-pipe. That pipe is removed during water pump replacement, and has several rubber hoses connected to it, and runs under intake manifold, difficult to access.