I helped my son and his friend install a 5.9 magnum with transmission (4WD) in his 98 ram 2500HD over the weekend.
The engine was from a rollover and had been sitting for nearly 20 years. It looked like new unbelievably preserved.
I warned him that it likely would have injector problems so we filled the fuel rail with lacquer thinner the night before.
He was anxious to hear it run so he pretty quickly hooked up just enough wiring and installed the starter.
I wanted to make sure it had oil pressure before firing it so we left the injectors unplugged and cranked it several times.
Plugged in the injectors and cranked several more times, nothing.
I said let's make sure there is spark so we grabbed a plug and checked #1, sure enough good spark.
Put a timing light on it, right on.
So I grabbed a spray can cap with a little gas, poured it in and there was some life but hard to tell if it would would run on all 8.
He removed the rail and inspected everything, sure enough the top of the injectors had a layer of varnish.
I instructed him that the fuel rails needed to be thoroughly cleaned or it would likely act up after running it.
He swapped the injectors out of his Dakota which were fairly new and cleaned the rails.
The truck started immediately and seems to run strong but was smoking like crazy.
We ran it for a couple minutes between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm and the smoke seemed to subside a bit, likely from the roll over or perhaps they oiled the cylinders.
Still need to see if the transmission works well, one of the cooler lines twisted off so that should be done today.
Hopefully he can get it ready to plow today, it's supposed to snow up to a foot by tomorrow AM.
Oh and unbelievably the transmission output shaft was different on the new new trans. Everything appears to be identical I think it was out of a 99. Luckily my son kept the yoke from it when he scrapped the truck. Who would have guessed?
