Good afternoon, I am new to this forum and am excited I found something dedicated to Mopars. I am also new to being an owner of a Mopar. I recently acquire an '87 Dodge Ram 50, 5 spd manual, from my grandfather's estate as he passed away. I wanted this truck for sentimental value as it was our "runnin' around" truck while I was growing up as well as other value such as reliability and fuel mileage.

I have been able to clean up the interior and exterior and have found I have a possible ignition issue while trying to start the engine. This could be it yet I am no expert by any means as this has been out of my league in the past. When I attempt to use the key start, I can hear a "click" one time and then it stops and there is no noise. I have tried jumper cables and even a battery charger thinking the battery is low or dead, but still will not start.

Would anyone educated direct me where to look first? Should I look at the starter cables, cable ground, solenoid, remove starter and have it tested, etc? Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I would love to be able to use this truck and keep it from going to the salvage yard.

Thank you in advance.

Aaron

 

Hey Aaron welcome to the Forum.
1st Check your battery connections to see that everything is ok
2nd Do you have a multimeter ? If so check the voltage that is in the battery.
3rd Check the larger wire that runs from the + side of battery to the starter, make sure connection is good.
4th Do that stuff and let us know what you find out.

 

Welcome to the forum!

Polar hit it on the head. You should read 12.6V with a fully charged battery. Your starter could have a dead spot. You can have someone try starting it the truck while you "tap"/"hit" the start with a hammer and wooden block. Sometimes it just needs to be jolted. If it starts after that, I would replace the starter.

 

X2 on richinny ideas and Polaradude ideas.
If it were a Ford I'd say ground problems to the starter.

 

Well, I finally got a chance to look into this last evening. Let's say I was rather taken back by what I saw. The battery cables were junk as posted above. I never knew an automobile used a 6 guage cable just like a riding lawn tractor, but these sure do look original. The positive cable was a mess and virtually fell apart as soon as I loosened it. The ground cable had (2) additional ground tabs, one on the inside wheel well and the other on the front of the engine block and then the main ground on the rear engine block. Never seen that before either.

I did check the battery and it was low voltage, however, the fluid was low so I didn't want to make a judgment call just yet. I went ahead and topped off the battery, since its a 5 year battery but only 3 years old, and placed it on a slow charge to see if we can get it "up to snuff."

With all that being said, I have purchased new battery cables and will install them by the weekend. They will be much better and larger than what was on there, won't have as many unnecessary grounds, and no bare wires for corrosion to get ahold of. Hopefully, with the combination of a fully charged battery and good cables, we might get the ole gal running.

I will check back and let you all know too. Thank you very much for all the suggestions and help.

 

Glad we could help.

 

I hate to say this, but I may have major issues with the truck. I have solved the battery power issues by replacing the battery cables, cleaning the grounds, cleaning and recharging the battery, etc. However, when I turn the key it still just clicks and nothing. I checked the fuseible links and they are fine. I then turned to possibly "push/clutch starting" the truck and really got concerned. When got pushed at a good rate of speed in a high enough gear, I popped the clutch and about went through the windshield. The engine did not make a noise at all, it did not sound like it even turned over, and I just about stopped on a dime so to speak. That really got me concerned because even if you can't get it starter, you should be able to at least hear the engine turn over. Nothing here.
With that being said, I put the truck in neutral and took a breaker bar to the bottom engine pulley (crankshaft). I tried going both directions and could nto budge the engine either way. I woud think as much torque as I was putting on that, I would be able to get the crankshaft to turn a little in one direction but I was not. My wife said it was enough that whatever way I was trying to turn, she could tell the truck was slightly leaning that way.
My biggest concern now is this: is the engine stuck? So I asked grandma when my grandfather stopped driving it and maybe what it did when he stopped driving it. She said the truck left him stranded as it simply stopped along side of the road. They never took the time to really get it fixed since it wasn't simple and grandpa parked it.
No, I have not taken the starter off yet as I got side-tracked by not being able to turn the engine over by hand. At this point, I think I may have bigger issues.
What do you all think? Is there any test I can do to check to see if the engine truly is locked up? If so, its gonna have to go get recycled.
Thanks!

 

Aaron, how long has the truck been sittin ? Pull all the spark plugs and put an ounce or two of oil in each hole and let sit overnight. Try rotating the motor then, manually.

 

The truck actually only sat 2 weeks after my grandfasther died. Teh last time he drove it was a week before he died. The oil level and antifreeze level were fine before I tried working on it and I did change the engine oil and filter just as a precaution. The oil I removed did not appear to have any water in it either.

I'll try the remove the plugs and belts and then try to turn over the engine. If that doesn't work, it will be a piece of family history that will be recycled. I will let you know what I find out. Thanks again for all your help.

 

you might have damaged the tranny by doing that

 

Well, I hate to say this, but the truck is stuck big-time. I don't see how this can be fixed unless a person does a complete engine rebuild. Although the truck is worth a lot per centimental value, it simply is not financially feasible to proceed any further than I have gone. With that being said, the truck will go to the junkyard and maybe be recycled.
I greatly appreciate all the help and advice I have been given on this site as it is greatly appreciated.

 

i highly doubt the tranny got damaged as those trannys are pretty strong when they are in gear. the clutch would give out first probably.

Sounds like the motor is frozen. You would need to pull the motor and rebuild the block at least. all new bearings and rings. Hopefully the crank and connecting rods are not damaged.

If you are going to get rid of it, I'd try to sell it and at least get something back for it. If you have the space, see if you can part it our on craigslist or on ebay.

 

I know this is just me but I would try to put a 318 in it.
Seems like the perfect candidate [when I was younger, a friend did just this to his D-50 and it was even the earlier version {early eighties}. It went in like it was made for it! Cant remember how he did it but there wasn't much fabricating involved. Of course you local laws might preclude you from trying this. Just a crazy idea.I know the early D-50's used a 904 trans for the automatic versions.

 

someone told me that the 3.9, 5.2 and 5.9 motors all share the same bell housing (that may be only true for the magnum motors though).

 

NH is trying to pass a law saying that you can only swap in a motor of the same year or newer. Started are really cracking down.

 

thats b.s.

 

no.... thats fact.

 

i mean that it is stupid

 

OPW x 5