I had a hell of a day today. Went to pick up a car trailer project that I bought last fall… it was used to haul a concrete saw but was hit from behind. I'll redo the tail section and slide the axle back 4'. It's really a HD deal… 5K axle. 10 ply tires.
Light problems relegated me to the back road (90 miles took 3 1/2 hours) but I did find out how tough that 235,000 mile 5.2 is that's in my Ram.
I had this truck on my lift all winter. I seldom drive it during the cold weather. A few weeks ago I dropped the oil out of the pan and let it drain overnight.
A few days later I did some tail light rewiring, pulled it out of my shop and parked it. I did about 150 miles of driving the next few weeks… some hwy. some city.
This morning I headed out to pick up this trailer. 100 mile one way ride. I got about 20 miles from home on the return trip and I was thinking of how my son borrowed a five quart jug of oil to fill up his van and Sunbird last week and never replaced it. Then it hit me… that oil was for my truck! I drained the oil and never refilled the engine!
I looked at my oil pressure gauge… between zero and 10 PSI. I stopped and put in two quarts of oil I had in the cab… now I have 15-20 PSI. I notice a plume of smoke now trailing the truck. I stopped and bought two more quarts… no more pressure but lots more smoke.
Limped home… checked the oil. Two quarts low! That engine ran 350 miles without any oil!. My check engine light has been on since I bought the truck in 2012… never gave it a thought today with it glaring at me.
The engine starts and runs fine. But it now smokes a lot. I could feel it running kinda funky when I managed to get about 40 MPH. It felt like it was missing a little or sorta bucking. That may have been it starting to tighten up. Felt fine @ 30 MPH. I was deep into the boonies on some really rough county and town roads. I had to take it easy with this heavy trailer.
Hard to believe but 100% true.
Light problems relegated me to the back road (90 miles took 3 1/2 hours) but I did find out how tough that 235,000 mile 5.2 is that's in my Ram.
I had this truck on my lift all winter. I seldom drive it during the cold weather. A few weeks ago I dropped the oil out of the pan and let it drain overnight.
A few days later I did some tail light rewiring, pulled it out of my shop and parked it. I did about 150 miles of driving the next few weeks… some hwy. some city.
This morning I headed out to pick up this trailer. 100 mile one way ride. I got about 20 miles from home on the return trip and I was thinking of how my son borrowed a five quart jug of oil to fill up his van and Sunbird last week and never replaced it. Then it hit me… that oil was for my truck! I drained the oil and never refilled the engine!
I looked at my oil pressure gauge… between zero and 10 PSI. I stopped and put in two quarts of oil I had in the cab… now I have 15-20 PSI. I notice a plume of smoke now trailing the truck. I stopped and bought two more quarts… no more pressure but lots more smoke.
Limped home… checked the oil. Two quarts low! That engine ran 350 miles without any oil!. My check engine light has been on since I bought the truck in 2012… never gave it a thought today with it glaring at me.
The engine starts and runs fine. But it now smokes a lot. I could feel it running kinda funky when I managed to get about 40 MPH. It felt like it was missing a little or sorta bucking. That may have been it starting to tighten up. Felt fine @ 30 MPH. I was deep into the boonies on some really rough county and town roads. I had to take it easy with this heavy trailer.
Hard to believe but 100% true.
