Four problems related to tank assembly have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 1998 Dodge ram. While driving 20 mph, the contact heard a loud bang that sounded like an explosion. He looked in the rear view mirror and noticed that the entire rear of the vehicle was in flames. The flames quickly engulfed the driver's side of the vehicle. He managed to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road and attempted to extinguish the flames. The fire department was called and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was towed to a local service station and a large hole was found in the fuel tank. The mechanic stated that the entire fuel system needed to be replaced at the estimated cost of $3,500. A police report was filed. The failure and current mileages were 160,000.
Rear axles seals leaked lubricant on the brake shoes causing loss of braking. This problem a very serious safety concern when towing a trailer due to loss of braking and could cause a possible accident. The second issue is the fuel sender in the fuek tank failing. The fuel gauge reading willindicate zero to full randomly, thus you never know how much fuel reserve you have. This has been replaced once before under warranty. Upon inspection the the sending unit the wiper mechanism appears to wear out prematurely and sending erroneous signal to the fuel gauge in the dash.
While driving vehicle smoke suddenly was noticed coming from the gas tank by other drivers. Consumer pulled over and noticed flames around the gas tank. Fire department put the fire out, cause unknown, and the dealer has not been contacted.
While driving consumer shifted indicator and it failed to work properly. Could not locate what gear transmission was in. Pops out of gear intermittently when gas pedal pressed. Also, whenever applying brakes, vehicle would constantly increase in speed. Took to dealership & each time test driven, but nothing could be found. Transmission was replaced 3 times for faulty gear shifting. In addition, fuel tank assembly was replaced due to problem with transmission. Ongoing problems.