Three problems related to manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe have been reported for the 2002 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
2002 Dodge Ram 1500 driving at 55 mph came to a stop, suddenly white smoke started coming out of tail pipe with sweet smell of anti-freeze. Vehicle will lose power told that engine heads need to be replaced. There is a engine design flaw for this year and model that Dodge is not willing to admit nor repair there are multiple complaints but there was never a recall. Vehicle will smoke upon starting and smoke will come back off and on. Just want dod ge to admit the issue and cover repair.
Nov of 2006 I took my truck in for misfire and coolant lose, the dealer checked the cooling system and ok'd it . They replaced my spark plugs for the misfire. About a month ago the truck was not running correctly since my warranty ran out I took it to another shop the rocker arm fell off, it was replaced. A week later 2 rocker arms fell off. With extensive researched it was determined I had a cracked head. When I called the auto manufacturer Chrysler, I was told it was under the power train warranty and I needed to take it to the dealer. I did not feel comftorable taking this truck that was half apart to another mechanic to tell me what I already new, that the head was cracked coolant was leaking into the combustion chamber causing my rocker arms to be blown off. I tried talking to the dealership that I purchased it from and they said that Chrysler already made a decision on this. All I wanted was to get replacement heads and some costs of repairing the truck. If this would have went to the dealer there was going to be a cost for them.
First let me state that prior to this experience, I absolutely loved my Dodge truck. On 20 Apr 2006, my 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up with 50,529 miles started stalling after the engine warmed up. There was a distinct "pinging" sound coming from the catalytic converter before the engine would stall. My 17 year old son was driving the vehicle and was returning from soccer practice when this first started. I brought it to the dealership where I purchased the truck--they couldn't find anything wrong, but based on my description felt that the catalytic converter might be bad, so they replaced it. This seemed to solve the problem until a month and 1,100 miles later the very same symptoms arose (engine stalling when warmed up, and a "pinging" sound coming from the vicinity of the catalytic converter. This time they diagnosed the problem as being scored pistons, requiring me to replace my engine block. . . At 51,679 miles! a quality engine would not fail at this low mileage. I called Dodge, they agreed that it should not have happenedã‚â¦and were very apologetic that my warranty had expired, but they refused to share the burden of the nearly $7,000 cost with me, despite the fact that there was only 51,679 miles on the vehicle. Would you buy a truck whose engine failed at 50,000 miles? I certainly will never again.