I bought my 92 about 9 months ago. It seemed to be in decent shape and well taken of. The A/C did not work when I bought it, everything else has failed since I bought it. Truck has 185K miles.

Fuel shutoff solenoid
TPS
Complete A/C rebuild
Fan/clutch assembly
New weatherstrip in both doors
Serpentine belt
Battery
Battery tray
Valve cover gaskets
Tranny pan gasket
Tranny mounts
Carrier bearing
Radiator repair
Upper/lower radiator hoses
Cruize control servo
All vacuum lines
Ignition switch
Rear pinion seal

So my question is, is this the way it is with these old trucks...or am I just lucky.
Bill

 

As reliable as can be expected from a 19-20yr old truck that gets rattled to death.

The real question, how reliable is the engine and how easy (cheap) is it to fix the truck compared to newer ones?

 

Looks like the deferred maintenance monster decided to visit as soon as you bought the truck.

 

It can only be as reliable as the previous owners cared for it. You can trash a new car if ya try. I've had my Dodge for three years now. Replaced brake pads, tie rod ends, filters and replaced the seals in my pump. Not bad in my opinion.

 

As far as reliable, I would hop in it today and go cross country.

 

I'm not gona say you over do it by no means, because you do it the way we all should, but seems like most of the stuff you have done to your truck 97.376% of all of the rest of the 1st gens need but don't get.

if i posted the list of things i would like to do to my truck you would say, why are you driving that piece of crap.

most of us just turn a blind eye to small leaks and small things to fix, where you fix them.

there just old girls that need a little love every once in a while.

Dar

 

You're probably right Dar. I am a little **** about certain things. Don't like leaks, everything needs to work like it's suppose to, needs to drive good, stop good, etc. I don't mind giving the truck a little love, but I'm beginning to feel like the guy that's dating a hooker...but he don't know it yet.
Oh, one more thing, I would NEVER say your truck was a piece of crap. It's one of my favorites.

Bill

 

Bought my 93 brand new: 160K miles

Water pump
front discs
rear drums
cab door and window rubber
Stereo
starter
fuel pump

Thats about it..

 

I have several choices and the one I take that will get me there for sure, with all my stuff is my truck. It is comfortable, has all it's own tools and has a 2200-2500 mile range without filling up. I can fix anything but a major failure on the road. In all the trips I have taken in her, she is batting 1000. That is a lot of trips in 11 years,including NYC twice, Oregon 5 or 6 times and Mexico about a hundred times. Many of the things on your list are maintenance items. Also, I have any part, in my truck, that would be an easy fix, if I only had the part, like starter, alternator, water pump, ETC.. Also plenty of antifreeze in order to maintain my required 100% ......Mark P.S. the above also goes for my bike, when the trip requires only 2 wheels

 

Just sounds like deferred maintenance as mentioned above. Perhaps the previous owner just decided to sell and defer maintenance to the next owner. Did you get any maintenance history with the truck from the previous owner? Right or wrong, I put a lot of stock in maintenance history documentation and long standing ownership. On that repair list, the only ones that would be a non do it yourself fix for me are the A/C, rear pinion seal. I am the same as you regarding being **** on everything working.

 

20 yrs old,you,ve owned it 9 months. So 97% (approx.) Of it's life was lived before you got it.

Like said above,do you have a maintenance history?

 

I understand what you guys are saying about maintenance. However, most of the list has very little to do with routine maintenance. For example: you don't replace a pinion seal that doesn't leak, a TPS that's working properly, Fan/clutch assembly, battery that is still good, gaskets that don't leak don't get replaced, radiators don't get pulled and repaired that don't leak, CC servo's don't get replaced unless they're not working, ignition switches usually last forever, fuel shutoff solenoid's aren't replaced during routine maintenance. Most of the list is just crap going wrong, one after another.
Bill

 

sounds like you have most of the problems repaired. Now just enjoy the ride

 

I'd drive my truck anywhere, at this point...

After $6.5k in parts, I think I have that ability to feel comfortable.

 

Most people would still consider the truck reliable with your problems. They'd just keep going down the road! Never heard of people having to replace half of the stuff you said though.