I've also sold my old Duramax to free up money for a house, and have a 2002 Dodge now that I love, but am wondering about some things.

At idle, is it normal for the tach to hunt up and down about a hundred rpm or so? Only seems to do this at idle.

I went through a touchless carwash today, and after I pulled out of it to do final drying, I found that the water had taken off part (about 3x3 inches) of the black paint (or sticker?) that's located between the front and rear doors. Any ideas about getting that fixed easy and/or cheap? I think it's paint but I am not a body guy at all. I attached a pic at the bottom, the section that came off is by the roof.

My truck has the Inifinity system, and I am not sure how to go about putting in better parts. I have a very good source unit, speakers, and amps, but have read conflicting info as to where the factory amps are located on 2nd gens. Some say it's on each front door speaker, and some say that it is behind the glove box. Either way, it looks like there's lots of room under each of the front seats for amps. I'd like to put a sub box under the rear seat but there only seems to be a couple of choices out there - anyone use the QLogic or MTX prefab boxes?

Most of my driving (95%) is in town, less than 55mph. Should I be concerned with approx 13.5 mpg over the last 1000 miles?

Thanks for your time,
Bill

 

One more thing,
My truck has the power heated mirrors. I thought I ran across a post somewhere that talked about how to install the power mirrors from a 3rd gen, so that I could get the flip-out towing style and retain power control?

 

Welcome to the DTR!

Nice truck, I miss my '01. The tach hunting isn't anything to worry about.

Regarding the door damage. That is a stick on vinyl, I think. You could try and fix it or remove it altogether. I'm sure that someone has tried that. Either way, it should probably come off and get cleaned up and a new vinyl graphic applied to do it right. Price it at your local dealer just for fun.

13.5 mpg is a bit low. Is it an auto or stick? what gears, 3.55 or 4.10? I would guess that you can improve on that mileage. I would invest in some gauges as a first mod. Fuel pressure is a MUST, boost and EGT are nice and if you have an auto, trans temp would be good. The 98.5 to 02 trucks had some issues with the injection pump and lift/transfer pump. Just need to keep an eye on that lift pump and make sure it keeps that injection pump fed with at least 6 to 10 psi of fuel at full load. I had a FASS pump on mine that idled at 18 to 20 psi and dropped to 12 at WOT.

The mirror swap has been done but I don't have any details. And I am of no help on the stereo.... good luck.

Have fun with your new ride!

Jason

 

to get the towing mirrors with power heated youd have to buy a set off 2nd gen tow mirrows and a set of 3rd gen( i think between 2003-2005 work but newer are different) power heated to mirrors and use the basses off the second gen and the mirror heads off the third gen as of my understanding and i think the black stuff is like a vinyl sticker but not completly sure

 

Welcome to DTR. You've got yourself a good looking truck there. The idling issue...... mine does this every so often also. I've been adding a qaurt of 2-stroke oil to my fuel every other fill up. Sometimes every 3 fill ups. The idle issue has diappeared since I started this. I think it's because of the lack of lubrucates in the ULD fuel. As for the black between the door and rear window, it's a sticker, not paint. I'd also like to find a replacement. Mine has some cracking. My truck has three amps. One behind the radio in the dash and one in each door mounted on the speakers. I've replaced all of the speakers with much better and I've replaced the radio with an Alpine. Sound great. I'm not planning on replacing the amps anytime soon.

3rd. Gen mirrors will not fit. Well they will with modification. You gotta by the 3rd Gens for just the outer mirror section and 2nd Gen non powered for the base. Then you gotta re-wire the two together. A major PITA. That being said, I'm doing the same thing as soon as I find some mirriors at a decent price.

 

I believe to get the heated/power tow mirrors from a 3rd gen onto a 2nd gen, you have to start with the non-heated/power tow mirrors as original equipment on your 2nd gen (that way you have the correct bases, as your current mirrors have different bases than the tow mirrors).

~Rob

 

Go to ebay and look up dodge ram mirrors or somthing like that, there is a grundel of 'em. The rpm thing happened on my 99' you might notice your lights dim on occasion too