Sharksbaja - 2-23-2007 at 01:32 AM
Ok, so what suspect parts should us Dodge Hemi owners carry while in Baja?
I now carry a spare u-joint and belt idler pulley.
How about you?
Bob and Susan - 2-23-2007 at 06:18 AM
bring money,
paticence,
access to a phone to call a dodge dealer in the USA
credit card
and lots EXTRA TIME!!!
here's the address to a tow guy in TJ
he's pricey but can "do the job"
Abe's Towing
Abraham Lopez
Telephone 685-43-01
Address:
Calle 7#7767
Tijauna BC
TMW - 2-23-2007 at 08:16 AM
If you want real security tow a Toyota behind it.
surfer jim - 2-23-2007 at 08:22 AM
Mine needs a gasoline tanker to follow it......
Phil S - 2-23-2007 at 08:38 AM
Be advised that there is a Dodge dealership in LaPaz. We've used them in the past, and they are very professional in their work. And most of all,
very reasonable. Just hope you never have to need their services. But comforting to know they are there.
DENNIS - 2-23-2007 at 08:43 AM
Phil ---
Since the general population in Mexico can't register a diesel, does that dealership work on them?
Crusoe - 2-23-2007 at 09:29 AM
In the old days..........When men were men and women knew it..........There were Dodge 318s with simple two barrel carbruators and very little wiring
and gadget hosess going every where. You could fix any thing that happened to you in remote places with a supply of a few neccessary parts, old inner
tubes and duct tape and bailng wire. You had to get your hands greasey from time to time and there wasn't much air conditioning or power
windows.Bottom line things were fairly easy to fix. If you choose to whine about you $40k new truck that you cant work on.......Take a look in the
mirror. Is the price of that much comfort worth the agrivation???
Bob and Susan - 2-23-2007 at 09:51 AM
"When men were men and women knew it"
only old guys had dodges...
every "cool" car was chevy 327 and ford 289
Dead Dodges (and others)
MrBillM - 2-23-2007 at 10:51 AM
The problem that stops you is always going to be Electonics. The Newer the truck, the more likely they won't be able to diagnose and fix it, although
things are a LOT better than years back.
I had one neighbor back in the mid-80s who bought a New Ford Truck and it quit on the first trip to San Felipe. The local mechanics looked at it,
shrugged and walked away. Getting no help calling the Dealer, he rode home with a friend, came back with his Old truck and a trailer, loaded it and
drove back to San Diego.
It was a defective Fuel system sensor.
Luckily, since diagnosis is so erratic, the Electronics have become so dependable that failures are rare.
I've got two Dodges, an 89 and 01 with 360s, and have never had a problem. The only time I had either at the dealer was when the 01 had a recall for
the computer module.
[Edited on 2-23-2007 by MrBillM]
surfer jim - 2-23-2007 at 11:18 AM
Well ....IF.... they were still selling new 1963 vehicles I would probably buy one.....
My dog is better than your dog....again.
Sharksbaja - 2-23-2007 at 11:22 AM
Gee Bob, you sound sour. Por que?
So far though I like the lack of specific parts listed. I agree that the most worrisome problem could be a module failure. There sure are a lot of
them. 
Actually I'm amazed there aren't more electronic module(brain) failures. The 80s were hell.
Dodge has come miles. Others have not.
Oh, and number of times (55.000 mi) in a shop for repairs......ZERO!
BTW Bob- Our hotrod is a GM product. That's all I've ever raced.
Crusoe, no aggravation aqui!
What's a ball-joint??
Sharksbaja - 2-23-2007 at 12:14 PM
"Ford 427's and Dodges were hemi's"
Weren't those Fords 426 ci? Please don't forget 454s
[Edited on 2-23-2007 by Sharksbaja]
Sharksbaja - 2-23-2007 at 01:28 PM
OOps. Been awhile. I have always had small blocks. My buddies all had big bore Chevys. I ran a punched out 283(292), a 302 and an injected 327
Ah the good ol (muscle)days. Thanks for the correction Whistler.
[Edited on 2-23-2007 by Sharksbaja]
Hook - 2-23-2007 at 01:47 PM
My fading memory has the 427 being a GM product and the Ford being the 429.
i thought the 427 was in the 'Vettes for a long time.
Sharksbaja - 2-23-2007 at 02:40 PM
Oh baby, those 302 Camaros were fast. A friend had an orange one with 4speed 4:56 posi and nice Cragers. Of course it had all the bells and whistles.
I was extremely jealous.
Yah Hook, Vettes had the optional 427 L88 in the late 60s
[Edited on 2-23-2007 by Sharksbaja]
Bob and Susan - 2-23-2007 at 03:44 PM
we'll i'm never "sour"
in the "early years"
cameros
vetts
mustangs
gto
these were the "hot" cars
foriegn cars had "class"
dodge was for the "old guys"
and "nerds"
or course this dodge dually diesel is the "best" car i've ever owned
Crusoe - 2-23-2007 at 04:11 PM
Back in the ....Real old days...when their was real "****s" in Tijuana they always went after the guys who had a 56 dark blue or black Olds hardtop
conv. that was scraping on the ground with spinners and little purple lights in the fender wells.Some nice stinky tuck and roll upholstery and a 4
track tape deck. Those girls wanted soft and slow. Oh,oh,..... for the good old days.What fun!!
Phil S - 2-23-2007 at 04:25 PM
Hi Dennis. Regarding the LaPaz Dodge dealership working on diesel engines. No they don't. They sent me to the authorized Cummins "marine" repair
shop. Took care of my problem that time. Other problems were related to electrical & transmission. No problems there. I'd have rated them as a
5 star dealership the way they handled my needs A++4L
Bob and Susan - 2-23-2007 at 04:39 PM
i realized a looong time ago only....
guys like cars.
women really don't care
if only the other "guy team" knew they could try to convert some of our
"players"
DENNIS - 2-23-2007 at 04:41 PM
Gay Nascar races?
TMW - 2-23-2007 at 07:37 PM
If your vehicle is 1996 and newer get an OBDll tester and a service manual or at least something that tells you what the code is. If it's older check
to see what diagnostics it has, for example chevy and Toyota has a connector where you jumper two pins and count the check engine light for the code
then look it up in a service manual. I'm not sure what years they started this, probably when they started using computers. My 91 chevy and my 93
Toyota has it. OBDll testers are as cheap as $39 at Harbor Freight. Auto parts stores have them in the $100 range and up. I'd read the info on it and
get the one you like best regardless of money. There is a series of standard codes all the manufactures must use. Then each manufacture has codes that
are for their specific vehicles.
Sharksbaja - 2-24-2007 at 01:54 AM
That's good info TW.
Bob, I understand. It is a guy thang, but I like to have women around to show off to and hang onto when something breaks or goes wrong
Whistler
I believe there was a 392 Hemi as well.Remember the 6-pack 440 with 3 2-barrel carbs as an option.
Bob and Susan - 2-24-2007 at 07:04 AM
shark...you thought you were showing off...
only...
those women were showing off to you...
they "toughed it out" and proved they could "hang" but...
they didn't really have FUN
men sure make a lot of assumptions... don't we
women LOVE golf but we don't take them
women LOVE fishing but mostly they're left om the dock to clean um
my buddy had a cuda...it sounded like riding in a empty barrel
these new trucks and cars are WAY better now
wiltonh - 2-28-2007 at 06:37 PM
More on the Dodge dealer in Lapaz. We thought we had blown an alternator in our 1996 Dodge in the Cactus park. We were about 40 miles in and had to
go back North for service. We had an extra battery which got us there.
We found a mechanic who tested the alternator for us and told us it was good. He then took me to the fuse box and showed me that we had blown a 120
Amp fuse. He headed to the local auto store to see if he could get one. I got out the manual and figured out which wire could blow a 120 Amp fuse.
When he came back I showed him the wire in the book and I told him to check for a short to ground. He slid his fingers along the wire and found a
burned spot in the insulation about 8 inches from the fuse box. He put in the new fuse and we taped up the spot.
When we got to Lapaz we tried to get an extra fuse. After trying about 6 shops we went to the Dogde dealer. They did not stock the part. It was the
week between Christmas and newyears and he told us one week for inverntory and one week for party. No parts from the states for a month.
We then went to Napa and found a 120 Amp fuse that had different leads. I was able to build some standoffs that bolt into the fuse box. We can now
use the Dodge fuse or a standard fuse from Napa.
Hook - 3-1-2007 at 07:33 AM
Very good ingenuity, Wilton!
And excellent detective work on the cause of the short.
WOW, 120 amps
Sharksbaja - 3-1-2007 at 12:04 PM
That's a mighty big load. Is that the starter lead or main bus line? Good thang there was a fuse in that line. You coulda had a fire!
Ford Big Blocks
vagabond - 3-1-2007 at 06:02 PM
Big Blocks starting out with
332 352 360 390 406 410 427 428 all used the same basic block and heads just different bores and strokes, and valves in the heads. Ford also had a 429
hemi which was in a limited run of mustangs just to make it legal for nascar the 410 was a 390 bore with a 428 stroke Mercury's only, and then there
were the 429 and 460.
I won't go into the old Lincoln motors of the early 60s or the earlier Y blocks of the 50s.
Just the ramblings of an old Ford mechanic
wiltonh - 3-1-2007 at 08:24 PM
It was the wire that went from the fuse box to the alternator. It went to ground right at the back of the headlight. The burned spot was about the
size of my thumb nail. We taped it up but by the time we got to Lapaz the first layer of tape was almost gone.
At that point I found a heavy piece of plastic and taped that to the back of the wire. I then used a wire tie to hold the wire harness to the head
light. This keeps it from bouncing up and down and wearing out the tape. The 120 amp fuse connects the alternator to the battery. The Battery was
what blew the fuse. It can easily supply 120 amps. The fuse did its job.
Most of the fuses we found for sale in the large sizes were for Toyota. They have an 80 amp fuse but I did not feel that was big enough when you have
a 120 amp alternator. If I had not been able to get another 120 amp fuse, we would have tried the 80 amp fuse.
This thread started about asking for spare parts recommendations. If you have nonstandard fuses, I would get an extra set in the states because they
do not take up much room and you may need them.
Wilton
gnukid - 3-2-2007 at 07:48 AM
Mexico is the land of jonkes, in that there are many junkyards very well organized. For that reason fixing an older car is fast and easy, though new
cars present many problems. ABS brakes, catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, computers, etc... fail and are nearly impossible to repair quickly.
Though yes Napa, AutoZone and dealers exist to order parts. When possible stick to the old school vehicles. I drive a '65 Dodge and the mechanics seem
to have no problems.