Motor Change
Asked by Hanksnow Nov 08, 2010 at 08:56 PM about the 1996 Dodge RAM 1500
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 1996 1500 ram 5.9 4 Wheel Drive and the block cracked I bought a 5.9 out of an 2003 what all will i have to change to make this run in my 96. Can anyone help meout on this
1 Answer
WolfRabbit answered 14 years ago
Hopefully not much. However, I'm not really familiar with Dodges, but I'll help you with what I can. Normally whenever we do engine swaps and the vehicle is older than the engine (by a significant amount of years- normally 3-5) we remove the ECU or ECM and main wiring harness that belongs to the newer engine and it replaces the older harness and ECU/ECM in the older vehicle. Make sure the engine you purchased is similar to the engine removed from your truck (in terms of plug placement for the harness). Check the main harness plugs on your truck and see if any of them look as though they will be similar to any the plugs on the engine. There are some instances (especially with Chevys) when we've only had to add an extra O2 sensor and called it a day as the rest of the plugs matched perfectly. If you did not grab the harness or ECM for the engine you purchased, remember it is always a good idea to get the newer module to go with the correct engine, as the new units will run the engine more efficiently. Hoped this helped.