318ci a good motor?

[deputyjones]

A Ford guy here looking at buying a Ram Charger with a 318ci. Just wondering about the typical longevity of this type of motor (it is a late 80's) as well as the typical auto trans it might have been paired with. Vehicle has a little more than 90,000 on it.

Thanks in advance!

[Cooter]

What exact year is it? It may or may not have FI, depending on the year, and it may or may not have an OD tranny, depending on the year. The 318 is a reliable engine, but if it hasn't had its timing chain replaced, I would do it now. The 727 is a great tranny, while the A-500 OD has some issues with durability.

[rustcharger]

good advice there. I have an '88 (first year for fi on the 318) couldn't get it to run for squat no matter what . Been told by a few Dodge techs that the stock holley tbi's weren't that great-got way better they went to mpfi (maybe '91-93 not really sure maybe someone else knows???).

Anyways, the motors are pretty good (minus the plastic timing gears mentioned before)88+ have roller lifters, but in my experience the tbi, computer controlled ignition and alt. are junk. Once I swapped that stuff over for an old style ignition alt. and a 600 holley it was dead nutz reliable.

[Toivo]

318s last forever

[deputyjones]

Originally Posted by XJToivo

318s last forever

lol, glad to hear. It is an 89, and per wikipedia it should have FI. Not sure if that is TBI or MPFI though. Thanks for the advice guys.

[user name]

i had an 88 it would be the same set up as an 89 engine wize. at 140000 the timing chain was way slopped out. and if you do get it and decide to time it the correct timing marks are on the balancer. you clean the ballancer find the advance you want mark it the line it up with the 0 on the front of the motor other than that i lost oil pressure at 150,000 because i used quaker state that gummed it all up switched to valvoline and ran it for about 4000 miles before driving it in to swap it for a magnum.

[bogginboy]

we got a old doge half ton for a farm truck with a 318 the body is all rotted out and looks like shit but the 318 still runs like a champ

well over 200k on it

[busyfixin]

318's run forever, except the timing thing, again. forged crank too.

[jeepwannabe]

how about the 84 318's. timing issues with them? are they reliable.

[Cooter]

Yup and Yup. Replace the timing chains- this goes all the way back to the '60s whe the LA 318 came out.

[SS]

I tried to kill mine.... it didn't happen...



I had a guy come into Murrays that was constantly having electrical problems by way of sensors and computer, etc... I told him he should just throw an edelbrock performer RPM intake with a carb on it and call it done (jokingly).

Well..

He did it..


We both thought the thing was on its last legs and when he swapped it ran like a brand new motor. He's put 35,000 miles on it since and hasn't had one problem.

[sinnaevd]

I have one in my 72 dodge charger se, it had sat for 11 years. it took 4 cranks perfor it started up and purrrrrrrrrred like a kitten. no smoke or nothing and that was with 160,000mi on it. i've redone all of it now but it still g oes to show the quality of the engine. i say go for it. i love my 318.

not too mention aftermarket availability for these is growing quickly,
bor it 30 over adn toss some 340 heads on it and you could have a monster

[Pre4runner]

well my brother just bought a 93 dakota with the 318 199k on th etruck 50k on the motor. It runs good as long as your driving normal. But say you floor it... feels slugish, but if you push the pedal 3/4 of the way its pretty peppy. Any idea?

Also when messing around with it in 4wheel low i got on it and ran the rpms up and as she was slowing down it just stalled out on me? Also by putting it in 1st and accelerating hard it did the same thing?

Any ideas would be great its the first dodge truck i've worked with.

[Cooter]

I replied to your other post about this- please don't make multiple posts about the same issue.