Fuel Problem, not the fuel pump

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pwebyd90

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So I'm driving down the road and I lose power.. can rev the motor but its not going any faster, just coasting to a stop.. I thought it was the transmission by the way it was acting. When I get to a stop, the truck dies, so I try to start it back up and it feels like its misfiring on all cylinders, runs for a few seconds, then dies again, but starts up every time.

Get it towed home and change the IAC valve, detail the throttle body, nothing helps. So I figured it might be the fuel pump even though its getting gas at the rails and I can hear the pump kick on. Do a test and its shakey at about 45-48psi.. but then sometimes while its started and shaking violently, something will catch and it will run perfect, but rev to like 4k, then slowly go back down and die. Well it did this while the pressure tester was hooked up, and while it was running perfectly the psi jumped to a steady 50. Fuel pump! I thought, so I had one overnighted to me.. changed it out today, started her up, and exact same thing is happening.. Anyone have any ideas? Also like to add I'm only getting one code and its gas cap leak... might be important now that I think about it

2001 Dodge Ram 1500
5.9L v8
 

MagSport

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I had this issue shortly after I did my heater core. Cleaned my battery terminals and tightened everything down tight and it fixed it. Don't know if it would be the same for you, but if these trucks have a bad connection at the battery, the Ecms go all crazy


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crazy_luck

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Some of this sounds like symptoms of a plugged/bad catalytic converter...
 
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pwebyd90

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If it were the cat would it throw any codes? And I'll check the battery when I get home, I'm out of town for a couple more days.. Thank you for the replies
 
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pwebyd90

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I had this issue shortly after I did my heater core. Cleaned my battery terminals and tightened everything down tight and it fixed it. Don't know if it would be the same for you, but if these trucks have a bad connection at the battery, the Ecms go all crazy


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Were you having these exact problems? If it turns out to be just the battery I would be sooo happy :)
 

MagSport

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I didn't check the fuel pressure at the rails but the truck would not idle without throttle and it would still have erratic revs. I looked over everything I had messed with while messing with the dash and my terminals were pretty corroded. Cleaned em up, replaced terminals and added the foam pads, and that solved the problem, truck ran flawlessly. I would check this before anything else since this would be a relatively cheap repair if it's the problem. Report back with findings! lol


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pwebyd90

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Cleaned the battery up nice and shiny, didnt change anything.. multimeter had good readings. Its been too long and too stressful, so I finally had it towed to my mechanic. Hopefully we'll know whats going on tomorrow :)
 
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pwebyd90

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My mechanic said the previous owners must have cut my CEL, so thats great =/
Only thing he can guess is bad ECM.. sound plausible at all?

He said when he hooks it up to his scanner its not showing the computer at all, and he tried unhooking sensors to try and get it to throw codes and its not doing anything.. someone suggested crankshaft position sensor, but he said since it starts its not lack of spark or anything of that nature.. cheapest computer I can find is $217 :(
 
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pwebyd90

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Which fuse is responsible for powering the OBDii port? That may be the problem, but cant find which fuse it is through googling =/
 

MagSport

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I don't think the obd2 port has a fuse. The only other thing I can think of if it has spark may be a throttle body sensor such as the iac or the tps. Other than that I'm clueless [emoji29]


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pwebyd90

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Already changed the iac and cleaned the throttle body back when it first happened.. had my mechanic change out the throttle position sensor and he dropped the exhaust on it to see if it was a plugged cat, and no dice.. he has given up on it, so ill be towing it home Sunday :(
Only thing I can think to do now is try a different battery, change map sensor, change out crankshaft and cam sensors.. any suggestions on which to try first? Still not throwing any codes btw
 

rowdyram

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Do you have access to a scan tool?
 

DodgeHimRamHer

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pwebyd90

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Mechanic still has the truck, asked him about timing and compression issues, he said thats not it.. I'm not sure what he did to check either of them, though.

He has a scanner and only code that came up for was for the TPS, we changed that out and it didnt help anything =/
 
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pwebyd90

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Changed out the crankshaft sensor today, didnt help anything. Its running very rich and smoking black smoke
 

DodgeHimRamHer

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Mechanic still has the truck, asked him about timing and compression issues, he said thats not it.. I'm not sure what he did to check either of them, though.

He has a scanner and only code that came up for was for the TPS, we changed that out and it didnt help anything =/

do you know the code # it threw? You say its running rich, is it still misfiring?
 
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pwebyd90

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The truck is on its way home today, so I'll be able to check it out when it gets here.. As far as i know it wasnt throwing misfire codes, it just felt like it was misfiring.. felt really starved for fuel.. if its throwing any more codes i'll be able to update with the actual numbers
 
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pwebyd90

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Truck's home, no codes, no check engine light still.. Tried putting new gas in it, didnt effect it. Something new I noticed, when it was bogging down real bad, the breaks were harder to push.. is that a vacuum leak symptom?
 
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