Truck shuts off while driving...help!

Hi everyone, I am still pretty new to this whole owning a "real truck" thing. I have searched the web for some answers but havent really found a definitive answer, so here I am. From what I have read online, this is actually an issue that has been reported more often than i'd like to see. So here is the issue:

While driving, usually while slowing down or turning at low speeds (below 25 MPH), my truck just shuts off and leaves me coasting with no power brakes or power steering (very dangerous in traffic). I am quickly able to put it in neutral and if starts back up immediately with no hesitation.

This has happened 6 times in the past 24 hours and has me very concerned as I live in the Chicago area and there is always a lot of traffic around me and I dont want to stall in a dangerous point for myself or anyone around me.

I have had the battery and alternator tested, they both checked out fine.

Key notes:
2004 Dodge Ram 1500 QC 4x4 5.7 Hemi Sport 69,000 miles.
When the truck stalls, there is no sputter, or struggle, it is instant.
The truck has been feeling slightly underpowered the past 2 days.
NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT OR CODES
When the truck stalls, all lights, radio, & gauges (except rpm) stay on, lit, and fully functional with no flicker or change.
This issue has only happened at lower speeds, while slowing down or turning.
I had the truck run on idle for a long time afterwards to see if it would hesitate or stall while im parked and it did not do anything.
I have read that it can be any of the following(but none have been a proven fix): EGR, throttle body clogged, air filter clogged, fuel filter, fuel pump, crank position sensor, PCM needs reflash, battery, alternator, and possibly more.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, if you guys need more info, I can try to answer any other questions.

***Separate incident...On occasion when I start my truck (from cold) the check gauges light comes on (I notice that my oil pressure gauge stays stuck down), if I shut it off and turn it right back on, that gauge works properly and no more light.***

Thanks in advance! -Leo

Another thing you can add to your list is a clogged catalytic converter. If your not getting any codes it might be worth checking. Take a rubber mallet and hit the outside of the cat. If you hear some thing rattling or broken inside then its bad and could be causing your engine to suddenly lose power. My experience with fuel pumps is that they usually fail suddenly and with no warning. One day they're working fine and the next they're not.

Confirm that your Ignition Switch is in good condition. GM just had a big recall over a situation just like this, with thousands of vehicles recalled, and a few fatalities as a result of similar shut downs while running down the road.

DO NOT hang big heavy key rings or extra **** on your ignition key fob or ring. It can get bumped and kick the key from the "Run" to the "Acc" position and result in a situation that you describe. Or worse, it could turn it all off completely.

My wife has a horrible habit of doing this with all her keys. It drives me nuts, and has prematurely worn ignition switches and keys. It even has bent some of the older keys.

Have ONE ring for the vehicle keys, and another for all the other crap, especially if you look like the middle school custodian and have 12 lbs of various keys, bottle openers, kubotons, mace cans and adjustable wrenches hanging off it. It's not the key to the bathroom at the local gas station people... no need to carry all that crap.

Hope that helps.

The same thing happened to me in my old 04 I had. Never figured out why it did that, and it only happened in the cold. When I was slowing down at the end of my street it would shut off. Radio wouldn't cut out, wouldn't sputter just shut off, and I wouldn't notice until I tried turning the wheel. I would check the fuel pump though. My buddy was having the same issue in his f150 and it was his fuel pump had gone out. He replaced it and hasn't happened again.

Hope this helps.


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Sounds like either fuel pump going out, or fuel pick-up filter clogged. Neither will throw a code. The only way to really check them is to drop the gas tank, remove the gas pump assembly and check the filter. Take the assembly to a parts store and have them check it. Not all auto parts stores can check out a gas pump so be aware of that. If the filter looks clogged then you will need to clean out your tank and get a new pump. The filters are a massive pain to change out so it is easier to just bite the bullet and change the entire assembly. DO NOT INSTALL THE NEW PUMP ASSEMBLY UNTIL AFTER THE TANK AHS BEEN CLEANED, you will regret it if you fail to clean the tank.

Have you filled up recently? My moms 07 Ford escape experienced the same exact symptoms you're describing.

Shutting off while coming to a stop or slowing for a turn, no sputter, dash lighting up, starts right back up in neutral only to do it again a few miles later.

My mom said it happened a few miles after filling up at a pump that kept shutting off every few dollars. A gas station she had never stopped at. Long story short, once we ran through the fuel and filled up again at our usual station, the problem has never happened again.

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Thanks for all the suggestions! I will bring it to my shop today and test out some sensors.

RonJon- The cat is a possibility because I sometimes get the cat smell "rotten eggs", and a few weeks ago I got a code for the cat, but cleared it out because I've never really had a cat cause problems other than some smells. I will check that out today.

Brakelate- I read about the ignition switch issue as well. I only use my truck key and remote fob on its own ring, so it shouldnt be too heavy to cause issues... but I did just buy the truck 2 months ago and who knows what the previous owner may have had on his/her keyring. I will do a check of running the truck and then kind of lightly moving the keys in some weird positions (without turning it back or forth hard enough to shut off ignition) and I will see if it shuts down or loses signal somehow.

Lonestar, Megamouse, and Bluesmoke- I have a fresh tank of fuel and I was thinking that this may be the issue, but then i remembered that it did the whole stalling thing 1 time before I filled up (had between a 1/4 tank and 1/2), the same morning. While I was filling up, the pump nozzle was good and did not click every few dollars, it went straight in on the highest setting.
Will fuel pumps cut in and out like that though? In my previous experience with fuel pump issues it will run a bit rough, or it wont work and it will stay not working. Also if its the fuel pump, wouldnt it take a bit of time for me to try and restart the truck (by the time pump goes back on and creates enough pressure to feed the, now empty, lines and system it should take a few cranks...mine fires back up immediately).
I am not doubting that the fuel pump can be the issue, it just seems like it would be doing slightly different things, and not consistently while slowing down/braking/turning every time. I will probably pull the tank today though and check it out!

Thanks for the suggestions, I hope I can figure this thing out so I dont have to feel like my life is in danger when I drive my truck!

For the fuel pump it can cause all sort of problems. One thing about them is they are designed to keep a certain amount of pressure in the line. If the pressure drops a couple psi from what the vehicle needs there is a switch on the fuel rail (on injected trucks anyways) that will shut off the engine. I have heard of these pressure switches going bad but that is rare. Biggest thing about the fuel system is the pump has too keep the psi up. A friend of mine installed a pressure gauge in his truck and watched it while driving. Not sure what his pressure numbers were but he said that it would fluctuate only a couple lbs. Hopefully you can get this sorted out. Your truck shutting off like that is a major safety issue that requires fixing. Good luck.

I remember when my truck would shut off, I'd have to put it in park, and try to start it. Sometimes it would be turning over for a while before it would actually start. And it seemed hesitant to start


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lone12star said:

I remember when my truck would shut off, I'd have to put it in park, and try to start it. Sometimes it would be turning over for a while before it would actually start. And it seemed hesitant to start


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Ok that sounds like dirty gas filter or bad gas pump. Both are in the same place.

UPDATE-

I hooked up my scanner to the truck and found a fault code P0404 -EGR
The strange part is that there was no check engine light on, yet it had a code...

I swapped out the whole egr solenoid and so far so good, it seems to run like it did before the issue. Seems like I have full power, and my rpm's arent acting jumpy at all.

On my way to the shop this morning (45minute drive) the truck wanted to stall out evey time i was off the throttle and it shifted gears. I noticed this pattern and decided to put it in neutral every time i was going to slow down to an eventual stop. Doing this helped a lot, but there were still a few times where it wanted to stall out. I basically was blipping the throttle constantly every time i was slowing down to keep the rpm's high enough to not stall the engine. Still shut down a few times in the trip though.

thanks for the responses! hopefully the issue is now resolved for good, but it is good to know the other options of what may go wrong without indication. Thanks again!

When it dies and you attempt to restart it and it cranks longer than usual. Try holding the gas pedal down while you crank it. If it immediately fires into life then it's flooding. The engine needs to be operating within a certain range of parameters to register some codes. Such as, above a certain rpm, closed loop or have had another test of a higher level successfully completed. Check your service manual for how DTC's are generated. There is no fuel pressure sensor on a 04 5.7 gas model. Crank and cam sensors usually throw codes, sometimes identifying the wrong sensor. Check grounds and electrical plugs for the TB. MAP and other sensors. I would even add a separate ground wire joining the TB, PCM and battery ground. And of course it being an 04 with a idle problem you should look for a broken valve spring by removing the valve covers and inspecting each spring. Good luck...

For the oil gauge issue, try replacing the sending unit. My 05 did the same exact thing, start it up, guage stayed down and light came on, turn it off, then back on and it was fine. Did this 4 or 5 times over a couple weeks. Replaced the sending unit and it solved the problem.

Thanks for the info Bigbadram, i will look into that and probably get that fixed in the next few days.

Im glad to report that after about 100 miles put on the truck today after changing the EGR it is running perfectly again. This forum is great and although I am still a newb here I can tell there are many people who know their stuff and its great that you guys are willing to help. I look forward to learning a lot from the people on this site, Thanks!

LPSPEED2 said:

On my way to the shop this morning (45minute drive) the truck wanted to stall out evey time i was off the throttle and it shifted gears. I noticed this pattern and decided to put it in neutral every time i was going to slow down to an eventual stop. Doing this helped a lot, but there were still a few times where it wanted to stall out. I basically was blipping the throttle constantly every time i was slowing down to keep the rpm's high enough to not stall the engine. Still shut down a few times in the trip though.

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What was the cause of this? it happened after you replaced the EGR Solenoid correct? How did you fix it? Just curious, I had a Nissan Pathfinder back in 99 that used to do the same thing...

We have the exact same truck and problem. It's odd...same year and everything. Have you found the issue? It's done it to me a couple times. I can tell it's losing power sometimes also. Any advice would be appreciated!

Where is the EGR located?

My 04 was doing this. When I would come to a stop, it would just die but restart right away. I chased it for a bit with no luck. Then I noticed my brakes were squeeking at the same time the motor would die. I know it sounds crazy but I thought maybe the noise was causing some sort of harmonics that jacked with the computer. I had lifetime warranty pads on, so I changed them. The squeeking stopped and the motor never died again.

Call me crazy if you want, but it fixed my problem and I firmly believe the noise from the brakes were messing with the signals from the computer.

r35j1s said:

My 04 was doing this. When I would come to a stop, it would just die but restart right away. I chased it for a bit with no luck. Then I noticed my brakes were squeeking at the same time the motor would die. I know it sounds crazy but I thought maybe the noise was causing some sort of harmonics that jacked with the computer. I had lifetime warranty pads on, so I changed them. The squeeking stopped and the motor never died again.

Call me crazy if you want, but it fixed my problem and I firmly believe the noise from the brakes were messing with the signals from the computer.

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I think you were doing a good job of trying to find related causes for your problem. But I can find no correlation between a squealing brake and the engine dying. Maybe it was the power steering pump dragging down the engine and got topped off while at the shop? But I suppose stranger things have happen. I had a water well dug a few years ago and they wouldn't start digging until a chicken had been sacrificed to guarantee sweet water.

My truck has never been to the shop. I always do all of the work myself. I can tell you for sure, every time that motor died, the brakes were making noise. Replaced the pads and done nothing else. No more noise and the engine never died again. With all of the electronics on cars now days, it could be possible. All I know is, it fixed my truck.
It died every day for 3-4 months before I replaced the pads. Then it magically stopped. It has been 2 years now and it has not done it since.