5.9 v8 is going be the death of me

Hi guys, First off, im impressed with the site, I'm on a couple other boards for other vehicles, but this one is really well laid out! Kudos!

On to what brought me here....

I have gotten a 1999 Dodge 2500, 5.9 V8, 2WD, that the prev owner couldnt get running and its still being very stubborn and will not run...

I have replaced the Battery, Distributor cap, rotor, sensor under the cap, throttle position sensor, and now the Crank sensor.... and still no dice

I checked fuel pressure at the rail, key on it primes up to 45psi, and under cranking stays roughly around that area but bounces pretty terribly yet doesn't really drop off completely...

I checked spark with an inline light, off the coil i have a distinct pulse to it, and at each plug i have a couple flickers and a pulse repetitively...

I am not throwing any codes, and all seems to be well guage wise.....

While cranking (with petal to the floor) full throttle, it will act like it wants to take off and somewhat fires, but just surges and falls off again.....

I tried dumping some gas down the throttle body, but doesnt seem to really affect anything......

I also verified plug wires are going to their correct spot and are in the correct spot on the cap....

this thing truely has me stumped....

Have you verified the timing is correct? Someone may have installed distributor 180* off.

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bulrid8 said:

Have you verified the timing is correct? Someone may have installed distributor 180* off.

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Distributor controls fuel sync on these motors

Don't **** with distributor. Whole can of worms.

$10 says it's the coil. Ohm check it. 12-15k between the tower and once of the plug pins and roughly 1ohm between the 2 pins in the plug.

dapepper9 said:

Don't **** with distributor. Whole can of worms.

$10 says it's the coil. Ohm check it. 12-15k between the tower and once of the plug pins and roughly 1ohm between the 2 pins in the plug.

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so one ohm between a and b on the plug for the coil itself, and 12k to 15k from one wire in the plug to the output of the coil? does it matter which wire?

suede said:

so one ohm between a and b on the plug for the coil itself, and 12k to 15k from one wire in the plug to the output of the coil? does it matter which wire?

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Yep the coil itself. Does not mate which pin in the connector when checking against the tower but just the coil itself. Your not checking the wires just the internal windings of the coil

dapepper9 said:

Yep the coil itself. Does not mate which pin in the connector when checking against the tower but just the coil itself. Your not checking the wires just the internal windings of the coil

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well i checked it, seems to be ok? i got 1.3 ohm pin to pin, and 12.87 k-ohm from one pin to tower and 12.88 k-ohm from the other pin to tower.... so thats reasonably within spec, or still think its worth trying?

can someone with a running 5.9 take a video of their fuel pressure as it primes, cranks and starts?

You're 100% that the plug wires are right? I had a Honda Prelude once that ran excellent and then I changed the plugs and wires. Afterwards, no matter what I did, the engine would not start. I was totally stumped and my old man insisted that I screwed up the plug wires.

Finally, I pulled a diagram and compared it to what I had. Sure enough, the old man was right; I had all of my plug wires advanced one post! This happened because, like a noob, I pulled all the wires off at once because "eh, it's only 4. I'll surely remember where they go!"

I put the wires in the right spot, turned the engine and it fired immediately. Lesson learned, remove/replace the damned wires one at a time, LOL.

Well **** coil is in spec technically but could be w weak. What color is your spark? Blue/white perfect, yellowish weak. 45psi on prime should be enough to start it. If it's weak it just won't run long. Neutral safety has been known to cause no start conditions as well.

Mmm Nuetral safety switch is a good one, might also swap the asd relay or just make sure it's good.

Yeret said:

You're 100% that the plug wires are right? I had a Honda Prelude once that ran excellent and then I changed the plugs and wires. Afterwards, no matter what I did, the engine would not start. I was totally stumped and my old man insisted that I screwed up the plug wires.

Finally, I pulled a diagram and compared it to what I had. Sure enough, the old man was right; I had all of my plug wires advanced one post! This happened because, like a noob, I pulled all the wires off at once because "eh, it's only 4. I'll surely remember where they go!"

I put the wires in the right spot, turned the engine and it fired immediately. Lesson learned, remove/replace the damned wires one at a time, LOL.

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yup pulled the firing order off the intake, and 1 is drivers front, 2 passenger front etc, starting with 1 at roughly 7 o'clock (as your looking from the front...

dapepper9 said:

Well **** coil is in spec technically but could be w weak. What color is your spark? Blue/white perfect, yellowish weak. 45psi on prime should be enough to start it. If it's weak it just won't run long. Neutral safety has been known to cause no start conditions as well.

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I tried a new coil and still no dice, so i took it back, Ill check spark plugs here this afternoon and report back on that....

Neutral safety swiches are only on manuals correct? this is an automatic

MagSport said:

Mmm Nuetral safety switch is a good one, might also swap the asd relay or just make sure it's good.

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ASD relay?

There's a neutral safety switch on the auto tranny.

I think ASD is auto shut down.


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Wouldn't the engine not even crank if it was the neutral safety switch? My sister had an Expedition that would occasionally not crank over until you pulled the shifter back and forth a couple times.

The ASD relay sends power to the fuel pump, right? He mentioned that he has fuel pressure. If you want, the ASD relay is the same as the others in the PDC so you can simply switch it with another one.

Really perplexing issue, there really isn't any reason why the engine won't fire. Only thing left that I can think of is the cam timing being off.

yea it turns over fine, and if i hold it to the floor, it acts like its starting (building rpm by firing) and then it just flat falls on its face and turns over a bit and will do the same, start to fire and take off but just falls off

pull no. 1 spark plug, remove distributor cap. Stick your finger in the no. 1 spark plug hole in head. Have somebody bump the starter, rolling the engine over. When pressure builds highest, it is on the compression stroke. If there is a timing mark on dampener and timing cover, bump over till just before the marks line up. Do not go past. With marks nearly lined up, you are very near TDC for No 1. Now look to see where the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing at the No 1 terminal in the cap. In clockwise direction attach No 1 spark plug wire, then 8-4-3-6-5-7-2.

Sounds like coil or coil wire..

Pepper, you owe this guy $10.