2004 Hemi poor idle, stalling issue

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2004RCLBHemi

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Posts
36
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Location
Campobello, SC
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I swapped an entire Hemi drivetrain from a 2004 Ram into my 2004 Ram (which originally came with a 3.7 V6).
Everything is working but the idle quality is poor and the engine stalls within a few minutes.
I had completely disassembled the engine, cleaned, inspected and measured everything and all that was good.
Stock tune, no modifications, no check engine light.
The engine sounds smooth - no ticking or knocking, etc.
Neither of the trucks had the SKIS (Sentry key system) so that shouldn't be an issue.
Attached are a few screenshots from logging with vcm scanner.
The MAP value seems to move around a lot, as do the timing and rpm.
I'm not sure how steady these values should be.
I noticed the short term fuel trim gets to almost -30% before the engine stalls.
It definitely smells rich also for the first minute or two.
I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge - it reads 58 with key on, engine off, and bounces back and forth between 60 and 64 with engine idling.

Does anyone have a log of a similar vehicle on cold startup so I can see what these charts should look like?
How steady should the fuel pressure be when idling?
I'm thinking I have a bad MAP sensor or a bad fuel pressure regulator.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
Jeff

log 1.jpg

log 2.jpg

log 3.jpg
 

xtremewlr

Senior Member
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Feb 12, 2015
Posts
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Location
Tucson, AZ
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi
Did you swap in the PCM from the donor truck as well?
 
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2004RCLBHemi

Member
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Jan 4, 2018
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Location
Campobello, SC
Ram Year
2004
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well now I feel a bit stupid - the pushrod for cylinder 7 intake valve was not located properly in the ball of the rocker arm.
Fortunately no damage occurred and the engine runs great now.
I have to button up a few things before test driving, then I'll create a write up of the swap and post a link here.
I took lots of pictures.
Thanks.
 

chrisp2493

Always Modding
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Oct 30, 2016
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Location
Warren, OH
Ram Year
2003
Engine
392 Hemi
Yeah that will happen. The intake push rods are very difficult to install properly. I found the easiest way was putting the intake rocker arm on first and make sure it’s all lined up before the exhaust side goes on. That way you still have room to get your fingers near the intake pushrods. Glad it was something simple!
 
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