$50 REWARD for solution - 97 Laramie 5.9 - DYING

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MAC830203

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Magnum 408
You ever get this sorted out? I relocated the battery to under the bed. 100 feet from driveway, truck went completely dead. Just a battery ground, but reminded me of your post.
 
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Prideless

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5.9L-360 Narutally Aspirated
Haven't gotten back to it. Hopefully I can in the next week or so. Thanks
 
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Prideless

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FOLKS - I ORIGINATED THIS MESS AND WE NOW HAVE A DEFINITIVE ANSWER! I am a slow old man and apologize for this taking so long but you have an incredible blessing on this forum known as ramtruckdriver. He has worked many hours with me outside of this forum with direct one on one service to the end, just for the pride of the success! I cannot dignify this with any brevity, so I will post this paragraph, then give the details in the next post
 
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Prideless

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The original gremlin of intermittently shutting down was traced to ramtruckdriver's post regarding the primary wire on the coil. Apparently any of these models with a single coil mounted on the front of the engine about 4 inches away from the fan is susceptible to have internal conductor breakage on those primary wires that power the coil. The erratic behavior I described is all caused by the fan. Those wires wave in the fanwash for decades and the conductors finally break. It shuts down, quits vibrating, cools down a little, insulation shrinks a smidgen, a strand reconnects, and the cycle starts all over again, getting worse and worse over two frigging years!

So... while troubleshooting this maddening situation and following this board on this and several other threads, I went down the list one by one and replaced every sensor in the system, found yet other problems (like the defective vapor canister that filled the purge system with charcoal), I ended up introducing more problems into the troubleshooting dynamic.

Before determining and repairing the reason it was intermittently shutting down, the first new issues occurred when I replaced the entire exhaust system. The new o2 sensors were throwing P0132 and P0138. If you have followed this post closely (forgive me) you might recall I replaced all the power center relays at that exact same time. It only ran a minute before the ignition wire shut it down. That was last June!

At this point it wouldn't run long enough to even throw those codes. Before it finally did, I replaced the pickup coil for a 2nd time, found charcoal from one end of the purge system to the other, replaced purge valve and vapor canister, and blew out the system AND replaced the PCM for a 2nd time, before it would finally run the 8 minutes it needed to in order to throw those codes - THEN IT CUT OFF!!!!!

July 1, I replaced the oxygen sensors AGAIN! This time a different brand from a different source. Got the same codes and it cut off after 21 minutes (the primary wire isn't fixed yet). A new code P0351 pops up. I replace the Idle Air Control Valve for a 2nd time. It runs a little over 14 minutes and throws 0132, 0135, 1038, 0141. OMG! Still with me?

July 5, Replaced MAP sensor. No change, frustration has me needing a break from it.

New Year's Day, 2022 - Happy New Year. The pigtail is replaced on the coil primary wire as far back into the outer shell conduit as I can get. This pigtail was very difficult for me to find. I finally found it as part of an MSD conversion kit, labeled MSD Part No. 8889, Harness, MSD to 90-95 dodge ram 5.2/5.9L. My truck is a 97. There two sets of connectors within a plastic conduit, and one of the is the right one. Just remove the conduit, toss the other connector, and make the repair. The truck has not cut off on me since I replace this pigtail; however, I still have to battle the new problems I have introduced into the system. BTW feel free to show the board where to find the right connector for 5 bucks. I think this was about 30 buck with shipping.

It's not cutting off anymore, but I am still throwing 0132, 0138, and now 0121. At some point I had replaced the Throttle Position Sensor, so I put the old one back on and now I am down to 0132, and 0138. ramtruckdriver has been painstakingly working with me since then to trace out the o2 system. We did nearly every test known to God or man. The sensors were the 2nd brand new set and they bench tested good. We traced every single wire (all by email), from one end to the other of every connector to the PCM, to the ASD, to every ground, everything single thing checked good. By the way, I replaced the PCM yet again while we were doing this to confirm for myself once and for all that wasn't the problem. ramtruckdriver didn't suspect the PCM at all and we proved him right.

I kept reminding ramtruckdriver that even though one of my original o2 sensors had a physical broken wire, the only code it ever threw was 141 once in awhile and it would usually clear long enough for the OBD monitors to clear. He is so dedicated to this that he finds a little blurb on solopcms.com about how some PCMs have to be reflashed because some of the newer sensors for this vintage vehicle work differently from the original. It didn't specifically state o2 sensors, but it got the cogs turning.

He was suggesting we either replace the o2 sensors with the OEM Mopar parts, or have the PCM reflashed. I spent a great deal of time researching online, but since it took me two years to get to this point it won't surprise you that I could not find the confirmed part numbers for the o2 sensors for my truck. ramtruckdriver held my hand and sent me the part numbers he believed the were, and I could not confirm them for my truck either, AND they were over $100 US a piece!


I don't know it this link will take but I ordered a cheap set of sensors off Amazon, KAX 234-4076, 234-4078. For the 3rd time now I have replaced the o2 sensors, and the 3rd time is the charm. Yesterday I put these on and for the first time in two years my engine ran for more than 10 minutes without cutting off or throwing any codes.

I drove a couple of drive cycles yesterday and a couple of more today and all of the OBD monitors have now cleared and it is ready for inspection.

I apologize for this very long journey, but if it helps any one of you out there, it will have been worth the journey. Please do let me know if any part of this may have helped you in any way, and I cannot give enough cudos to RAMTRUCKDRIVER. Thank you so much!
 

JDSR

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Well that’s great news I’m glad RAMTRUCKDRIVER AND you got this figured out and your back on the road
 
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Prideless

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She passed NC inspection today and this gremlin infested boat anchor is ready to go back to being a trusty truck.

Thank you RAMTRUCKDRIVER!!!
 

Rado

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GREAT to hear
 
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