96 Ram 5.2L Cutting Out Randomly

[87LC2]

Hey Guys, having an issue with my 96 1500 5.2l Ram and looking for some opinions. Randomly when cruising (3rd or 4th gear) the truck will become complete unresponsive, RPMs drop to about 1000 and hitting the throttle does nothing. It usually stays running and then after about 3-5 seconds everything will work normally again. It died one time and restarted immediately, but usually it stays running and all of the sudden the revs come back up and all is well.

Have done some searching/reading through old posts and saw a few helpful posts/recommendations, but nothing that was the same issue. Doubt its the crank sensor since that would just kill the truck and mine stays running. Could be the TPS, but I assume I'd get a code stored? I initially thought it was the transmission but the fact that I get no response from the throttle is leading me to belive that's not the case. If it were the trans it would just rev and not move anywhere. It's like the throttle just gets shut off, doesn't even try to rev back up until its ready, and once it does everything is fine. Assuming it's a sensor due to this, but which one?

Any help would be appreciated. I rarely drive the truck, but don't want to eventually get stranded when I do drive it.

 

[Daw14]

Sounds like a fuel delivery issue , maybe a relay or the pump itself. almost like a dirty/clogged filter.

 

[87LC2]

Sounds like a fuel delivery issue , maybe a relay or the pump itself. almost like a dirty/clogged filter.

I thought about that. Hope not, just put a full tank in her. Fuel filter is integrated into the pump assy on these correct? Maybe I'll hook up a fuel pressure gauge and tape it to the windshield while driving and see if I'm losing pressure when it acts up.

 

[ramtruckdriver]

At approx 1½" away from primary coil connector tug on each primary wire with needle nose, it should break apart, or while idling, flic or tap the coil primary wires while idling. What is common, is when engine is running and clutch fan engage, it vibrates the wire harness and breaks the copper internally, but not the rubber casing

 

[Dodge trucker]

Had the same thing in my 96 Dakota a while back. Ended up being the crank sensor. Replaced both that and the distributor pick up (which serves as the cam sensor) 239k on the original parts, that's not too bad
I love those 318 magnums. I got this truck at 170k with the trans and transfer case laying in the bed, PO didn't want to pay $2800 for a trans. I rebuilt it myself for 10% of that amount. And put it all back in. That was 70k miles ago, driving it daily to keep the salt and miles off of my '12. The kit and reman converter were cheap. And that trans is "easy" to work on, to me.

 

[87LC2]

Hey Guys - Finally got a chance to replace the crank sensor with an OEM Mopar. Not a fun job so glad I went with an OEM sensor. Took the truck out and right away it was doing the same thing. Went back home, disconnected the battery to clear the ECM, pulled the ECM connectors to clean and reconnect. Took the truck out again but by that time it was a lot cooler out but the truck ran fine. It normally only acts up when its hot.

I have a feeling clearing the computer and cleaning connections won't do anything, so if she's still acting up whats't he next step here? I did clean and check the coil connector and it seemed OK, but I will do what was suggested above. Could it be the ECM? Possibly TPS? Not throwing any codes but it never was in the first place...It's a very odd feeling, truck will drive along just fine and then out of nowhere it cuts out and pushing the pedal does absolutely nothing until it wants to go again. Was really hoping it was the crank sensor but I guess not. Unless I got a bad OEM sensor which I think would be a pretty rare case.