Prideless
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2020
- Posts
- 28
- Reaction score
- 19
- Location
- NC
- Ram Year
- 1997
- Engine
- 5.9L-360 Narutally Aspirated
5/28/20 - I put this on dodgetalk.com, been reviewed 29 times in 48 hours, with zero (0) replies. Any help HERE? Thanks.
This is about the 10th time this has happened. I am sick of this. I've gone through this forum and replaced everything suggested except the truck itself. I have replaced all the following in the order listed.
1 - Gas Cap
2 - Ignition Coil
3 - Ignition Switch
4 - Crankshaft Position Sensor
5 - Have a distributor ignition pick-up coil on order.
Here's what happened first. Drove about 20 miles, went in store for about 10 minutes. drove back home. It momentarily sputtered and cut off in my driveway right as I was getting ready to cut it off myself. Would not start back up until waiting about 5 minutes. There was a strong smell of gas near the tank but not under the hood. I just dismissed this as a fluke.
Next time. Drove about 40 miles with few stops, but when slowed down into slower traffic it died again. Same gas smell, restarted in about 5 minutes.
Next time. Drove 13 miles, stopped at stoplight for about a minute, then it just cut off without any warning. In the middle of the worst, busiest part of town at the busiest time of day. I called 911 on this one. In about 5 minutes, before help arrived, got it restarted and moved off the road. Died 3 more times on the way back home.
After replacing all 4 of the items above, one by one, test driving, it continues to die. Today, drove it 12 miles, stopped at a stop sign, and it died. Five minutes later, it started.
What has become clear and repeatable after 10 or 12 times is that something is heating up, then malfunctioning. A brief cooling and it is ready to repeat itself. As long as the truck is going down the road constantly at 50 to 70 mph it seems to be fine. Once the vehicle stops and there is no air circulation, it heats up and dies.
The engine runs perfect. Is has yet to throw any codes, and except for the sputter the very first time, it never give any warning. I just grit my teeth when I come to a stop, because I know the chances are that it will die right there.
It is easy to see how the coil or crankshaft position sensor could malfunction and open up when heated, then work again when cooled, but these weren't the problem. The pick-up coil was replaced only about 15,000 miles back when troubleshooting a problem that ended up being the fuel pump, but I am willing to replace it again as this forum suggests. It will be here next week.
I cannot bring myself to suspect the fuel pump, simply because I can smell excess fuel. I am 90% certain there is an ignition problem. If the fuel was getting burned, then I probably wouldn't smell it, but I will keep an open mind at this point. As stated, the engine runs great, but it does seem to be getting much poorer gas mileage since this started.
I am an ex jet engine mechanic, disabled veteran, on a fixed income, so I cannot afford to take it to a dealer, as I have seen some do on this forum, and pay to not get it resolved (as I have also seen on this forum).
This truck has never failed to throw any codes for all kinds of issues, but it is being really stubborn here.
!!!ANY AND ALL HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
This is about the 10th time this has happened. I am sick of this. I've gone through this forum and replaced everything suggested except the truck itself. I have replaced all the following in the order listed.
1 - Gas Cap
2 - Ignition Coil
3 - Ignition Switch
4 - Crankshaft Position Sensor
5 - Have a distributor ignition pick-up coil on order.
Here's what happened first. Drove about 20 miles, went in store for about 10 minutes. drove back home. It momentarily sputtered and cut off in my driveway right as I was getting ready to cut it off myself. Would not start back up until waiting about 5 minutes. There was a strong smell of gas near the tank but not under the hood. I just dismissed this as a fluke.
Next time. Drove about 40 miles with few stops, but when slowed down into slower traffic it died again. Same gas smell, restarted in about 5 minutes.
Next time. Drove 13 miles, stopped at stoplight for about a minute, then it just cut off without any warning. In the middle of the worst, busiest part of town at the busiest time of day. I called 911 on this one. In about 5 minutes, before help arrived, got it restarted and moved off the road. Died 3 more times on the way back home.
After replacing all 4 of the items above, one by one, test driving, it continues to die. Today, drove it 12 miles, stopped at a stop sign, and it died. Five minutes later, it started.
What has become clear and repeatable after 10 or 12 times is that something is heating up, then malfunctioning. A brief cooling and it is ready to repeat itself. As long as the truck is going down the road constantly at 50 to 70 mph it seems to be fine. Once the vehicle stops and there is no air circulation, it heats up and dies.
The engine runs perfect. Is has yet to throw any codes, and except for the sputter the very first time, it never give any warning. I just grit my teeth when I come to a stop, because I know the chances are that it will die right there.
It is easy to see how the coil or crankshaft position sensor could malfunction and open up when heated, then work again when cooled, but these weren't the problem. The pick-up coil was replaced only about 15,000 miles back when troubleshooting a problem that ended up being the fuel pump, but I am willing to replace it again as this forum suggests. It will be here next week.
I cannot bring myself to suspect the fuel pump, simply because I can smell excess fuel. I am 90% certain there is an ignition problem. If the fuel was getting burned, then I probably wouldn't smell it, but I will keep an open mind at this point. As stated, the engine runs great, but it does seem to be getting much poorer gas mileage since this started.
I am an ex jet engine mechanic, disabled veteran, on a fixed income, so I cannot afford to take it to a dealer, as I have seen some do on this forum, and pay to not get it resolved (as I have also seen on this forum).
This truck has never failed to throw any codes for all kinds of issues, but it is being really stubborn here.
!!!ANY AND ALL HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!