98 Dodge 1500 sport no spark nightmare

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Rammingitiner1500

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2026
Posts
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Washington state
Ram Year
1997&1998
Engine
5.9&5.7
Have 98 Dodge 1500 sport 5.9 no spark I've been thru 4 different junk yard crank position sensors a distributor pickup plate (new) and have new fuses relays but still no spark getting intermittent power to coil dash lights but no gauges they move but do not go to they're positions they should set at .i.e. battery and fuel. And my digital odometer display on the bottom left of gauges flashed at first turn of ignition but then stays on solid anyone got any advice
 

96dodgeram1500

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2026
Posts
4
Reaction score
0
Location
WI
Ram Year
1996
Engine
5.2
I have a 96 that I have been cycling through cam sensors like crazy and whole distributor assemblies and can not get a cam signal. I had to get an oscilloscope to read the signal coming from the cam and crank. My crank is good square waves and my cam sensor is sitting at 5 volts and won't ground when the reluctor ring goes through the plates window. If you find anything out let me know I will do the same because these trucks obviously don't like aftermarket parts and they don't make Mopar for these years anymore. Criminal engineering. I do suggest getting or borrowing a cheap signal reader to test your crank and cam it gives a definite ruling out of which sensor is the issue and if it's a noisy signal your PCM won't accept. I'm four months in and at the point I'm about to bite a 4000 dollar bullet and will never buy a Dodge Chrysler Plymouth jeep POS again. 1 50-100$ part destroys the whole vehicle.
 

96dodgeram1500

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2026
Posts
4
Reaction score
0
Location
WI
Ram Year
1996
Engine
5.2
I suppose that doesn't help your light issues and I have a 96 5.2. my 98 5.2 starts perfect but the transmission seals are out or something and the 98 is different than the 96 in a lot of ways so I can't swap anything.but I don't doubt they continued the cam and crank sensor problems with these trucks being extremely finicky.
 
OP
OP
R

Rammingitiner1500

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2026
Posts
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Washington state
Ram Year
1997&1998
Engine
5.9&5.7
So I got the no spark thing somewhat straightened out and now have other issues got the truck to run it was the ground strap that needs to be attached to the pcm. From the fire wall and a fuse that was blown but didn't appear to be blown visually
So check your fuses grounds grounds grounds and fuses
Anyhow now my new problem materialized when I drove the truck down the road well more like half way around the block, I had er idling for several minutes to make sure everything was up to speed it was warmed up and so being as everything seemed good I put it drive everything was good until halfway around the block the truck started to act like it was going to stall out on me and overheat or so it acted that way so ,after a few seconds it began a loss of power but more like low on fuel type of loss of power, shut down got towed back to where I've been working on it and determined it had gotten a little warm above normal due to a sticky thermostat didn't try to start the vehicle again until next morning it started one time ran for a couple seconds and then shut down since then it's been flooding out the spark plugs and the only way to even get a grumble to or attempt to fire up and die again is if I have my foot to the floor like you would if you were trying to start a vehicle that is flooded and so I've checked my coolant temperature sensor I've checked my mass airflow or whatever I checked my tps by checked I mean changing all of these things and then my idle air control also and I'm still experiencing the flooding !!! plenum gasket seems to be okay doesn't show signs of oil in the bottom you down there ...... Any of you guys have any idea what this could be I just need to get this damn thing running I'm so sick of throwing parts into no results anyone have any suggestions
 
Back
Top