Truck Dies

[RobLK65]

2008 Dodge Ram 1500 4wd 5.7, 135,000 miles

Cruising at 70 mph with cruise control on. Truck suddenly shut down, I pulled over onto shoulder. Attempted to re-start truck, very difficult but did start. Truck ran poorly, not shifting into overdrive, cc not working. Pulled codes, showed crankshaft positon sensor issue. Replaced sensor, all was good for about 10 miles, then the exact same type of event. Pulled codes again, replaced cranckshaft senor again, all ok again for about 100 miles, then same event. Any help in what may be causing cranshaft position sensor to go bad would be appreciated.

 

[Mark Wood]

Check the wiring harness for that sensor.

 

[Fitz-0518]

It may not even be the crankshaft sensor. A professional scanner that allows the tech to read the run specs, may tell you that a component or interface with the sensor is failing. Also, our trucks are very sensitive to ground interrupts. Have had 3 situations on two Rams that my tech found the run condition was a bad ground. But the initial code started with the TB or crankshaft sensor etc. Hope yours turns out to be simple.

 

[LoneWolf3574]

There's a ground strap on the passenger side head going behind the plastic fender well. Mine has come free from the wire ring terminal, so I just tucked it back up the general area until I have the time (which I never seem to find) to fix it. Needless to say, I have multiple little gremlins that keep popping up and going away. Point is, this is one of the easiest to check by crawling under the truck, it usually ends up hanging right above the exhaust.

 

[OCDTech]

2008 Dodge Ram 1500 4wd 5.7, 135,000 miles

Cruising at 70 mph with cruise control on. Truck suddenly shut down, I pulled over onto shoulder. Attempted to re-start truck, very difficult but did start. Truck ran poorly, not shifting into overdrive, cc not working. Pulled codes, showed crankshaft positon sensor issue. Replaced sensor, all was good for about 10 miles, then the exact same type of event. Pulled codes again, replaced cranckshaft senor again, all ok again for about 100 miles, then same event. Any help in what may be causing cranshaft position sensor to go bad would be appreciated.

All good suggestions, also some crank sensors have to be adjusted to an exact distance from a pulley or balancer to work correctly, some do not. Just bolt on. A repair manual should tell you. But checking the circuit/harness is the next thing. Also an older mechanic once told me sometimes when you do things such as change sensors, timing belts etc. It helps to reset the pcm. Disconnect battery for a while and reconnect. Fixed an issue I had one time.