Why might it be stalling?

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Julie

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Location
Omaha, NE
Ram Year
2001
Engine
5.9
2001, 5.9. All was well when I drove the truck the other morning. Later that day I ran it long enough to move it to the barn with a storm coming. Decided to back it up more and immediately restarted it. At that point it didn't want to start like the battery was low. Since then it is slow starting (obvious low battery) but will continue to run at a higher idle. The minute I let my foot off the gas it instantly dies. Neither the battery or the alternator are all that old but I know that doesn't always mean anything. Thoughts?

Thanks, Julie
 

JohnnyMac

There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.
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2018 1500 Laramie
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3.0 EcoBurner
Hi Julie,
If you have a volt meter you can put it across the battery and check the charging system. Look for +/- 12.4 when not running and +/- 14vdc when running. You can also watch it while you are cranking the engine and if it drops below +/- 9.5 the battery is toast. If you don't have a volt meter, you can do a down and dirty by starting the truck and then turning everything electrical on (lights/blower/stereo) and then while running let it drop down to an idle then rev the engine a little and see if the blower speed changes significantly and/or if the lights dim when idling and get bright while running. That will tell you either the battery is bad, or the alternator is weak, but if the alternator is dead, you won't see any difference. Good luck and let us know.
 

pacofortacos

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If the battery goes low it will reset the learned AIS position to the default value.
Most likely after it does this, the truck will die instead of idle for a while - continued low battery will continually reset the computer to the default value.

The fix is to clean the throttle body, most likely there is a carbon buildup between the throttle plates and the bore. Engine off, I just used carb cleaner on a rag and my finger or something to manually clean it, open the throttle to get the entire way around the bore.

OR

You can get a good battery and functioning charging system and if you feather the throttle for a bit while trying to idle, the computer will learn where the AIS motor needs to be to maintain the target idle rpm.
 
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