Fired her up today and let it idle for a moment and it idled extremely rough. I let it sit then shifted into gear and it jerked and bucked and died. Started, tried again, same deal but it moved a bit before dying. Messed with it, ran the codes, got a code saying the engine is running too cold and that my EGR system is out. Finally got it to move and parked it on an even surface close to the house so I could mess with it comfortably. Any thoughts? It's never jerked or died like that. It acts like as soon as it comes under any kind of load it dies.

 

I would check the coolant temp sensor first. If it's not working the ECM thinks the truck is cold (as in start up) and runs a rich fuel mixture. This would also tend to muck up the EGR function. There should be a procedure to check the function of the sensor with a voltage/ohm meter (to check the continuity). If the sensor is working properly it will show so many ohms when open (cold coolant) and a different amount of ohms when closed (warm coolant) I don't know the rating for the sensor but check for different readings at different temperatures for a start.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how you make out.

 

I had similar symptoms with my Ram.
Suddenly, it idled like crap and would struggle to move.
Screwed around with a bunch of stuff.
Decided to cut a small temporary hole in the exhaust before the cat. It ran much better.
The cat was seriously plugged.
Installed a new cat and it ran perfectly.

 

"idle too cold" bad T stat


snapped dist shaft... check bushing in block, you gotta pull the gear out that's under the dist to do that they did have an issue with those for a few years