Hello, I am new here, and new to the Mopar scene, I recently purchased a 83 W150 for hauling my four wheelers around to mudding events. I purchased the truck off a old man who was the original owner of it. Over the last few days it has been causing me some problems.

Problems.
1. When giving it gas when in gear it seems to "bog down" and want to shut off.
2. Does not start, It ran fine up until today. The starter relay clicks, but nothing further then that.

Information I can offer (I don't know much about American cars, being the owner of Hondas thus far in my vehicle history).
83 W150 4x4
Automatic
over 200k miles
put new spark plugs in today, has after market wires
edelbrock aluminum high rise
edelbrock 4 barrel carb (not sure the cfm)
headers (not sure the brand)
exhaust (not sure the brand)
It has a lot of wires that are not connected and running to no where from what i can gather, both electrical and vacuum

I started out today by changing the starter relay, it worked but i didn't mount it on the frame in its original place maybe causing it to not be grounded and causing the wires to get hot and catch on fire. After this, the relay clicked like before, i purchased a new one, installed it, and now its clicking like before. I can get the starter to turn over and crank the truck by using a wire and taking out the single black wire (I'm assuming a ground wire) from the starter relay and connecting it to the battery wire running into the starer relay. The only problem is the truck randomly turns off causing me to have to get out pop the hood and do the whole process over, needless to say this isn't safe. I was wondering if someone may have some input to this problem i am having. Thanks for the time, any help is much appreciated.

 

It sounds like you have two separate problems. Are your battery terminals clean? Terminal 5 on the relay must be grounded at all times. Terminal 1 should be hot. A jumper wire from terminal 1 to 4 should supply power to the solenoid on the starter, if not the relay is bad. If the solenoid doesn't engage the starter the solenoid is bad. If the solenoid does engage the starter but doesn't turn the engine the starter motor is bad. Do the above checks in order.

As far as the bogging down that could be fuel, electrical, or exhaust and I would need more info. With all of those wires and vacuum lines disconnected I would start there and figure out what they were connected to. You will need a good wiring and vacuum diagram. I would head to the main library and photo copy those documents from the automotive manuals there.

 

toggle switch and push buttons
On a more serious note (not that the above wouldn't work), see if there are metal "flaps" in the air intake housing. It sounds like what my brother's truck was doing. We did a temporary "fix" by removing and reinstalling the air filter cap upside down, leaving 1/4-1/2 inch space all around the whole thing. We did that cause the vaccum lines were messed up, leaving the flaps closed, so not enough air got into the engine.
... also, with "sometimes the simple things are overlooked", have you checked that the battery is good, and that the engine has the proper amount of GOOD oil? If the block ran dry, and the pistons are seized up, your starter will act dead. Personal experience... I learned three things that day - don't run an engine out of oil, don't keep trying to start it with seized pistons... and windsheilds hurt the knuckles

 

how many miles are on it. like Seal said it does sound like you have 2 problems. the bogging down one might be the timing since it is an 83. the timing chain might be stretched.