Hey all,

New member here with a '90 D150. I'm having a couple issues I was hoping for some help/info on.

1. About a month ago the truck started dieing when idling at stop lights, etc. Took it to a guy who said there was a vacuum leak in the brake booster, so we had him replace that.

The next week it dies again idling while stopped, so we take it back and he replaces a vacuum hose. Later that week we took it on a long trip (~700 miles) and it did great, except all of a sudden the cruise control wasn't working.

Come this week, it dies again while idling when my girlfriend is in line to get coffee at a drive up coffee shop, and also it's been taking a long time to start in the mornings off and on.

Could this be an issue of a moving target so to speak? Like maybe there were multiple vacuum leaks and when the guy fixed one, it moved the problem to another spot (breaking cruise control?). Or does this guy not know what the hell he's doing? Not sure whether to take it back to him or not.


2. The driver's side door started becoming increasingly difficult to open from the outside, you really had to push on it while pushing in the button to get it to unlatch. Yesterday, the exterior 'button' on the handle actually fell off. I ordered a replacement door handle today. Just wondering if there's anything I need to know about replacing it, is it pretty straight forward?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

Woops, didn't mean to put this in the General Discussion section, if a moderator wouldn't mind moving it to the 1st Gen Ram section I'd appreciate it!

 

Get a can of starting fluid and spray it everywhere there could be a vacuum leak while the engine is running. If the idle increases you have found a leak. A non functioning EGR will do what you are experiencing as far as stalling. The cruise control may be a separate problem. The door handle is pretty straight forward but is a pain in the butt because it has to be done by feel.

 

Thanks, I'll test the EGR and go from there.

 

Well I replaced the EGR valve and got a tuneup done. The stalling issues seem to be resolved, but it's still having problems starting in the morning. I checked the OBD Codes and I have:

12 - Direct battery input to PCM was disconnected within the last 50 key-on cycles (normal)

11 - Timing belt skipped 1 tooth or more from initial learned value, Intermittent loss of either camshaft or crankshaft position sensor, No crank reference signal detected during engine cranking

51 - Fuel system lean

The 11 scares me a bit. Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated. I'm pretty much a newbie with this stuff, but good at following directions

 

The code 11 will probably cause the code 51 so I would concentrate on the 11 first. If it was the timing belt they should have caught that during the tune-up if they are any good. I don't think you have a camshaft position sensor in a 1990 as they were in the 1992-93. I would checkout the Hall Effect Switch in the distributer. If it is an intermittent problem it may be hard to find. Trouble shoot it when it is cold. If you tell us what engine you have we may be able to get more specific and if you add it to your profile everyone will know each time you post.

 

doh, sorry, I have the 318.