My housemate purchased a 1985 4wd Dodge Ram. We took it up into the mountains on gas and logging roads which are often times quite steep and treacherous. Then a few weeks ago while going up a mountain that is long, steep, and bumpy, but not too terribly bad (my 1994 Nissan Altima has made many trips up it), it started losing power and when we got to the top, it died entirely and wouldn't start up again. We let it sit for a few hours (the top of the mountain was our destination), and it started right up. We figured it was bad gas and put gas treatment and good gas in it and we made it home just fine. Two days late while trying to get up that same hill, we were losing power pretty badly, so we turned around in a wide spot and headed down. It died at the base of the hill. We could get it to idle, but as soon as we put it in gear it would die. It had to be towed to a garage.

The next day we had a new fuel filter and pump put on it at the garage and put in "sea foam" to take the water out of the gas and clean the engine out. The mechanic had it running just fine, so I drove it home and it died as I pulled up in front of my house. We got it to idle and we ran all the gas out of it. We filled it up with new gas, but the problem persisted. So we changed the spark plugs, wires, and rotor button. It sounds a lot better, but it still dies when you try and put it in gear. We asked a bunch of people down here and if we listened to all of them, we would end up with a brand new truck in an old shell, so I was wondering what the internet thought about it. Any advice is greatly appreciated as we are at a loss and come mid december we're going to start getting awfully cold without a wood hauling vehicle.

Thanks

Matt

 

Carborator problems?? Float sticking???

 

The engine doesn't seem to be flooding, which is my understanding of the effect of a sticking float (am I wrong on that).

I should also add that when we do get it to go in gear it dies whenever it is under stress like going up the small hill on our little road.

 

try a different carb. if its a carb. did the mechanic clean the carb?? or just replace the pump and filter??

 

The mechanic just replaced the filter and pump. The sea foam stuff is supposed to clean out the carborator. We put some of it directly down into the carborator in addition to adding it to the fuel and all sorts of blue smoke came out the exhaust.

 

I replaced the crappie Carter Carb on my 1984 with a Holley.

 

Money is a serious issue with this situation. Replacing the entire carb. will be tough and an upgrade is pretty much out of the question. Someone gave us an electric fuel pump, so we're going to try and put that on today since it can't hurt and we have it. More talking and internet research lead me to believe it may be a malfunctioning accelerator pump. Does anyone know where that's located on an 85 dodge ram carb. I can find diagrams but not for this specific truck.

thanks

 

With a 6 pack and a carb kit ,a pad of paper n pen, it is really not that hard to rebuild one yourself...

 

Tried hunting down a vacuum leak? Sounds like the mechanic doesn't really know what's going on and is having you throw money and parts at a problem without diagnosing it. Just how steep was the hill? Carbs don't perform well at severe angles. My Ram stalls when the choke is on if the engine is too cold and I put it in gear. I'd recommend looking for leaks, then check timing and start verifying that all of the choke and emissions stuff (if it's still there) is working properly.