lately my truck has decided that it doesnt want to start if the motor is warm and i dont let it sit for atleast an hour. eventually i thought i had it narrowed down to the relay. i figured out that when you had the key in the start position and you tapped on the relay that the truck would fire right up so i changed the relay and it worked fine for a week then yesterday it wouldnt start again. i was lucky and had a friend at the gym who could hit the relay while i started it. this whole thing kinda makes me nervous cuz without someone around i could never manage to hold the key, push in the clutch and reach around to the relay box with my little t-rex arms. has anyone had any issues like this at all? its got me completely stumped the only think that i can think of now is that possible one of the connections in the relay box is corroded and not making a good connection but i figured that taking the relay in and out as much as i did would have cleaned it up

 

If you narrowed it down to the relay and had it in and out, why didn't you replace it?

 

i have friend with the same problem..but i don't know if he fixed it..he had it since he bought it....

 

What relay was it? When you changed the relay did you match the relay you took out or did you look it up and verify it was correct? Heat builds resistance in wires, their is a chance of a bad contact that works until it gets to hot. I have seen a few starter motors that get to hot and won't workuntil they are cooled down//banged around. Usually that happens when aftermarket exhaust products are placed to close without proper heatshielding. Could be related to the neutral safety circuit even?

 

it was the starter relay and yes i did change it. the part came from dodge since none of the aftermarket companies that i know carry one.and the new relay worked fine for about a week with normal use and me testing it out a little bit, running the truck till it got hotthe trying to restart it and it worked everytime. i thought it could be the starter getting hot and kinda seizing up for a bit but i was pretty sure i had eliminated that with the little tap. any time it doesnt start, if someone taps on the relay and only that relay it fires right up everytime. i pulled out the relay box and looked at the underside and all of the wiring connections were good. i just cant figure out why when i tap on the relay it always fires up but you have to tap on the relay while holding the key in the start position, but if you dont tap on the relay it will sit there for a while till everything is cool

 

If the connections are goodwhere the relay sitsI would be tempted to changeout the starter. Do you have any kind of custom exhaust that could be to close to it? If you do maybe a simple heat shield will solve it. Maybe the wires are getting so hot from a bad connection on the starter side or just heat is creating a bad connection with resistance & the relay is malfunctionaing?

 

This reminds me of the starting problemwe had with our 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 318 in it last summer. Shut down on the highway on us 3 times, I thought at first it was the coil wire because I would take it off, let it cool down, and it would start up again but die a few more miles down the road.
Turned out to be a bad throttle position sensor, not all at what I first thought the problem was. I wonder if you tapping on the relay is bumping around a wire to one of your sensors, maybe crankshaft position sensor or TPS. That vehicle (Jeep, I have not studied the wiring needs of ourRams)needs to know the status of both before it will send power to the fuel pump.
I also knew of another vehicle, an Acura Legend that would not restart when hot due to a bad fuel pump.
When it wont start, instead of tapping on the relay, check to see if you have power to your fuel pump.

 

Ok maybeI am misunderstanding? When you say "won't start" I assume you meant wouldn't turn over the engine at all (starter not starting). If it turns over anddoesn't firenothing I was thinking makes much sense at all lol!

 

Guess we need clarifying, I thought we were talking not firing up, but now am not sure.

 

yeah it is not turning over at all. i checked the wires going to the starter when this started happening and the starter wasnt getting any power to it on the umm... "engaging" wire, the smaller gauge one. ill try checking the fuel pump but i doubt it is getting any power if it needs the starter relay needs to send it a signal. i think im gonna check all the wires in the relay box again for corrosionand i might check into the crank pos. sensor i should have changed it when i swapped the tranny to a 5speed but no parts stores could get one for a week. the cps has a different lenght between the auto and 5speed cuz the flywheel and torque converters are different sizes. i just spaced out the one that i had with washers i just made sure that the gap stayed about the same. so ill look into that