New Ram owner here, sorry if this has been asked before, searched through the forums but could not find any help so far. I would need some advice to troubleshoot my 2001 Ram which does not start. What would be the troubleshooting steps? How can I check if I have spark and gas? Any help would be greately appreciated. Thanks in advance! James.

Edit: when turning the key on, the starter turns and sometimes it looks like it's "almost starting". The battery is good.

 

A more descriptive description of what it does and what you've done so far would be helpful.

How do you know the battery is good?

 

You need to trouble shoot. First try getting a jump. That will tell you if its the battery or not. Is the starter engaging? If not you could try direct voltage to the starter to see if it spins, and the solenoid engages it.

If both your starter and battery are good, than the problem becomes a little harder to figure out.

get in your truck and leave the door open, put the key in the on position, do you hear a mechanical noise coming from the rear? If not your fuel pump is out.

It is usually battery, starter or fuel pump when it dosen't start.

The last thing is, you might not be getting fire. A real easy way to check is to pull a plug and see if you see a spark to the electrode while a helper turns the motor over. Or you could buy a spark tester from harbor freight $10. If you have spark then .

Then Put a 1-1/4" socket on a breaker bar and turn the crank to make sure your engine is still alive.

If it is then your problem is really complex.

Really any engine needs three main things to start. Electricty(starter), Fuel, Fire(plugs). 99.99999% of the time one of these three is the problem. Get a Haynes manual and look over the Factory Manual under the "Merry CHristmas" heading under the FAQ section of this forum.

 

I can hear the fuel pump buzzer sound when turning the key to ON. When engaging the starter I can hear it spinning and at normal speed. The noise is the same as it was when it worked. I also tried jumpstarting fearing the battery will eventually die but that did not help. It doesnt seem like a battery issue with me since it did start when the starter was turning a lot slower than this.
So far I have not done anything else under the hood because of the weather. I will check the spark tomorrow.
Thank you for your replies!
James.

 

starter fuse under the hood,

 

I have removed a spark plug cable, connected another spark to it (a spare one) and holding it while the engine was cranked. There was no spark. Also held it close to the engine block. Still no spark.

 

I would check the voltage at the ignition coil, make sure its working. Then replace cap and rotor or at least clean points. So no spark?

To be honest I am not sure if there is something else that could cause that. Usually when I didn't get spark it was a bad distributor.

Its a pita to get to though.

Maybe someone else can chime in and give more troubleshooting steps for no spark, or do a search here for "no spark"

 

Thanks again for your replies! I am still having no luck in getting this truck back on the road but being optimistic about it
I did more troubleshooting today. I tested the ignition coil voltage, 12V stable and flashing when cranking up the starter. Then removed a spark plug then using a screw driver i moved it closer to the engine block and yes there is a spark now. The screwdriver made a difference. I also tested the ASD relay, fuel pump relay and voltage as per Haynes. Also removed the cap on the fuel rail line passenger side and depressed the valve, fuel pressurized exists. I have no pressure gauge at the moment so I assume there is fuel. The fuel pump buzzes when turning the key on. What else could it be? According to Haynes there may be the CAM sensor, I only had a chance to measure the voltage between the terminals +5V tonight.
Any other ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

Are you talking 'points' or are you talking about the terminals on the distributor cap?

I dont believe magnum motors have 'points'

 

if yall are tryin to help this man.. at LEAST read his posts thoroughly.. he plainly said.. it turns over.. normally at that.. thus.. the STARTER FUSE is a dead end.. thus the BATTERY is a dead end.. he has spark.. eliminates that.. so .. next step is FUEL.. .. and as far as the starter being the electricity? man.. go back to school.. the starter is just what it says in its name.. IT STARTS THE PROCESS OF FUEL/AIR/FIRE .. dude... check your fuel pressure.. on the fuel rail.. get a cheap pressure tester from harbor freight or an auto parts store.. should cost between 20-40 bucks.. your haines manual will tell you how.. and what your pressure should be.. im gonna say this is more than likely the culprit.. just because you hear the fuel pump .. doesnt mean it has proper pressure to run the engine.. could be something as simple as a plugged fuel filter