Ok, been a long time since I have had a truck. This is a 97 ram that I bought used, so of course every little tic or squeak is going to scare me!

Here is my question about these trucks. After it has been sitting, like overnight, is it normal to have to pump the gas pedal once or twice to get it started? Could be just me, or is this normal for a truck this age?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

You shouldn't have to touch the accelerator.

 

pumping the pedal does nothing before you start the truck. you might have a weak starter or batter.

 

ok, charlie told you what time it is. i'm telling you how to build a watch. lol.

as above ^, you should not have to touch the gas pedal, because the throttle process is all controlled by the pcm.

pumping the pedal accomplishes little. if you do pump it, then when the pedal is depressed, you've forced open the throttle plate momentarily. when you let up, the throttle plate closes and the pcm takes over and opens up the idle air control (IAC) valve.

the only reason you might have to press and hold the gas pedal, would be if your IAC or some other component is bad.

old vehicles had carburetors, and pumping the gas pedal would cause the accelerator pump in the carb to "squirt" gas. modern fuel injected vehicles are all computer controlled using a high pressure fuel pump. so the gas pedal is not directly connected to the gas supply.

 

The day I bought it, the battery terminals were loose. I tightened them up, but the battery looks to be pretty old. Maybe I should go ahead and change the battery.

I don't have to hold down the throttle, but I give it one pump and it starts right after that. Maybe it would have started the 2nd try anyway.

I bought the truck used, so there could be something wrong. Nothing else seems to be a problem. After she gets started, she runs strong with no noise, smoke or check engine light warnings. Engine looks clean with no visible leaks or anything.

I don't want to wait until it doesn't start at all before finding the issue. Maybe some fuel injector cleaner run through it to make sure everything is cleaned out?

 

On the carbed engines you were supposed to depress the accelerator to set the choke. Ain't no choke to set on fuel injection. Is that better, dh? LOL

 

Maybe I should start another thread to ask this, but if you bought a used truck that you don't have any maintenance records, what would you do first? Am I pre-planning too much, or should I do the obvious oil change, radiator flush and tune up, just to make sure I know when it was done?

 

Sounds like the fuel pressure regulator to me.

 

Add the differential and transmission filter and fluids to your change list also.