hey guys i don't post very often but everytime i have a problem this site is the first place i search only this time i can't find my answer. my truck is a 98 ram 1500 4x4 with the 360 in it. i drove it saterday and it was idleing a little rough but other then that was running and driving fine i did put gas in it on saterday.saterday night it got down to -15 and i went to leave on sunday and it wouldn't start. my check engine light has been on for about a month now also. so i figured i had some water in the gas and could just warm it up and run some dry gas thru it and all would be good. as of now i've had a 500 watt light under the hood for 2 days and still no luck. it is kicking over now which it didn't do before. i do have fuel at the rail and i can hear the fuel pump running.i'd say it has to be somthing to do with the cold what what else could the cold affect? does anyone have any guesses? i need my truck back asap because my wife has somthing against me putting dead deer inside of her mini van.not to mention i can't get to where i want to hunt without my 4 wheel drive. one last thing i just thought about my cat has been rattleing could a bad cat keep it from starting alltogether? i did put my hand over the tail pipe while the wife cranked it and could feel the exhaust coming out so i just thought i'd throw that out there

thanks in advance

 

Interesting, My truck acting very similar this morning when it was 21 degrees out.it would not stay running.I had to "two foot " it for about 15min before it would idle.

 

Just a thought, but have you tried some of that stuff called "HEET"? I hear it is good stuff for removing moisture/water from your fuel system. You could have gotten some water in your fuel from your last fill up.

 

well guys i just got it started finally. it must have just been some water in the gas that froze at the injectors. but man did it sound awful when it started i'm pretty sure it only fired on a couple cylinders but then smoothed out and is running great. it's not even idleing rough like it was on saterday. no i didn't try the heet but i did put a can of seafoam in it and then let it idle for 45 minutes to an hour and also turned it around so the wind isn't hitting the front of the truck. whats weird is we always get our gas at the same station (we only have 3 within 30 miles of us) and none of our cars have ever had this problem and there all always backed in so there facing the wind.

my next question is there any other way to check the codes other then a scanner or cycling the key 3 times? the key deal does nothing on my truck and i really don't want to drive it 30-40 miles to the nearest autozone just to get it scanned

thanks
again

 

It could have just been condensation that accumulated in your tank.

 

If your cat is rattling its either the heat shield on it or the guts are falling apart. If the later is the case than the O2 sensor (after the cat) is throwing the code on you. As far as i know there isnt any other way of checking that code besides the ones you mentioned. If your Cat is bad than i would also check the plenum on it. Seems to be a common cause of the Cat failing with these trucks (i havent had the issue yet tho).

 

how would i go about checking the plenum? i've seen alot of guys post about it here but never an actual test to check it. also with the plenum issues so many have is just a leaking gasket or does the entire plenum need to be replaced? my truck runs great and doesn't use any oil but what other symtoms would it have? the has been rattleing since i got the truck but the light didn't come on till i drove it for about a month but i also don't drive it very far maybe 20-30 miles a day max.

thanks
jason

 

well it got down to -1 last night and is 15 above right now i just went to leave and now i'm in the same boat with no start. my wifes 99 grand caravan has a factory block heater that replaces one of the freeze plugs. are they around for this truck too? i wouldn't have a problem with plugging it in everynight if it ment my truck would start the next morning. i don't have a garage so this is getting real annoying haveing to be out in the cold to tinker with it hopeing it will start. i think once i get it running today i might go top the tank off with preminum and see if that helps to

jason

 

As far as the plenum goes, do a search on here and you will find all kinds of threads about those. I havent had an issue with mine yet so i havent touched it. I believe a read somewhere on here too about block heaters. Just search around on ebay for those. Someone else might chime in here with somewhere they found some at. I would definitely throw some Heat in there (like mentioned above) once you get it running. I live in Wisconsin and i put in religiously in the winter. So what is the truck doing? Is it turning over and just not starting?

 

yes it's turning over just fine and every now and then it fire (sounds like on just 1 cylinder) i have a heat gun under the hood today but it's not working any faster. i thought the sea foam would be enough but i guess not so once i get it running i'll go buy some heet and try that too.

thanks
jason