i have a 98 ram 1500 that i recently bought. when i try to turn the ignition it dosen't want to start and now it is just cutting off when im driving and in reverse. can anyone help me to figure out why it's doing this?

 

Not much there to go on. Hard starting could be any number of things. I would pull a couple spark plugs and check condition, take the distributor cap off and see how it looks. Does it just stall or does it shudder? Need more info. Oh, and threads simply titled "help" tend to be frowned on in most forums. Welcome.

 

try to keep it running by driving with both feet. left foot on the brake and keep light pressure on the gas pedal with the right. if this keeps it running, then its probably tps or iac.

if that doesn't work, check fuel pressure at the rail with a gauge. should be about 49 psi.

if it seems like its having a shaking fit and skipping, then you probably need a tuneup with plugs, cap, rotor, maybe wires.

if you have a check engine light on, go to autozone or somewhere and they'll read the codes for you. that might help id what's wrong.

 

it just stalls no shuddering. when it gets hot the truck doesn't want to start up.

 

check ehgine light on?

 

no, the positive battery cable is metling through the terminal battery. the truck wont start after i've been driving it for a while but it starts up fine when it's cold.

 

Is that because you are holding the starter on too long and overheating the cable? Don't do that.

 

no when it doesn't start i give it a minute and try again.

 

is it predicatable ? as in - it always starts when its cold and runs for 5-10 minutes and then dies. and stays dead until it sits for 2 hours ?

if so, then it may be as simple as the front o2 sensor, when it switches from open loop to closed loop. you could test this by unplugging front o2. it'll throw a code, but might run.

or, if you can determine that it has no spark to the plugs, it might be coil or cam pos sensor in the dist.

this is a BS answer - but if its really predictable, and you can get it there, you might want to take it to a place with a scanner, and pay about 1/2 -1 hour of diagnostic time. the scanner should identify whats wrong w/o guessing. then you can elect to have them fix it, or fix it yourself.

 

Just to throw 2 cents in,but why did the battery terminal melt to the battery? Before trying to tackle the unknown problems, why not try to correct the known one?