ok so i am having a baby tomorrow well my wife is having a baby tomorrow! so i will be taking a week off work, while i'm off i am gonna take my time and change plugs wires cap and button and fuel filter. ok so every now and then when i crank my truck up is has an irratic idle like it has a heavy cam, also when this is happening you can hear the air cleaner sucking allot of air. this happens for about 1 minute and then clears up to normal! there is no ryme or reason is to why or when it happens. Does anyone have a clue?

 

 

Do you have a 14x3 or CAI of some sort?

I'd test the IAC using a multimeter. The procedure is detailed in a Haynes manual.

 

the iac can be sort of noisy, making a whistling/sucking sound. part of that is normal.
it should have an o-ring around it that seals it from the outside. sometimes this gets left off.
the most common whistle is a leaking air filter. there should be a little rubber gasket around the top of the TB. sometimes that gets lost, or wrinkled up, or broken. it only costs $1-2. also, make sure its tight. it has a overly difficult latch system.

the erratic cold idle may be due to fouled plugs.

congrats on the baby.

 

I second that! Our (my wife an I) baby boy should be here in a month give or take a few days... very exciting!! Good luck!

 

mine and my dads do the same thing. it runs about 900 rpms for about 30 seconds and has the sucking noise. i can get it to smooth out and drop to 600 rpm sooner if i slightly rev it for a couple seconds. i assumed its the open loop deal, where the air/fuel mix is preset by the pcm until the o2 sensor reaches its operating temp, then the air/fuel is controlled by it.

 

thanks for you thoughts of my family. yes i have a 10x3 air cleaner on it when all this is happening i can rev it up and its fine, but if i but it in drive and press the gas it starts cutting in and out and popping back through the TB. but i can pull over for about a minute and it clears up and drives and runs normal! what is the AIC? post your replies and i will check it within the next couple of days but if i don't respond don't worry we are headed to the hospital in about 10 minutes and will be there for 3 days. thanks your your help everyone!

 

IAC i mean!

 

My truck always did that... sometimes I ran without the air filter, so you can hear a big SUCKING noise! haha... but I sold my ram :'(

 

IAC- IDLE AIR CONTROL
Located on the back of the throttle body. You will see a electrical conector pluged into it if you look at it from the drivers side. Not hard to get at if you have somthing to stand on. My connector wanst fully plugged in, the gasket that goes around the electrical connector to seal it and keep dirt from getting on the connection was cockeyed in there and keeping the connector from plugging in all the way. So i fixed it yesterday.

I sure feel bad for the person who bought your ram. Running without a filter is a no no...Espesially around my area. Filters are there for a reason..