Hi Everyone, new here, great forum!

I have a problem that I have been to 3 mechanics on so far and can't seem to find a fix. I have a 1998 Dodge 1500 extended cab with the V8 engine, and whenever I start it up, it runs really rough and as I apply the gas, it spits and sputters until I let off and apply it again. I have to run it at a high rpm for the first mile or 2, and then it runs normally after that.

Hot and cold don't make a difference. If I turn it off for more than 10 minutes, even in 95 degree weather, it starts all over. Oh, and in the last few days, it now takes about 10 seconds of cranking before it starts - it's never done that before.

The closest dealer is about 10 miles away and I don't want to go there. Every time I have been there over the years they say it needs a computer and I get it fixed elsewhere and it turns out to be a small job, so I don't trust them.

I have had 3 good mechanics look at it already and they are all stumped. There is good fuel pressure even when it's stumbling and the last guy I went to replaced every sensor (so he said) on it and it didn't resolve.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

Welcome to the forum!!! Even though the last guy "replaced" every sensor I would bet he didn't. Do all of the sensors look new? I am goig to say that your IAC is bad and is sticking closed. You may also have some compounded problems there. One issue may be masking another creating greater issues. When were all these sensors replaced and if it was within the last year please post a pic of your engine bay so that we can see if any of the sensors look as though they haven't been touched so we can get a better basis to start with. More than once on a forum I have heard that "everything has been changed" when in fact only one or two items were even touched.

 

Well what he told me was he replaced them *temporarily* to see if there was any change and then put the old ones back in since they weren't causing the problem. This guy is known as as a trusted mechanic here. He had the truck for 5 days and put in 13 hours work, but didn't charge me for it.

What is an IAC?

Thanks!

 

Aside from the IAC even if that was temporarily replaced and you have a dirty throttle body it wouldn't make any difference. Maybe a good place to start would be removing and cleaning the TB.

 

IAC- idle air control, bolts into back of throttle body


i have a similar issue that im trying to figure out, have a new iac and still the same, miss, stumble while engine cold, WOT runs great, long crank time....next try will be map sensor since its supposed to fix some hard start probs

 

The IAC is a cylinder looking device that is about four inches long give or take and it controls the amount of air your engine receives at idle etc.. Intake Air Control. You definitely need to clean out the throttle body and take off the IAC and clean the intake their as well and either replace or try cleaning the IAC.

 

Okay, found info on the IAC and how to clean it, but how do you clean the throttle body?

 

You can take carb cleaner in a can and a soft bristled toothbrush and spray and scrub to clean it up. You want to get it as clean as humanly possible.

 

yeah, take it off to do it and remove everything off of it, there are some small holes, ge tthem real clean and where the IAC seats at.....

 

Okay Guys, I finally got some time to play with the truck this morning. I went to Auto Zone and got a new IAC and then took off the throttle body and cleaned it real well. The IAC was filthy dirty! The new one looked different (shorter) so I went back to AZ and showed them the two. They said the new one would work fine...

Went home, reassembled the throttle body and viola! I gotta tell you, this truck has NEVER run this smooth before!

Thanks for the help in solving the problem my local mechanics couldn't! You guys are amazing!



-Rich