I am trying to help my buddy fix his '96 ram 2500 with the 5.9L gas engine and we are having no luck. You can start it and as long as you keep your foot in the accelerator reving it, it will stay runnning, when you take your foot off to let it idle it dies. So far we have replaced the IAC sensor and the TPS sensor. It appears there is slack in the throttle cable, is that normal? All help would be appreciated.

 

No, there should be no slack in the cable. I think the Haynes manual shows how to adjust it.

 

this may sound a little strange but, have the battery tested. with these dodges, if the battery has even a dead cell, but still has 12 volts and cranks over just fine. well it screwes with the computer and will not run well. if thats ok then you can adjust the idle. could be set to low. also when you adjust the throttle cable, be carefull because you can actually mess with the tranny kick down cable which will change you shift points. arent dodges great haha!!

 

You state that you replaced the IAC and TPS but did you thoroughly clean the throttle body especially where the IAC mounts? If not then that could be your problem.

 

does it run fine when driving?