Automatic shutdown relay, it's located in the PDC , black box next to the battery.

 

look in your PDC. the black fuse box deal behind the battery. one of them will say ASD. you can swap it for another identical relay like the horn or AC, just not a critical relay like fuel system or alternator.

 

Tried it, didn't help. If that was bad wouldn't it not run at all?

 

mine was bad and it died when i first started it unless i revved the engine. and continued to rev it for a few minutes before it evened out enough to drive. as soon as i let off the gas it would bobble down and die.
what relay did you swap over? are you sure whatever it powers is working correctly?

if the voltages check out on the IAC and the TPS, and the ASD relay is good then i would lean toward the camshaft postion sensor (pickup coil) being bad. that has similar symptoms when it is on its way out.
advance can test the camshaft position sensor by the way. pull it and get it checked. at least i think they can. call them and ask, just make sure you call it pickup coil because the yahoo's at the parts store don't know what a cps is.

 

I used the a/c relay and the horn relay. Both work. I was told by a handfull of people that these problems are caused by the plenum, which needs to be done (oil in the intake) Also my cat is rattling pretty bad so that will be removed. After all this is done, If it still acts up I will try the sensors. The plenum should be here today, as for the cat. I need some hacksaw blades. I will check the haynes manual for the voltage check procedure. I need a voltage tester anyways. GOOD REASON TO BUY SOME NEW TOOLS!

Also--- No codes are being thrown at the moment. Only once a few weeks ago and it was the egr circuit. Had that fixed.

 

you can get a decent digital multimeter from walmart for 25$.

make sure you use a good penetrating fluid on the intake bolts before removal considering where you live. wd-40 and pb blaster aren't penetrating fluids.

 

I like to use liquid wrench, mainly because I bought a case of 12 for 12 bucks from a shop that was closing down. I bought my truck in Arizona last year so this is the first winter it has ever seen, THANK GOD! I found one at Sears online for a good price. Gotta go with Craftsman (matches my tool boxes). Thanks again for the info!

Also-- wouldn't the low voltage reading throw a code?

 

liquid wrench is better than the other two.
since it is still new to road salt then it wouldn't be a bad idea to wash off the under carriage then remove any rust that is there and cover it in undercarriage spray.

my multimeter is an auto ranging craftsman. its a really good one. just a word of advise, don't use it to check continuity on a capacitor for an air conditioner (my dad fried my first one doing that) or check the voltage on a bug zapper (i fried my second one doing that).

 

Way ahead of you. I even used bedliner to prevent the rockers from picking up any crud. I'll make sure not to get too curious with the multimeter. LOL. By the way my Haynes doesn'y have any testing procedures for the sensors. Not that I can find anyway.

 

It goes without saying that the plenum needs to be fixed, but, if the cat is rattling then that's the problem. It's becoming blocked and then unblocked by the pieces moving around.