I am going to be leaving for work a few states away here in about a month and need to get a couple things looked at before i leave.

First off i have a 99 ram 1500 4x4 w/ 198xxx miles.

first thing is that whenever i am driving the truck and i hit any rolling bumps when the rear suspension compresses i can hear a grinding or almost a vibration sound and i can feel it in my gas pedal and the floor of the truck. i am thinking that it is probably the u joints in the shaft when the angle changes but they still feel fine when i get under and move the drive shaft.

the second thing happened just recently. I seem to have a miss in the motor once the tranny locks in around 40mph and i ease on the gas a bit. yesterday i had a check engine light flash at me for about 15 seconds then it went off. i wasn't able to read any codes off the truck so i am not quite sure what it could be. i am gonna change the spark plugs and the cap/rotor this weekend to see if that helps.

just seeing if anyone has had any of these symptoms before. i tried searching for a while but couldnt find anything that matched what i was seeing with my truck

thanks again

 

For your second issue, the plenum gasket, precat o2 sensor and cat need to be replaced. Do a search here and you'll learn all about it.

 

hard to say about #1. u-joints don't usually grind. the squeak, click, or vibrate.
the most common grinding noise i can think of is the broken snap ring in the t-case rear output shaft. that allows the shaft to move and grind against the case. you can search on that and find some info. easy fix. remove rear drive shaft and tcase tail housing to inspect/fix.


flashing cel is misfire inprogress, as determined by crankshaft position sensor.
if it persists it will set a cel p0301-p038 for cylinder 1-8.
it could be as simple as bad gas, dirty plugs, etc.
tune up is a good idea, along with some fuel treatment/cleaner.