I have a 99 dodge ram 1500 5.9 V-8. One day i ran inside home depot came out truck wouldnt start.I listened for the fuel pump it wouldnt come on.So i changed the fuel pump then truck wouldnt start. Now it was the pickup coil. Changed it but truck starts and the engine runs real rough. I will try to rev the engine but it will rev real slow when floored. And will slowly climb to 3000 rpm. AFter 5 min of reving ill turn off the truck and the headers will be glowing red. I try to put the truck in drive and i floor it to drive it and it barely moves and you will hear clunking sounds coming from the gas tank. I have lost a week of work i really need this fixed. I would greatly appreciate any and i mean ANY help. Please infor me whats wrong?

 

Glowing headers signals a severe timing issue. Gas burning in the exhaust tubes.

Did you remove the distributor at any point? Not just the cap, I mean the whole distributor.

 

I doubt it is this easy, but did you install the pick up coil 180* off? I don't think it will go in "backwards" but I've never actually tried it to know for sure. Don't think the engine would even fire *180 off though.

 

no i didnt move the whole dist. i put the new pickup coil on how i got the old one off... what is the proper way off putting one on. is there only one way it will fit on. I thought it was a glogged cat but i managed to hack it off with a grinder and it still did it. Would timing cause it to have such a **** poor response ? Thanks a ton !

 

Codes?

 

Did you try it before putting exhaust back together? It is entirely possible that pieces from the cat have gotten into the muffler and now it's clogged.

 

Bad timing most definitely will cause the engine to run **** poor. I installed the disty gear one tooth off once and the truck ran like I had hooked up the plug wires wrong, headers glowing red and would idle to save its life. I never revved it because I knew immediate what I had done.

Did you inspect the cat while you had it cut off?

Its possible but unlikely that the timing chain skipped a tooth if its really loose. But before you go digging that far in, I'd check fuel pressure at the rail, verify the coil is working correctly, and make sure the disty cap and rotor is installed correctly before going further.

 

Oh yeah check the plug wires too and make sure they are going to the right cylinders. Firing order is on the top of the intake manifold in raised numbers. Might be that simple.

 

the thing is it ran perfect when i ran to the store. I have never took off any of the wires. I cut the cat and it still runs like that.It will run for 5 mins and i turn it off and the headers are red. Also when i sorta rev it , it sorta makes a clunking sound in the tank. Im goig to go recheck everything again and see. What would make it so non responsive ? Also How would u time this truck is it like the old school ones where u turn the dist ?

 

Timing is controlled by the PCM, it is not adjustable. And just to verify, you tried it with the cat removed and before reinstalling any exhaust parts correct. Open header right? And you should verify fuel pressure with a gauge.