ok i have a 1998 dodge ram 5.2 liter. ran good for the past two years. but now i have a very bad miss. it acts like it only is running on 7 cylinders when cold, when it gets to operating temp. it smoothes out some(after about 10 minutes of driving) but still misses, but not as bad. i am in the process of checking the wires, plugs and distributor cap. but if anyone has any more suggestions i am very willing to listen. thank you.

 

your doing everything right, thatd be the first thing to check, report your findings. and well see if we can figure it out.

have the cap, wires, rotor, and plugs ever been changed? if not, nows the time

CEL?

 

if you have never changed the cap/rotor/plugs or wires in two years, then they could be the problem. No telling when they were changed before you got the truck.

Check the plugs. Then check to see if your wires are connected properly to the cap, and are tight with the spark plugs. COUNTLESS times I have done tune-ups to put the wires on wrong, or even to have the "spark plug wire Phantom" unplug a spark plug boot from the spark plug. It seems like i put the boot on the plug, then when I let go, it just pops out.

You can actually start the truck and it will idle fine with one spark plug unplugged. It is just acceleration that seems weird.

 

I would also suggest doing the coil too, if it is higher mileage. Doing the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor helped mine a lot, but it was still a bit sluggish (even for a V6).

So I replaced the air filter with a K&N even though it seemed OK (you could see light through it and it was only slightly grey). That helped a bit more but it still seemed like it wasn't running perfectly.

The coil seemed to do the trick. It made a noticeable difference.

My truck was not well maintained by the original owner other than apparently having the fluids changed. So I keep looking at the basic things whenever I have an issue. In this case, the coil was original and had about 190K miles on it.

I think I will also do the O2 sensors.

This thing could be a museum piece since every single component is absolutely original

 

ok i replaced the plugs....one had obviously been fowled..it helped but only for about two weeks..now the miss is back doing the same thing as before starts out horrible but clears up some. a local mechanic said it could be a map sensor i think he called it..any one have any other ideas???????


new problem: now i have a popping when i turn either way feels like it is coming from the front end somewhere..even thought once i had a flat it was popping so bad. not really a popping sound though as it is a feel coming from the front end...feels like mostly on the right side???????????????

 

Pull the plug out of the cylinder where you found the fouled one before. Betcha it's fouled again. If it is, it's time to figure out why. Take a peek and get back to us. Also:

Be sure your plug wires are routed in accordance with the TSB. Test your plenum belly pan. Do compression tests, and if any are out of tolerance do leakdown testing.

 

front end popping may be a ujoint .is it 4wd?

 

yes it is 4wd . But i was wrong last night. It is actually thumping all the time. But is a lot louder or you could say more pronounced in a turn

 

Check the u-joints in the knuckles in the front axle.

 

its either a ujoint or a bad bearing make sure your wheels arent falling off.jack the front end up and pull in and out on the bottom of the wheel(1 hand on top 1 hand on bottom)see if there is looseness .turn the wheel to the right and spin each wheel,inspect the ujoints for for cracks or looseness ,they sould not be covered in rust dust which may indicate a dried out ujoint thats getting ready to come apart.if find play when pulling on the tire get a friend to help determine if its balljoints or bearing play,a loose wheel will be obvious .