Hello everyone. You have been a great source of help in the past and I come to you again begging for help. First let me tell you specs. I have a 1998 Ram 2500 with a 5.9L Gas engine. It's 4x4 and an automatic. I think I've listed the important things now on to my problem. I was driving the other day up a hill and I pushed the O/D off button to get some power and my truck started to make like a sucking noise and had a total lack of power. I didn't notice the rpm at the time, but it just felt like it had no torque. I got it back to my house taking it easy and after a while of driving it up and down the road and up a few hills I finally got a CEL. It was a misfire on 3, 4, and 5. I cleared them and went about doing my investigation.

First I pulled the plugs and checked compression. Had 120-115 on them. Changed the wires and cap and rotor also. Also I had to change the distributor because the cap screws broke off inside the distributor. Before I did all of that it had trouble starting and would run rough and stall. After I did all this, I notice a new problem. My headers (shorty headers were installed by the previous owner) are glowing red and it won't rev up above 3000 and when I put it in gear it won't move at all. So I figured it was the cat. I hollowed it out and still have the issue. I have also changed the crank sensor and the cam sensor when I changed the distributor.

I have really run out of ideas with it. Someone said in a post I read about fuel. I put a gauge on it and when I turn the key it shoots up to 50 and then drops to about 44. I haven't checked yet to see if this is normal but I figured I'd put it in there so just you know. I'm really in a bind. I use this truck every day for work and I've had to take the last 2 days off to mess with it and it's still not fixed. The thing that I can't understand is it just happened out of nowhere. It was driving fine before this and it's not tripping the CEL anymore.

I'm open to any ideas anyone has as I'm completely stumped. Thanks in advance for anything you can give me.

 

Since you had the dist out, you are going to need to reset fuel sync.... which requires the expensive scan tool to do..... so, dealer, or, well equipped shop is going to be required.

 

Why would that be? I just pulled it out and put a used one in it. Not that I don't believe you. That's just really stupid lol

 

Your cat is clogged

Edit: sorry I missed you hollowed out the cat

 

Cam sensor determines injector timing. So, if the injectors aren't firing at quite the right time, you get interesting results. Since it runs like crap still..... even with the various new parts... and you have a new symptom now, (Or, where the headers glowing before too?) whatever the original problem was, is still there...... and you either have a new problem, or, the original problem has gotten worse. So, need to start eliminating possibilities. It doesn't take the dist body being turned much, to make a BIG difference in the way the engine runs.......

There was a thread not so very long ago, about how to set "base" distributor position, it involved getting the number one cylinder to TDC, ready to fire..... and then lining up marks on the distributor, and block, and having the rotor pointed in the right spot. Might be in the factory service manual too...... Might wanna look there first.

 

Because the dist. controls the fuel injection pulse, not the ignition timing.
The scan tool is the only way to set it precisely that I know of.

 

Is the scan tool a Mopar specific tool or can it be done with the Snap on one?

 

FWIW, your headers are glowing because you're running way too lean -- don't run it like that because it'll cause severe damage. Cracked heads are the first most likely failure, followed by burnt valves, trashed cylinders walls, and broken piston rings.

 

Oh I'm not. It started 3 days ago and I've parked it ever since. The most I run it is about 30-60 sec so I can check it out

 

I always thought that glowing headers meant that you had a blown header gasket...