Recently picked up my "new to me truck" 1999 dodge ram 1500 4x4 shortbed, love it, but now I've encountered some problems.

Was driving last week and stopped at the local gas station to fill up when I noticed a oil leak, looked under the truck and saw that the whole underside was coated with oil, so I took it to the car wash and sprayed it down. I then crawled under the truck and saw it was leaking from the front lip of the oil pan.

I pulled the pan, and replaced the gasket, looked in the pan for anything abnormal, saw no metal shavings ect, looked at the oil pump pick up tube it was clear. reassembled everything, put in 5 qts of oil, let it run for 5 minutes then shut it off crawled back under to look for any leaks, everything looked good.

Decided to go to wally mart for food ect, its about a 5 mile drive, I get there and when turning a corner the oil pressure gauge drops to zero then the truck dies.

I park and retstart it, watching the gauge idleing very badly the gague drops again and the truck dies.

Again I try to restart it but this time with the key in the forward "on" position nothing happens, truck acts like it has a dead battery, no power what so ever, no lights, no windows or radio ect.

I have it towed home, let it sit for a day then go out to work on it, again no power, I check the battery, then I turn the key into the on position and drop the shifter through the gears down to first then back up to park, still nothing, then I drop it into drive, get out and rock the truck back n forth, get back in put it in park and it starts right up.

At this point I'm scratching my head, I let it run for 10 minutes, keeping an eye on the oil gauge, everything seems fine, I hop in and drive it a block, everything seems to be in working order, I then park it and as I'm sitting there the gauge drops again and it dies, and then goes back to wont starting and acts like theres no power, I did however this time here a clicking sound under the dash, not sure what that was so I disconeccted the battery and its been sitting since.

Any ideas? I'm on a fixed poor mans budget, I get a pension from the VA, cant work because of disability and my pension just covers my bills and thats it, I need to figure out how to fix this myself with out having to eat ramen noodles for the next several months lol.

 

Check the ASD relay in the PDC , swap it with the horn relay, and check all the ground wires.(something is obviously loose) As far as the oil leak goes, the front timing cover seal might be leaking.

 

Oil leak is good now no problems.

Just the issue with the oil pressure dropping and dying, and the big issue of no power at all.

I'm not sure what a ASD relay is, or a PDC.

Sorry your gonna have to break it down barney style for me.

Thanks for any help.

 

PDC= power distribution center (black plastic box next to battery)

Inside that box is the ASD relay= Auto shut down. Swap it with the horn relay and see if anything changes.

And like I said, something is obviously loose if you can make it work by rocking the truck.

 

If the oil pump get clogged and stops working do our trucks have a safety shutoff so the engine won't get destroyed?

 

Good question and something I would have never considered, but I'm no mechanic, and sad to say my 99 truck is the newest thing I've ever had.

 

negative. it will run till it stops.

however, below about 10 psi, you should get a red warning light on the dash.

 

i didn't completely follow the description from the original poster.
if you have power to the cluster when ON, but the starter won't turn in Park and/or Neutral, then check out the neutral safety switch on the front drivers side of trans.

if you are sometimes not getting power to the cluster, then clean all battery terminals, grounds, and with battery disconnected, unplug/replug the pcm connectors (passenger firewall) several times to scratch them clean. same with all the relays in the pdc.

the dying and no start sound like an electrical problem.
there's no good reason that should have anything to do with oil pressure flucuations unless the oil gauge is reacting to the same electrical problem (which it might be).

one other test to try - if your truck is always dying at idle, lay your foot on the gas pedal and manually hold the rpms at about 600-800-1000. low/weak battery voltage, for whatever reason, will cause our trucks to not idle. it screws up the IAC signal.

welcome to DF.

 

Okay allow me to clarify.

In the trucks current state I get no power at all to the cab, no turn signals, power windows dont work, no gauges work at all.

I was able to get it to start after repeatedly rocking the truck back and forth while in drive.

When it runs the trucks oil guage will drop to zero and the idle will get choppy then die, if I give it gas the oil pressure will then jump up to 40 hold at 40 for a few seconds then drop to zero again and die.

I've only been able to get it to start once by rocking back and forth while in gear, I havent been able to reproduce this effect however.

As it sits now I have no power at all to the gauges or anything, and the battery is good, connections are good ect.

I havent been able to disconnect the pcm connectors or the pdc.

I wish I had a wireing diagram to go by so I'm not haphazardly pulling wires that I dont know what are what.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-gen-rams.html

service manual for 01. it'll be close.
wiring diagrams are in the back. chapter 8 i think.

check all the fuses, including the big "fusible link" thing.
some are in the PDC box beside battery.
others are in the end of the dash.

check that you have 12v where it should be, and grounds where they should be - ps accy bracket, block, heads i think. body behind drivers left foot panel.