I have a 99 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2L V8 2x4.

Today when i went to start the vehicle, i couldn't get it to turn over nor any lights on the dash to come on except for the "Brake" light. So i broke out the Black & Decker Jump start box, hooked it up to the battery terminals, then proceed to start the vehicle. She started right up, so i let her run, gave her a few revs here and there, and all seemed to check out. So after about 10mins on the jump start i disconnected it, closed up the hood, and started to leave. I ended up getting about 150 yards around the corner and she died mid acceleration. So i pushed her to the side, and tried another round with the jump start for about 20mins with the truck idling, no acceleration, applied. I then closed her up, and took her for a drive around the block. Well i ended up driving about 3 blocks then parked her at my friends to further trouble shoot. She died every decelerated braking turn along the way. Thankfully i had enough "juice" to restart her every time.

Upon having it at my friends, more trouble shooting began. Tested the alternator, and got 13.6v off of it, so all seems good there. Battery appears to be holding a charge of abut 11.84 and all major fuses ohm'd out good.

The only thing we could think of are clogged fuel filter (which i don't have?) And or bad spark plugs/cables. So today I'm gonna go by the local family owned auto parts store after work and pick up some new spark plugs and cabels (they need/should be done anyways) and see where i get with those.

Anyone else have any ideas what could be going on? Has anyone else experienced this? I found this thread here, but i dont see nay resolution to it. Can anyoen shed some light on this for me? Thanks, Zaccaglin.

 

Could be: Low fuel pressure, bad throttle position sensor, bad IAC motor.... Fuel filter is integrated into the pressure regulator on top of the in-tank unit. Check your fuel pressure first..... should be around 49 PSI.

 

Quickest way to check fuel pressure?

 

By purchasing a fuel pressure tester.

 

Yay more $$ down the drain. Any other ideas?

 

I think you can get one at Autozone or Advance for like 15 bucks. Test equipment is an investment and in the long run makes diagnosing problems cheaper, instead of just buying parts.

 

That's true, i just wish this was just another brake hose, sure would make this whole thing a lot quicker..... lol

 

I will say one thing, the symptoms you describe are also signs of a bad crank sensor.

 

Okay so managed to get her going again last night without any problems, not sure what it actually was, but here's the "log" that i sent to my mechanic buddies on the facebook... lol.


Replaced the spark plugs, which really needed them after taking them out......... But that didn't fix the dying issue, but did make it run better. Managed to get the truck over to Sam's Club and had the battery tested. It came out good, but wasn't charging fully. So swapped the old Napa battery out for a bunny beating a drum at a cost of $90..Grr... Then the tech come out and tells us he broke the battery holding mount and that my negative terminal was too big for the post, so he sprayed some special "foam" and that it would be all better...

So went out to the truck, broke out a bungee cord and mounted the thing so i wouldn't lose it one day.. Then tried to start it, same issues... So we drove it to auto zone and got a new wire terminal. Got home, and of course it was wrong. Took it back, put it on, and guess what....

No issues. Grr. I'm starting to hate this truck, but then again i love it.

Yay me.

 

11.84 volts is on the low side. I would check alternator to make sure there are no issues. Of course bad connection will do same thing. And I would insist that if someone working on truck broke somtheing, the fix is on them. But this hardly seems like the culprit for dying.