If you've read my "rough idle/bad throttle" thread you might know my truck runs rough, shakes at idle, revs up by itself once in a while, and most importantly when driving it slows down by itself, sometimes followed by engine knock and or bucking. .....I read up on the dollar bill trick (hold dollar or paper,etc up to tailpipe and if it sucks the dollar in and slaps the tailpipe, you have a burned exhaust valve, bad timing, blown head gasket,etc) .....I did this today and the dollar got sucked in every few seconds. No overheatin, no exhaust smoke or distinct smell. ...anyone know the symptoms of burned exhaust valve, timing chain bad, blown head gasket? Or what will cause exhaust to suck in air? ...I know I should get compression tested, anything else?

 

Have you ever read this thread? https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...um-thread.html

 

Yup, read that about 5 months ago when I started having this problem.

As posted in my other thread...
No loss of oil
No oil when looking down the TB. (I'm taking it off and cleaning within next few days)
No trouble getting up hills (loss of power/slowing down happens at random)
The cat and o2s are fine
New plugs,wires,cap,rotor,coil,tps,pcv valve,o2s,fuel inj cleaner in tank twice,computer reprogrammed by dodge,oil changed, might have left something else out...

I find all that to conclude that there's no plenum issues. Am I missing anything that I could check?
-and I didn't see anything in the plenum thread that listed exhaust sucking in air.

-mechanic spent 4 hours checking "everything electrical" and found no issues, so I'm looking towards intake,engine,tranny,exhaust type problems...but I'm not knowledgeable in the mechanic field so it's tough for me to pinpoint and too costly to take to dealership.

 

have you change your IAC , i changed mine when i had theose problems and it fixed it

 

Ok well, first of all, you say in "your other thread" So why did you start another one? I for one don't have the greatest memory and am not a mind reader. I'm trying to help you, and multiple threads doesn't help anyone.

Second, how do you know the cat is fine?

Third, "computer reprogrammed by dodge" now you have the death flash for sure.

 

No, haven't changed it. I will clean it when I take the TB off in a couple days. I thought IAC problems only created erratic idle or stalling at idle/slowing down--not when accelerating. Hopefully cleaning the TB and IAC will take care of that part of my problems. I'm more concerned about when I'm driving and it slows down/bucks/knocks.
-Just still wondering about difference in symptoms between burnt exhaust valve / bad timing / blown head gasket / or something else that creates sucking in at the exhaust.

 

You might have a failing crank sensor. There is no good way of testing it though. And I sure don't want to spend your money.

 

-I started a second thread so I could specifically ask about the 'dollar bill trick' since there are zero threads related to this method.
-I wasn't assuming you knew about my other thread, simply stating that I had another one in case you or anyone else wanted an in-depth description of what's happening.
-I know the cat is fine because my mechanic checked that less than a month ago, and from what I've read, when the cat goes it messes up the o2 readings or fouls it...when my o2s were checked this week, they were fine.
-I don't fully understand what the death flash is other than they retard the timing thru the PCM or something like that, causing power loss among other things. The truck had the same symptoms/ran the same before and after the reprogram (it did nothing). My mechanic suggested it after reading a Tech Service Bulletin about 2001 5.2l with acceleration hesitation on a cold engine--the fix was to reprogram. Did they give me the death flash?

-I would assume my mechanic checked crank sensor, as he said "everything electrical" was checked and it's definitely nothing electrical...but you could be right--I'll look into it.
Thanks for any input Zman and others...not trying to be rude just asking questions.

 

Dollar bill useless. Use a vacuum gauge.

And not knowing how your mechanic checked the cat, is another question.

The death flash can be answered by looking in the FAQ/DIY section


And not all sensors, like the crank sensor can be checked. Some just need to be replaced, even if it hurts the wallet.

And I'm not trying to be rude either, just stating the facts.

 

Okay, my bad Zman...I took the TB off today for a thorough cleaning and checked the back of my intake, it seems that a little puddle of oil is hiding back there. The leak can't be that big because I'm not losing oil very fast; I've only driven, more or less, 350 miles since my oil change and I haven't seen much of a noticeable drop in oil level. However, before my oil change it seemed I was definitely losing a decent amount of oil weekly.

But anyways, there's oil in there so either way it's definitely leaking. I'm getting the hughes kit soon and hopefully I'll get some help changing the old one out sometime soon.

Thanks for the input.