Truck won't start
 

Looking for any thoughts or suggestions. My truck is a 2000 dodge ram with 5.2L. I haven't ran the truck in about two weeks. Now it won't start. The truck will turn over but not fire. I replaced the cap and rotor and that did not help. I put new wires and plugs on less than two years ago. So they should be in good shape. I pulled a plug and rolled the motor over. The plug sparked. So it should be getting fire. You can here the fuel pump kick on when trying to start and you can smell gas after a couple attempts of trying to start the truck. So I think the fuel pump is working. As a last resort I tried starter fluid and nothing happened. I am just wondering if the fuel filter is plugged and not getting enough fuel. My next attempt will be to rent a fuel pressure meter and test it. Does anybody know what it should read or where to find this info? Any thoughts or suggestions about what to try next would be appriceated.

Thanks.

You can take the air cleaner off just to see if it'll run or get a new one but it should still run, are you sure that battery is charged up enough?

Fuel pressure should be about 49 psi (optimal), low 40's (acceptable).

What I'm not gettin' is how the truck can have a good spark but not at least fire somewhat on starting fluid.

This is the only thing I can think of: there's a lot of water in the gas tank, and your injectors are firing water instead of gasoline, so the starting fluid can't burn.

How about this: put in a bunch of drygas, then disconnect the fuel line and pump some gas into a glass container. See if there's a layer of water in it. Then turn the engine over to clear the fuel line; then see if it'll start with the fuel line reconnected.

hey try replacing the ckp sensor same thing happen to mine replaced it now its running like a champ buy dealer one not after market one i learned the hard way

He says he has spark.

Thanks for the replys. I checked the fuel pressure and it was good. I put the truck in neutral and it fired right up. I don't know if its a linkage issue or not. When the truck would not start up the first time I tried it, I put it in neutral and pushed it closer to the garage. I would think if it was not fully in park it would not have turned over. But my bad luck continues. When I put the truck in neutral I put the parking break on. Well that blew a break line. Have to look at the bright side. Better to blow a break line in the drive way than on the road.

Thanks again

"Better to blow a break line in the drive way than on the road".

That's for damn sure.

I still can't figure out what's up with your truck though. Can't explain why it cranked, had a spark, and wouldn't fire, even with starting fluid. That problem had nothing to do with linkages/neutral safety switch, as far as I know.

Is it now starting only when you jiggle the gearshift lever? That might be the safety switch, and maybe you have a couple of problems going on.

At this point, I would say the neutral start safety switch is likely. The TV cable could be slightly out of adjustment also.

Also, check the connections on the NS safety switch, I have a gen 1 that had this issue & it was all because a slow oil leak dripped on it & caused the connection to go funky on me. I may just need a cleaning or fresh pigtail harness.

Thats awesome! I laughed pretty hard when I read that typo. I wonder what a pigtail harness would look like? ;P