Hello everybody. I could use some help to say the least. I have a 2001 ram 2500 with the 360. At first, truck would not idle but was drivable. Had it plugged in at autozone and the error code said crank position sensor. I replaced the sensor (fun time). Now the truck runs worse. Will start, idles real choppy and then pukes. Is there another sensor down in bell housing on flywheel? Could my timing chain be a bit stretched? I am still getting crank pos sensor code. Plenum seems fine, No oil down there. 200,000 mile truck. Any help diagnosing would be great. I cant afford to start replacing everything for process of elimination. This is my work truck. If it dont work, I dont either!

 

Welcome to DF
I will move your post to the 2nd Gen Ram section. You may find some answers there.

 

Try cleaning the throttle body, paying special attention to the IAC well. (remove the tb from the truck to do this, makes life a lot easier.) This one is free. (ok, gasket is like 2 bucks.....)

Our trucks REALLY don't like the aftermarket sensors in critical locations. Need to go with a GOOD quality brand, or, score one from the dealer. If you still have your old one, reinstall it. (unless there is something obviously wrong with it.) Standard Motor Products, or BWD seem to be good brands if you don't want the spendy dealership part. Duralast sucks.

With 200,000 miles on the truck, it is WAY past time for the timing chain and gears to be replaced. This was the single most effective improvement on my truck. (at 165K)

You should also check your plenum. (See the stickied thread at the top of this forum for a wealth of information on this topic.)

When's the last time the truck had a tune up? (Cap, rotor, wires, plugs) O2 sensors still original? Still have the cat??

Welcome to DF.

 

Also if it runs worse after change the CS, check all the wiring, harness and sensor included. Could ber its not plugged in completely or wire broke on uninstall/install. And as HeyYou said, use a good CS.

 

Thanks everyone for your help and support. I removed starter and flex plate cover. Cleaned flex plate holes with a file. Buttoned it all back up. Fiddled with the cps. It runs and drives. Think they sold me a bad sensor, (Borg Warner I think ). Truck runs if I leave sensor a bit loose. Still have a slight miss on idle, but runs fairly well. At least work truck works. Phew, was bout broke. What would all of you recommend, new sensor, or some washers as spacers? What brand of sensor is best?

 

No oil in bottom of Plenum. New plugs n wires while I was diagnosis this. I agree with heyyou probably a great idea to switch out timing gears and chain. Should I step up to double roller?

 

Did you disconnect battery while installing new sensor? If not, do that and let it set, then recopnnect after a bit. PCM will need to learn new sensor. If there was deris on flexplate, that could cause sensor to read garbage. Maybe use brake cleaner to clean out that area well.

No on using washers. See if the new sensor is the same length as original. If not, they gave you the wrong one. No washers should be needed.

 

For the really critical sensors, dealership parts are best. (and, of course, most expensive.)

I installed the double roller in mine, as they are less prone to stretching than the stock morse style chains. That was a nice little bump in power/driveablility getting that stretched to the moon stocker out.