My 2002 Dadge Ram 1500 5.9 liter truck is cranking and not starting and then it'll chug a little. I'll have to end up jumping the truck to keep playing the cranking game with it. I can immediately smell fuel as well. It'll crank and crank and crank and then chug. I'll hold the gas pedal down and keep cranking and eventually I can get it started after attempting to start it. I've changed the Crankshaft positioning sensor, pick up coil, and distributor cap. The truck is still having this issue after these changes. When I do get it running it'll run like a champ and keep starting fine until it sits overnight. Sometimes it will run fine for a couple days without an issue then BAM it wont start again and back to the cranking game. Any suggestions? I'm at a loss

 

Welcome to DF. Will move you to the correct section.

For future reference:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...ead-first.html

 

Think I would plug into it with a scanner when it is cold, and see what it thinks engine temp is. (of course, to be meaningful, you would have to do this when it won't start.)

 

Please let us know what you find out whats wrong with it, im having the same problem.
Are you getting any codes?

 

Sounds like your coolant temp sensor may be bad. I broke might when I did the plenum and didn't realize till I was completely done and the truck would start and when I plugged my scanner in it thought it was -47 Celsius. And I heard slamming the pedal helps you get it going when this happens which is what I did and I eventually would get it to start. Anyways like heyyou said see what temp its reading cause thats what it sounds like to me.

 

Sounds like a coolant temperature sensor issue, if it’s open the computer reads somewhere around -45* which will cause a flooding issue. Even if u stand on the gas and it goes into “clear flood” the flooding has already occurred so until the spark plugs are dried out it ain’t going to start. Get an ohm meter and unplug the coolant temp sensor and check the resistance across the sensor pins (@68* should read 37.3ohm)the higher the temperature the less resistance it should read if it shows infinite resistance the sensor is bad, if it shows resistance check the pin to plug for good connection any corrosion can cause issues also, also make certain the wires are not broken inside the insulation. If this fails check the MAT sensor for the same thing this can also cause flooding but more likely it’s the coolant temperature sensor.

 

8 Plus year old thread.... I would hope he got this fixed some time ago.