Newbie here. I am on a 3000 mile road trip at the midway location. My 99 ram 2500 5.9L 4x4 made the first half of the trip ok but had some issues that worried me. It backfired 3 times going up mountains pulling a 24' stock trailer lightly loaded and it didn't seem to have quite the usual power but I'm a flatlander so I really don't know what is normal for mountain hauling. Anyway, I got here, checked underneath for leaks or whatever and found sloppy universals and a broken sway bar link. I took it to a local chain mechanic shop and asked them to look it over for problems relating to the backfire and fix the u joints and links. They called and said it needed a new motor. Hmm. The oil pressure is great and it runs smooth, used half a quart of oil on the trip so far. I called my mechanic at home who heard it running last week and he said maybe injectors or timing. Use a better grade of fuel and we'll look at it when you get home. So I told the shop to fix the u joints and links ($1013) and picked up my truck. Now it is running very rough, dies when you decelerate to turn and idles rough. What the heck? Did they sabotage my truck? How do I find out what's wrong?

 

Well first off why don't you tell us where you are so that if someone is near where you are someone might be able to help you.

 

What did they do for a thousand bucks? If that's just u-joints and sway bar links, you got raped.

Getting any codes?

 

Yeah, I know I got raped by Christiansen Auto Repair in Carson City and didn't get a t-shirt either. The only other thing they did was to put it on the computer to get the codes. The rear O2 sensor is dead but since the cat was beaten out when I got the truck, that sensor has no function anyway.

 

I'm in Dayton, Nevada. Near Carson City and Reno.

 

Crap...they must never have changed ujoints so the labor time was high!!

You are located on the other side of the mountains from me as I'm down near Sacramento off Hwy 50.

Are you staying up there or continuing elsewhere?

Mileage since last spark plug/wire change? Mileage since oil/filter change?

Send me a PM with phone number if you'd like.

 

$572 Labor
$410 Parts
I had the oil changed just before this trip and plugs and wires maybe 6000 miles ago. I'm staying here long enough to get the truck going and then headed back home to Nebraska. We have relatives here and came out for a wedding and an equine event. Where is the PM button on this page?

 

Well to answer one of your questions, you have no power when pulling anything in the mountains.

 

I kinda figured out the no power pulling in mountains, lol. What I need is for my truck to run as well as it did before I took it to the shop.

 

First thing I'd do is check the PCM for pending codes, record them, then reset the PCM. If you're not up on how to reset the PCM: Disconnect the negative battery cable, all negative battery cables, from the battery negative terminal(s). You can wait a half hour, or after five or ten minutes take that disconnected battery cable in your hand and stick it to the positive battery cable. I like to turn the key switch to the Accessory position when doing a PCM reset because it'll also discharge all of the residual charge in the Run/Acc circuit. After that, reconnect the negative terminal and start the thing up.

If it then runs pretty good from cold start to normal operating temperature, you're probably in good shape. If it runs like crap, then it's time to start troubleshooting and those pending codes that you recorded earlier, if there were any, might come in handy.