Good morning everyone!!!

I'll try to give you the quick down/dirty. Back in April of this year, I did the Hughes V8 MAGNUM PLENUM REPAIR KIT fix for my 96 1500 (for obvious reasons). At the time, I figured, might as well give her a make over - New cap, rotor, dist pick-up, pick-up coil, plugs, wires, fuel injectors, IAC, TPS, MAP, new sensors on manifold - the works!!! After the open heart surgery, truck idled nice and ran smooth. It's NOT my daily driver. It sits, regularly. Started having CEL after driving it more often (bought a travel trailer). Was getting STORED P0300, P0308 and P0301 (and at times every damn cylinder misfire either STORED or PENDING).
I've been through 3 distributor caps/rotors (I just put a mopar cap/rotor on Tuesday), 3 sets of plugs - the first 2 sets were Autolite, the last set I used OEM Champions and the CEL went out on it's own (I didn't have to clear the codes). I've followed the TSB regarding wiring and convoluted tubing. On my third coil (MSD). For S & giggles, I gapped the plugs yesterday to .040 (I noticed on on 97 to 01, those years call for that gap). Took truck for a spin - no CEL. Parked in my driveway with the engine running (usually the codes will show in PENDING status) which after 10 minutes idling in my driveway, they did! I sat there for another 10 - 15 minutes with the truck running checking through emails and searching the internet for answers. I hit refresh, to see if other codes popped up and now P0300 and P0301 were gone. I was left with just P0308 (PENDING). Drove truck to work this morning - voila - CEL came on with STORED P0308 along with it's usual suspects P0300 & P0301 in PENDING. Got to work, parked, hit refresh (I have ODBwiz on my laptop), the 2 usual suspects are gone?!?!?
I'm at my wits end here!!!
Sitting at idle, the P0300/P0301 codes seem to clear themselves??? Under driving load, they rear their ugly heads. Could the ignition wires be bad??? I'm getting a LOT of interference on my radio stations that normally come in clear. I've invested a lot of time and money...not willing to throw in the towel just yet.

 

Brand of coil? What kind of fuel (octane and ethanol %, just for s and g)? Wire size?


Hard to say what it could be but some brands of coil I've seen problems with, if you have 15% ethanol fuel and it sits for awhile it attracts water, 8mm-8.5mm wires carry better signal

 

I'm using MSD Blaster coil. In NJ, we get upto 10% enthanol (ethanol is garbage btw). I use 87 octane.

I'm using 7mm ignition wires.

I didn't have this issue prior to open heart surgery...which leads me towards something I did/replaced in the process?

 

Double check the connections on the coil, all the wire ends for proper seating, if gas is low fill it up and see if it continues. Check the easy stuff.


Nothing wrong with ethanol...if engine is configured for it and gets driven daily so it doesn't sit lol. I would actually love to do an ethanol conversion on my truck but it would take too much work...at the moment. I plan on it in the future.

 

I respectfully disagree with ya on enthanol. It's horrible for gas mileage. I ride a motorcycle too and definitely notice the lack of distance I get on tank fills after they brought in 10% mixtures. My 96 ram wasn't designed to run on corn oil...lol!

Thank you for your help...I've checked the easy stuff and it all appears to check out ok. I'll try 8.5mm wires and double check all wiring harnesses and connectors.

 

Hope it works out! Come back if it persists.


I love the idea of ethanol. Not the 10-15% in regular gasoline but e85. I don't care much about fuel mileage though, only watch it for sudden sharp drops that could indicate a problem. E85 is just highly knock resistant to the point that it's basically 100 Octane race gas allowing for more timing compression and power. Also because it needs roughly 30% more fuel and the nature of ethanol in general it burns cooler though that also means it needs fuel pump upgrades, injector upgrades, or both. Pros and cons like anything

 

Ok. WTFO!
I DROVE to pep boys at lunch to pick up new moroso 8mm wires...with the CEL on. Parked truck..bought wires...came out started truck...was driving down the road ava noticed the CEL is out? I hooked up laptop....the P0308 is showing stored but CEL is off?

 

Yeah, it tends to be a bit flaky about turning the light on/off...... especially for misfires. If the engine goes long enough without one, it turns the light back off...

Change the wires, clear the cods, see what happens.

 

I changed the wires with moroso 8mm. Wrapped them in tubing and routed them away from one another until they teach the cap. Took truck for a ride. CEL came on. Codes P0300/0308 STORED, P0301/02 PENDING. I'M stumped. I have extra plugs. I'll put them in those cylinders and see what happens? I don't notice any drivability issues...purrs like a kitten at idle and moves pretty well for a near 20 year old truck.
I already replaced the distributor pick up....What is it's purpose? Could it be faulty? For some reason, cyls 1/8 seem to be pesky.
When fixing the plenum...I also replaced the oil switch pick up which is right next to the distributor. If I accidentally without knowing bumped the distributor, could I have thrown off the fuel/firing synchronization?

 

Ok...Can my timing be off? I know the firing order like the back of my hands. Looking through photos both online and the manual, the distributor shows cyl 3 and 2 at the twelve and six o'clock positions looking straight on. My setup has 4/3 at the twelve and 7/2 at the six. Could my wiring be off?