Firstly, when it is cold outside and my truck sits for a while or overnight, when i try to start my 95 dodge ram 1500 5.9, the first attempt sometimes will sound like my starter is grinding the crap outta my flywheel kinda like when you try to start a vehicle that is already running, but 99% of the time the second try it will start right up with no grinding and normal. the first try dosent even turn the motor over at all, it sounds like the bendix gear is not engaging fully and grinding the flywheel. so naturally, i changed the starter, no luck, still does it. this only happens in winter. i live in milwaukee, wi and it gets pretty cold. So next i get the battery checked at a company the makes and sells their own batteries and they said it was fine. WTF i dont have a clue here.

Next, in the same scenario as the previous problem, when it starts, it idles kinda rough in park until warmed up, then its fine. But if i try to drive it not fully warmed up, it will slightly hesitate on accelleration then smooth out until i come to a stop, then the idle REALLY bogs down and sounds like a misfiring. But when it warms up, poof its fine. I read a similar thread on this problem but there was no conclusion. My catalytic converter rattles when its cold also, it sounds like the honeycomb material is split in two and is rattling against the inner side of the housing of the cat. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

I know you already said you checked this, but both of these problems could be caused by the battery. If you have another vehicle you could swap the batteries out of than it might not be a bad idea. Some battery testers are not always accurate.

 

Well, i tried the battery, cleaned the TB, and replaced the o2 sensor and it still acts up. Yesterday, i got it started and it was runnin ****ty so i shut it off, then i restarted it like 2 minutes later and it took about a minute of cranking and it barely started and blew out some black smoke for a second, until i revved it up. it runs smooth with being on the throttle a little bit but when you let go it just barely idles, sometimes it takes 15 minutes to fix itself, sometimes it takes 2 minutes. i dont know what else to do but ghost ride it into a lake.

 

What oil do you have in there? Maybe the oil is really thick and barely wants to turn, until its warm.

99% chance its not this, but it could still happen!!!

 

yea i dont think thats it

 

Happened to me when I bought my V10. Drove it back from Florida, unknown to me that it had straight 30 in it. Left it outside over night. She didn't want to start the next morning. Changed the oil that very day.

As for the rough idle problem, my guess is a dirty IAC motor or a faulty coolant temp. sensor. They both have a hand in regulating idle. The coolant temp. sensor is especially important when the truck is cold.

 

i cleaned the IAC but havent replaced it yet, i dont think its the coolant temp sensor because it dosent show on the guage its warm immediately, sometimes it fixes itself after like 2 minutes but i can always just hit the gas a little and everything smoothes out until i let it go, if i start it up in the morning and it runs like **** and i dont drive it right away, it will idle lopey but when i get goin and i let go of the throttle at any speed it drops really low in the rpm's until it almost dies or dies at a stoplight. WTF!

 

is your CEL light on?

 

no CEL and no codes, today as it ****tily ran i pulled over and did the code check and got a 55

 

anyone..................please