'97 RAM 1500 5.2 2WD
Driving at constant speed, engine has total loss of power for about 1 second and then comes back to running perfectly. This happened twice tonight on the way home, once at 65mph and then at 35mph. Pulled into my driveway and the engine died after idling perfectly for about 5 minutes. While it was idling, I checked for codes with my wifi OBD2 app on my phone and there are no codes at all -- total clear. I was able to do this before the engine died. It took some extended cranking to start it up again and it ran at a smooth idle for about 10 seconds before it died. Still no codes. Other than this experience tonight, it runs solid, idles smooth, gets about 14.7mpg -- not complaints at all. I was able to get a quick look at the voltage gauge during the second incident at 35mph and the voltage was where it should have been 14V. No dash indications of any trouble at all.

I've had this truck for about two months and there was a similar problem when I first got it. I had a code for the ignition coil (slightly out of spec resistance) so I replaced it. New wires, plugs, cap, rotor. The ASD relay is new. I never was able to verify the cause of the original problem which acted exactly as the truck did today. I took apart and cleaned every electrical connector I could find under the hood and tightened all of the ground terminals.

The question is what can make the engine totally die yet not generate any code -- probably a lot of things but the fact that there isn't a code ought to rule a few things out also. Like I say other than this intermittent glitch, the truck runs perfectly and starts immediately. I hate intermittent stuff. I don't want to consider swaptronics but I might need to. Understand that its not an engine miss but more like turning off the key. Suggestions?

 

AS A RULE,MOST, ELECTICAL ISSUES ARE DUE TO GROUNDING,time consuming for sure,too start checking harness and ground points of all the involved items that caused shutdown.Just a thought.......................

 

cruzer... I totally am with you on that. I've seen some really weird stuff happen from bad grounds. I did go under the hood about a month ago, loosen and then retighten every ground I could find but I know that is not the proper way to fix a problem ground wire. I just drove a 3 mile round trip to the grocery store without a glitch but I'd really like to identify and smite this problem before I get stranded on the side of the road, in the snow, or cause an accident because my truck died -- I'm paranoid that way. If what ever it was would just stay broke, I'm sure I could find it. I'm retired from the USAF where I was an electronics tech for many years. Troubleshooting something like this could be difficult and its certainly wouldn't be any easier for a dealership -- you can't fix something when its not broke.

 

These are really hard to diagnose over the internet. Here is what I would do. I would pull the throttle body clean it and the IAC. That should stop the stalling. The intended cranking either means you are getting to much fuel or aren't getting enough of something (usually spark or fuel). For the engine to lose power for a second, that stumps me to be honest. As I never heard that happen ever! Usually it's a lot longer. Dealerships are rip-offs will probably tell you, that you need a new engine which is going to cost $4,500 but we'll give you $6,000 for a trade in on a new Ram.

 

Don't over think it. I had a car do that once and the battery connection was a tad loose. I had just replaced it and didn't get it tight enough. A bad alternator can act like that too. Battery will still show good volts.

 

My 2001 1500 died while driving in the summer of 2015. It sounds like a similar situation. At first the transmission went into neutral, then a second or two later the engine died completely. I got it restarted once and it idled fine for 5 minutes, but then it died again almost immediately after I started driving again.

The coil had no power, so I tried changing the crank position sensor to no avail. After that the truck was dead for almost a year while two different shops tried to figure it out with no luck. I even purchased a new PCM and the second shop installed it but still couldn't get the engine to fire. I finally had it towed to a third shop, who determined the original PCM had gone bad and fried the crank sensor at the same time. The replacement crank sensor had subsequently gotten toasted by all of the attempts to crank the engine. It wasn't until the shop installed the replacement PCM AND a new crank sensor that the engine started up.

The truck is still running 3 years later, and I have never determined the cause of the failure, but I too suspect a ground issue. I would check to see if you have voltage at the coil while cranking. I believe you should see it fluctuate between 0 and 12V while cranking. If you don't have power there, you could have a crank sensor issue or PCM issue like I did.

Best of luck...I hope you can get it figured out. Definitely let us know if you do.

 

Well a few years back my truck needed a new crank sensor, Went to the local auto parts store and picked one up. Put it and i was back on the road until about two months latter it started doing the exact same thing. I put in a BWD part(big mistake!). Crank sensor is dropping out (not supplying the pcm with a signal). It could be the cam sensor also. They both can have issues and not throw a code. If you could see live data i'm sure you would see the signal from one or the other drop out for a second and then come back causing what you are experiencing. If it where mine i would replace both. Don't go to the local parts store and get one(except if they carry Delphi). Get them from the dealer of order Delphi ones. Delphi is a major supplier to the auto manufactures so it's not "aftermarket" junk like what the parts stores carry. After my issue i learned my lesson and installed a Delphi crank sensor and it's been working perfectly ever since.

 

My thoughts are that I'm loosing ignition for some reason. It could be the crank sensor or the cam sensor with an open or a short. I'm going to look and see if I can find some sort of waveform recording app for a laptop or a tablet -- maybe there's one for an iPhone. For now, I can wire an LED to monitor that I'm getting voltage to the ignition coil. There are a few inexpensive laptop recording o-scope apps out there.

 

Got some more clues. Its difficult because of the randomness of the problem. I turned my radio to receive AM where I could hear the spark plugs through the stereo -- ...the motorboat sound. While driving 65MPH, when the engine decides to have this problem, the motorboat sound goes away immediately until the engine is running again. This is typically for 5 seconds or so but today it coasted to a stop and it wouldn't start up for about 30 minutes and then it ran fine again all the way to work -- another 6 miles. Also, if I keep my foot on the gas when it dies, there is occasionally a backfire out the exhaust from unburned fuel when it starts running again. I'm guessing that the injectors are still injecting with no spark and I believe that this rules out the camshaft sensor. I need to isolate why my ignition system quits. I've purchased a cheap hand held portable oscilloscope on ebay. I'm going to trace and mark the wires going into the PCM so I know exactly where to probe when the truck decides to have an issue and wont start. I bought a cheap remote starter switch so I can do all this on my own.

 

I don't think your spark plug wires should be interfering with your radio, I'd make sure one or more of them isn't arcing out somewhere. Sometimes I'll waterproof bad wires to get by with spray silicon. Not a fix, just a temporary measure.