I have a 1998 Dodge Ram truck with the 5.9 engine. I replaced the sparkplugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor button. She still has a miss at idle and worse when first taking off. She smooths out until the overdrive shifts in then she chugs when driving normal. If I gear down one and have more rev it doesn't chug and buck. If I run her hard she smooths out but I can tell she just isn't right, and not hitting on all 8.

 

It's likely still missing in 3rd gear, just not felt as much. (O/D tends to amplify the miss) Does the miss at idle show up immediately, or will it idle smooth for couple minutes, then start missing?

Moving this to 2nd Gen Ram section for ya.

 

Yes, I agree the OD amplifies the reaction a ton. She has the miss; not a real bad miss. It misses more when driving esp. Around 40_45 mph on the road. Seems better when accelerating or a higher rpm.

 

Have you checked your plenum yet? (there is a thread on just this topic pinned at the top of this forum)

What plugs did you install??

 

No sir I'm not sure about the pentium, but I'll research it, check it and post my results today. Autozone sold my wife champion spark plugs whivh I gapted and installed. I didn't like those becouse, I was taught Mopar runs best on Autolite sparkplugs. But since she had already bought them, I installed them.

 

Champions are fine as they were OEM. Take a look at your Plenum and report back

 

Even if it doesn't set the CEL the PCM continuously counts misfires per cylinder. See if that gives a clue to which cylinder(s) are misfiring.

 

I checked the penium, it is the stock steal one and does have a small film of oil on it.I still need to check and see if I indeed, have vacume coming from the intake, when I check it and either confirm it or hopefully no vacume I'll text my observation.