A little bit of back story. Got my truck about 3 years ago with 114,000 miles now at 167,000 has been amazing up until the last 10,000 or so. I have noticed a slight decrease in power and it bogs down when shifting into gear, some times this bogging down results in a stall when shifted into gear. Also when this stall happens I sometimes hear a loud "ding" like noise, almost like a bell ring from under the truck. For example yesterday I hauled a boat to the lake and a couple of times when shifting between drive and reverse it stalled and I heard that "ding" noise. Not a clue in the world about what it could be. I guess my question is what troubleshooting steps would you take to find the source of the issue or what do you think the issue may be? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edit: Also no check engine light.

~James



P.S I have some amateur mechanic experience replacing normal stuff like thermostats, alternators, sensors, etc.

 

Plug a scanner in, and see if there are any pending codes. Last time it had a tune up? Fixed the Plenum? (see the stickied thread at the top of this forum....)

 

1st thing I'd do is check to see if any stored or pending codes exist in the PCM using a very basic OBD2 code scanner. If there are any codes, check out what they mean via Google or check back here on this site and let us know what those codes are.

Has the truck ever been tuned up recently? Given your symptoms and without any check of codes, I'd ensure that the spark plugs & spark plug wires are in good shape, along with the distributor cap and rotor. I'd remove the air cleaner and look down the throttle body (operate the throttle linkage by hand and open the butterflies all the way open) to see if there is any pooling of oil in the bottom of the intake manifold. If so, the intake plenum gasket is blown and needs to be replaced - more information on that here - https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...um-thread.html. Lastly, remove and thoroughly clean the throttle body.

As for the 'ding' sound, check your exhaust system for broken or loose clamps or hangers along the exhaust pipe and check the catalytic converter to ensure the metal heat shields aren't loose on the converter

 

Ding noise could be ujoints and crusty ujoints will rob power.

Otherwise, id say pull your pan and look for.metal.

 

I have not had a tune-up since I purchased the truck, I am unsure if it had one before I bought it. I ran a code reader on it and I have a random misfire code and a cylinder 8 misfire code. I have not fixed the Plenum. Honestly, I am unsure as to what that is.

 

Check the be-all, end-all plenum thread at the top of this forum.

Time for a tune up then. Cap, rotor, wires, plugs. Standard copper plugs only please.

 

Get a (oem style) cap with the brass inserts not the steel/aluminum ones.