I searched the forum but couldn't find anything similar to this.

1995 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport 2x2 5.2L
Mileage: 130,000
Original cat, o2 sensor changed around 80k

I will be driving down the highway with everything totally normal, usually around 75, and then
I completely loose engine power. The electrical stays just fine and the truck seems to idle ok,
but as soon as you give it gas it feels like it died. When I pull over the side of the highway it
will (getting worse) idle, but as soon as you give it gas it backfires and won't rev up. Turn the
truck off for 2-10 minutes, start, and the problem goes away.

This started 2 years ago and only happend twice within 12-15 months both in the winter and both
times towing and enclosed snowmobile trailer (clam shell). Since then it has happened 3 or so times
until this past week. It happened twice last week.

I had the dealer look for a code (within 10 minutes of it hapenning) with no luck. They had nothing
to say other than I was lucky to still have the original fuel pump.

This happend Monday morning about 17 miles from home (all highway). I limped to gas station and
filled it. So far this hasn't seemed to happen on a full tank. It was at 14gal of a 26gal take when it
died. The drive home was fine. I put new plugs in that night. The old plugs were in great shape,
other than being worn and needing replacement.

Then Friday morning the same thing happend at about 14 miles from home. There was a Dodge
dealership 1 mile away, which I was able to idle down the road to. But all that did was cost $85
with no ideas.

This last time it didn't idle as well as it has in the past. The last comment I want to make is
when I'm on the highway and I give it gas it almost feels as if the brakes are slightly on -
I believe this is due to the backfire causing the engine to brake, where as if I idle it rolls
along normally to a stop.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Thanks,
-Mark

 

sounds to me like it is either your fuel pump or your catalytic converter. i'm leaning more toward the converter because you say when you shut it off for a while it's okay. i'm thinking that maybe the cat because is releasing some backed up pressure. i had a car do the same thing.

 

yuck

 

i agree so i needd not repet it

 

I took a reading of my fuel pressure today:

Key on: 34psi
Engine idling: 40psi
Engine 2000rpm: 40psi

Does anyone know what this is suppose to be?

I also noticed that a couple of times within 2 minutes the gauge would start bouncing crazily between
35 and 45 psi. Has anyone ever replaced the presure regulator?

Thanks,
-Mark

1995 RAM 1500 Black Sport 5.2L

 

49.2 psi +/- 5 psi is normal I believe.

It could be your fuel filter, since it seems to only happen under a load. This happened to me in a D-50 I used to have, it would act like it was running out of gas, I would pull over, it would idle fine, would try to give it gas but would just sputter. After being parked for 15 min, it would run fine. It was very intermittant also. I replaced the fuel filter, and that fixed the problem.

The fuel filter on these trucks is designed for long life, I would say 130,000 miles qualifies... Good Luck!

 

Your presure actually sounds fine to me, but ya never know that would be the problem. Mine did the same thing when my cat died on the highway. Engine cut out and would barely idle. Holding the throttle open actually caused it to have the exhaust gases escape through the intake. I'd get that cat checked.

 

Interestingly enough I was able to get my truck to die with the fuel pressure tester still hooked up.
I was doing about 80 when it started to cut-out on me. As soon as I pulled over it was fine again and
the gauge was reading 40psi. So I pushed it a bit more and it did it again.

This time the reading was 10psi and the engine would idle, but that's it. I checked the pressure after waiting
5 minutes and it was at 20psi. After 10 minutes I was back to 40psi and was able to drive about 2
miles before it did it again.

This all happened with the tank about 2/3 full.

New fuel pump module should be here Wednesday

I am still a bit concerned about the cat and that will be next to go. However I do have a serious
plenum issue so I guess that will be the next project to do before replacing the cat.

Thanks everyone,
-Mark

 

your problem is definately the fuel pump... search over on Pavementsucks.com and you'll find there were a few others with symtoms as yours

I bet the only times it does it is when there is less than 1/2 a tank...?

Yank the pump and look at the screen on the bottom. it may be clogged, better yet, just swap the pump and be done with it.

 

Hello everyone.

It has been 5 days since I swapped the pump out for a brand new one and my problem has seemed
to disappear. I have about 250 miles on the new pump and was pushing it pretty hard with half a tank
with no problems.

Just a note about the install. I soaked the straps for a few days and they were very easy to get down.
The only problem I ran into was that the new fuel module didn't have the connector for the charcoal
canister. The old one didn't look like it was designed to come apart once installed. After fighting with
it for 10 minutes I actually used my brain and got smart. I used a pair of pumbing pliers and was able
to crack the old module housing around the adapter. Once that was apart re-installing in the new module
was a piece of cake.

Also my fuel guage is now reading correctly again do to the new sending unit on the new module. I
wonder if that in anyway could be an indication, problably not.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

-Mark