Ya I have a 2001 dodge Ram 1500 off-road with the 5.9 liter 360 Gasser and it has about 80,000 mile on it and for the past couple of weeks ive been haveing problems with it Bogging down and backfireing through the Intake. It will do it for about 4-5 seconds while driving down the road then ill give it more gas and ill just take off. It also runs rough when i first start it and makes this real loud sucking sound. Ive Checked the fuel pressure and its good even when its acting up and have run plenty of fuel system and injector cleaner through it and it puts out no trouble codes. I just cant figure it out and it driveing me crazy!!!! Ive heard that the injectors need to be manual cleaned cause sometimes rust builds up. Took it to the dealer (under warrenty) and they cant seem to figure it out. They told me it wouldnt act up long enough to put the computer on it. So I was just wondering If anyone has heard about this happening or what i should do... Iam really frustrated seeing i just got the truck 5 months ago and have fixed a few things on it now. Next truck well be a CUMMINS. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT THANKS


~Dane~

 

It could be a sticky valve. You could try Seafoam or GM Top End Cleaner on it. If you go with Seafoam repeat the steps several times. The GM stuff is only available from a GM dealership.

 

Get this stuff call "Three Step Fuel injection cleaner" .. It's at advance auto parts in the front of the store (or any auto parts store, just ask them). It cost about 30 bucks and It's really easy to use, the hardest part to me was putting the last step in the gas tank... I spilt it everywhere and was quite intoxicated at the time lol..

The three step is easy to use, The instructions is kinda hard to follow but this is what i did:

Step 1 - Take off the air cleaner housing, making sure debris doesnt fall into the throttle body. Start your engine, and use the ENTIRE can of spray to clean the throttle body (butterfly valves, inside and out) while revving the engine every once in a while. Shut off your engine when you complete this step

Step 2 - Unplug the brake booster vaccuum line from the Brake Cylinder (The big black round thing on the left), as always when working on vehicles, put on the e-brake and chock the tires... You will hear air enter the vaccuum line, its okay. Stick the hose thats connected to the second can into the brake booster vaccuum line. Start your engine and rev the engine every 10 seconds or so (from the throttle body, you need to hold the can so that it doesnt fall). The engine will run ROUGH as hell, and it will smoke like its been leaking oil for 20 years, but its okay, thats the engine breaking up the carbon build up and spitting it through. After the can is empty, shut off the engine.

Step 3 - The Hard Part - Open your gas tank and pour the 3rd can in the tank...

This helped fix my backfire problem for a LITTLE while (It was on a chevy truck), as well as cleaned out every part of the internal engine.

If that doesnt help, Your timing chain is probably toast, the factory timing chains that comes on these trucks have this nylon coating on it and eventually wears off. Your timing is probably retarded and its sparking when the exhaust valve is open...

Hope this helps a little.

 

If not, it could be your timing off just a smidge.

 

Could be timing, but, if so, it most likely would not be a periodic problem. Seafoam is ~4-8 bucks a can depending where you buy it. I don't remember how much the GM stuff is. That Three Step stuff sounds alot like Seafoam. The motor will smoke like hell when you pour that through to. You can also pour it in the crankcase to remove varnish. I was skeptical of this until I had it in there for ~300 miles. I changed the oil. After I was done, I checked the oil and the varnish that had been on the dipstick was gone.

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

I use it in the fuel tank a little more concentrated than they say to.

 

Hey shnormo- What is an oil technician exactly? I'm not trying to jack the thread, but, if it's what I think, you should start one on what you learned while doing that.

 

Change the spark plugs... I had to do the same thing at like 70000... If you already changed the plugs maybe it is the cap.

 

On my Chevy (It explains itself right there in that one word LOL) the timing was shot due to overheating The waterpump came loose, because i forgot to tighten down the bolts to torque [:'(][:@] and I didnt realize it... It backfired in the intake and exhaust... (Black Suit thottle body is VERY SEXY) It backfired all the way through the mountains in south tennessee/north alabama on my way to FL. The only thing that helped me was cleaning the throttle body injectors every 50 miles until i got to montgomery lol. As soon as I got to sea level it stopped that nonsense, which shocked the hell out of me. The denser air helped it out for some reason lol! And also helped me trade in the truck with them saying

"Theres not a damn thing wrong with this truck, we'll give you 500 over blue book for this truck!"

So yeah, it was WEIRD but sometimes it all boils down to timing It only happened once in a while here in nashville, but was annoying as all hell =/

 

hows your cat? not sure if a cat would cause symptoms like this but if its clogged up bad enough.... the exhaust has gotta go somewhere right? you still feel good flow out of the tail pipe? its prolly your timing your a corroded vavlestem sitcking... wouldnt hurt to get that cat checked out... been known to collapse onthem selves