I have an 01 ram 1500 with a 5.9l. It has 47k miles and runs great 90% of the time. Ocassionally it will run very rough and even stall at times. When accelerating from low speeds it will cough and the more gas I give it the worse it runs. If I turn the engine off and restart it will normally correct itself and run fine again. This problem will present itself for a couple of days then sometimes not do it again for a month. Wet weather doesn't seem to effect it at all. No check engine light comes on even when it stalls and there have been no error codes.
I have changed the coil and the dealership has replaced the crankshaft position sensor and the idle air control motor but seems to be throughly at a loss at this point. Any suggestions would be of great help! I'm not sure what to try next.

 

Carbon build up?

 

No code or cel on a stall, weird. How about hot n cold, does that affect the problem at all?
Maybe the pcm is going or a there is a bad ground to the pcm or ignition?

 

Throtle body has been cleaned. Hot or cold temps don't seem to make any difference. The truck has been running like a top for a month but the last two days it takes at least one restart to get out the driveway. At highway speeds it runs great, biggest problem is from a start or at idle. I can watch the rpm's jump from 300 to 700 at idle when it's in one of it's moods. Thanks for the ideas so far! If you have anymore or if I can describe the situation any better let me know. Thanks

 

fuel filter?

 

yeah you definetly need to check something out.. the idle for the stock 2001 is 600 rpm abouts.. i know this because i stil have the damned stock motor.. either you're not getting enough fuel or you're getting too much and flooding it. i'm leaning towards the lean side and starving it.. making it run rough and drop in idle.

just another thought it could be your accel cable is fraying and closing the throttle up. another thing i'd check out.

check the fuel filter and pump.. yeah PITA i know but that would be the first place i would start.

 

air filter, fuel pump, tb sensors, bad 02, bad CAT (get that checked asap!)

could be a number of things.

 

My truck normally runs @600rpm until it goes out of wack. At that point it jumps around and ocassionally stalls. I should have clarified that this problen started in the last 4 months. Like I had said before it normally runs great. It may even go several weeks before acting up for a few days and running like crap. When it's in one of it's tantrums I can't give it gas without it lurching and occasionally popping. This usually happens at low speeds but not always. A restart always clears the problem, sometimes it takes a couple. I had originally thought I had water in my fuel but at this point it's not an option.

The fuel filter seems like a likely option but would that be intermittant? At this point I don't care about how much work is involved. I just don't want to get stranded with my daughters in the truck. All of the suggestions are appreciated and any other advice would be great. Thanks again!

 

I thought an intermittan fuel pump at first or possibly clogged filter but if the engine stalls from lack of fuel you should get a code on it. Last summer screwing with my smt6 to confirm it was working correct I pulled a ton of fuel out, cel came on and it stalled.

 

do our trucks have EGR valves?? in my old gmc jimmy the egr valve would get chunks of carbon stuck in it and it kept the valve open.. would run like crap at idle.. stall out and run rough.. but going down the road its fine.. if we do have EGR valves get that check.. pull it off and spray some carb cleaner in it and clean out any carbon thats holding the valve open