I am having a terrible time figuring out what this is but please if you know, help me.

I have a 96' Ram 1500 5.2L V-8. When i am driving down the road the engine will just die, and then it will start itself back up. It will always start back up if i am at a good speed say at least 25 miles or so. anything under that and i have to come to a complete stop and restart it, when that happens it is sluggish and it will idle rough and sometimes take more than one time to start but normally no more than two times. All of my gauges stay the same except my RPM and MPH gauge they fall like the engine has been cut off. Also when this thing stalls it is just like someone has turned the key off and they turned it back on. I have had it to a mechanic and it has only tripped a code once, after i put on an ignition coil it wouldnt really die...just sputter and one time it did die and but i still had power steering and power brakes, i just couldnt get any acceleration..that is when it kicked a code, that it had a distributor misfire, (1391) was the code. I need help though i have not been able to fix this and it has been doing it for about 9 months. It is only every once and a while but i would like to get it fixed. Has anyone had this problem?

 

did you find out what the problem was yet?????? mine is sort of doing the same thing!!!!!

 

sounds like a possible crank position sensor or cam position sensor... or possibly the fuel pump.

the crank sensor is located behind the passenger side head and is mounted on the block sid of the bell housing. reach back there when the motor's cool and you should feel the wires and sensor.

the cam sensor is in the distributor.

actually, after reading your post... check your fuel pressure & volume 1st...

 

steve.....on mine checked the fuel and it was at 49psi and even when truck was running i let the fuel flw out of the overflow tube and it was still ok so i dont think mine is the fuel(but it could be)....so today i am going to put plugs ,wires,cap and rotor and coil to see what happens....i also changed the fuel pump relay with wiper motor relay and it still did it so i will post after i change these thing out to see if it fixes it....i also am going to check all my grounds and the o2 sensor wires....hopefully it is one of these items....lol....and thanx again!!!!! one of these days i will put pics of my truck up for you guys!!!!!!

 

my truck had a blown o2 heater fuse which caused an intermittant stumble but it never stalled. Does your problem occur with a full tank of fuel? I've heard of the pumps going bad in a way that when the tank gets low, the pump stops pumping the volume which causes problems while driving. it'll idle fine and have the right fuel pressure but under load it croaks. what year is your truck?

 

actually no i have not found out what it is yet,

and thank you for your responses guys.

I have replaced the fuel pump twice and it is still doing this i read a good psi and i know it is not the fuel pump becuase we have put 2 new ones in the truck.

cam position sensor sounds interesting...i keep hearing about this. But i feel that i did not describe my problem very well.

When i say the truck starts back up.... i mean it is doing this on its on....i dont have to turn the key or anything....it just dies...and as long as i am cruising at a good speed i dont have to stop the truck and crank it back up....it just starts back up on its own...whats weird though is every thing from my radio to air conditioning stays on...the only thing i dont have is the ability to give it gas and it go.....i have to wait for a few seconds coasting on the highway with no power and the mph gauge will come back up and i will have power again.

the big thing is this problem is unpredictable, sometimes it will not do this for a few days of driving...then other days it seems like it does this every 30 feet.

please help.

PCV valve ( replaced ) Ignition Coil ( replaced ) Distributor and Button ( replaced ) Injectors ( cleaned ) Fuel Pump (replaced 2 times) Evap Purge sensor ( replaced ) Temperature Control Sensor ( replaced )

 

distributor replaced??? you mean the cap?

sounds like crank or cam sensor to me... I assume there are no codes?

the map sensor could also be a problem but you'd have a code.


edit: btw, what year is your truck? which motor/tranny?

 

yeah it was the cap that i replaced.

and yeah i never get a code.

My truck is a 96' 5.2L V-8 with an automatic transmission

so you think it is one of those two sensors.

Do you know how much those normally cost, and do you know how to be sure excaclty which sensor i need to replace.

And once again thank you for helping.

 

dont know the cost on either... i'd start with the crank sensor though... IIRC the cam sensor will just make it run like crap and MAY cause dying... from what you describe, the crank would be my first swap. without the crank, nothing else will work.

 

Considering all of the other parts you listed as having replaced, I wouldn't even question how much a new sensor will cost. The fuel pump alone is costly, and you did that twice. []