Hello I have a 98 dodge ram 1500 pickup that wont start, I thought it was the fuel pump, but when I put some fuel in the throttle body it still would not start,
I checked the spark from the coil and it looked real weak, so when I pulled off the sparkplug wire to check for a spark, it did spark and when it arked onto the outerside of the coil it wanted to start, could it be my coil is bad or does this truck have a ignition module that I dont know about.
any info would greatly be appreciated

 

First thing I would check is the rotor. I had the same problem with my 2000. Never had a tune up and it would be harder to start every time the weather was humid.

 

start with a fresh tuneup, including wires, cap, rotor & plugs. get autolite 3923's non-platnum, they're cheep and work great. the coils will go bad however with what you discribe, start with the tuneup. sounds like your not getting spark all the way to the plug like you should be.

 

Testing the coil is an easy process. Refer to the manual for proper resistance readings. First, disconnect the negative cable from your battery. Then disconnect the harness, or ground and hot wires from the coil. Using an Ohm meter, check the Ohm reading between the ground and hot posts on the coil. The readings should be between 4-9 Ohms. Next remove the plug wire from the coil. Set your meter to K Ohms run one wire to the positive post of the coil and ground the other end into the plug wire hole. Your readings should be somewhere between 10-15 k ohms. If the coil passes. Then suspect the pick up coil. A coil may fire, but not supply enough voltage to fire the engine.

 

I'm having similar problems except I don't get no spark from coil Well I will tell you this I was sitting at an idle when it died thought at first it was the oil pressure switch so put a new one in then I checked fuel had just put 45 in fuel in it hits pressure up to the rails and can hear it come on so I pulled first plug no fire oh tried putting gas down the throat to no go so after I pulled first wire no fire I pulled coil wire checked for fire there still no fire. So put a new coil on no fire still no codes were sent to code reader either I need help

 

Probably crank sensor.

 

Props for even trying.

 

I have the same issue... was idiling, and died. I however, tried the crank sensor (actually a flywheel sensor located between the engine and tranny on passenger side), tried cap and rotor, and now I'm about to try a coil, but not optimistic. I see these kinds of posts EVERYWHERE, but cannot seem to find a solution!

How strong is the spark supposed to be at the end of the coil wire. I cant seem to get it to arc at more than 3/32 or so and it is white and weak. It there anything else besides the coil itself that controls the amount of spark it produces? I don't think this is even enough to make the air gap inside the cap.

I have around 10.7-11.2 volts at the coil power plug when the key is in the ON position.

DODGE EXPERTS... Please help us!!!

 

I too would try a different coil.

 

when i had an ignition problem, i started with plugs and wires, then a coil, cap and rotor, and the crank sensor, nothing worked. i sat there staring at it with a flashlight and few hours later swaped my horn relay with another realay and it worked... so after almost 300 bucks it was just the stupid relay...so now i have an extra in my glove box