2002 Ram 1500 (360) 2wd.
This thing is driving me crazy. The engine misfires when you first crank it in the morning. The first few seconds of idle it sounds like junk. After it runs a few seconds it sounds better and starts to idle normal. Then when you drive away it will skip and buck and jump. Has new plugs, wires and cap. Not getting any codes or check engine light. Feel really scared at this point, traded a good ole f-150 with a million miles and no air for this beautiful red dodge. Guess what I have been chasing problems sice then. Transmission whines when in reverse, the things get about 10.4 miles per gallon on a good day. This forum is full of scary sounding issues, have I bought a beautiful piece of junk ?

Mark

 

I won't sit here and lie about dodge's not having any problems but in all honesty...I think they have a lot less that GM's. Your misfire sounds like a you've got a carbon problem on the intake valves, someone has screwed with the intial timing on it, or there's a couple of plug wires crossed. The 360 still uses a distributor, therefore you can still adjust the base timing by turning the distributor but after 45 secs or so...the PCM will compensate for the incorrect adjustment and will electronically correct it until you next start the vehicle. The gas mileage that you're getting is actually pretty close to what it should get....you can try pulling the battery cables to reset the PCM and then retrain it to your style of driving. Chrysler had a habit of putting the smaller, light duty trannys behind the 360 so if you're getting a whine in reverse only, then i would have it check by a reputable tranny shop. Good luck.