so i'm new to the Ram family, just purchased a clean used 2002 with reasonable milage at a great price, the engine and trans feel and sound strong, a few cosmetic issues, a couple dings and dangs, a few minor issues that i was fully aware of, (as any used truck at a "great" price will have), but the one thing i can't put my finger on is this intermittant sputter... i've searched the search engines, this site and others, and can't seem to find anything that really hits my problem specifically, and before i start trying this and that and everything else, i wanted to ask to see if any Ram (experts) may be familiar with this issue...

so, it's a 2002 4x4 full 4 door crew 5.9L 1500.....

when it sits for a bit and i start her up, she'll start strong but then begin to lose power and sputter, with little to no throttle response, and if it actually happens while driving there's a "clanking" sound in the front end... sometimes i can gas through it, and it corrects itself, other times i can't and have to pull over...

if i shut her off and restart, the problem is gone and she runs like a champ, that is, until she sits for a while again, then it starts all over...

so now when i go somewhere, i just try to start her early and let her idle for a while until it starts sputtering (rather then have it happen while driving), and then shut her off, restart her, and drive...

has anyone else encountered this or is anyone familiar with this to direct me where to possible look first to correct it? a PCV valve maybe?

thanks.

 

That sounds almost more like a fuel pump going out. If you can, put a gauge on the fuel rail and check the pressure, it should be around 49 psi on key on or with the engine running.

 

thanks, still no definitive answer to the problem yet, and still doing it, but she's going into the shop this week to hopefully figure and and fix the issue...

i'll update with the answer when the problem is solved...

 

Hard to say, could be a number of things. Bad crank sensor, bad cam sensor, bad plugs, plug wires, cap/rotor. Could be a bad PCM, partially clogged cat converter or even bad gas.

 

"hard to say", ain't that the truth.... shop couldn't figure it out, in their defense they didn't have a bunch of time nor was there an appointment, they just squeezed it in quick to see what they can come up with, and the cpu didn't read anything so now they are in the same boat as me (and you)...

"well, it's hard to say, it could be a bunch of things"...

plugs and wires are all new... i ruled out bad gas as i ran it all the way down till the gas light came on, and then another 20 miles almost after that before i filled back up with 89 and threw some sea foam in the tank to clean it out, and i'm down to a 1/4 of that tank left, so any bad gas that was in there is gone now... i will say that it is night and day how much smoother she is running now, and the gas milage instantly came up a good 1.5-2mpg through the city, +3-4 on the HWY from from around 13-14 to 16-18... a few days later and it's still reading a steady 10+mpg (all city), and that's w/ sitting and idling in the driveway, red lights, sitting running at the store a couple times, and going through the drive-through; whereas before with the dealer gas in it, and the free tank of 86 i got from my father in law (couldn't complain as it was free), it was running at 7.8-8.5 steady through the city and noticably rougher... amazing difference!

that said, it doesn't seem "as bad" as it was before, but it is still doing it... oftentimes now it happens a bit later down the road after i start driving, which actually sucks because by then i'm on a main road instead of one the neighborhood streets, lol... but still, if i can't drive through it to where it corrects itself, (which is like 1 out 7 times), i just pull over quick, throw it in park, turn it off and turn it right back on, and it drives like a champ... even 50 miles it'll run perfect... it's that first 1/4 mile after it's been sitting for a bit that it'll start fine, run fine, and just start coughing and sputtering...

so far, 100% of the time that it happens, that shut down and restart works to fix it, and it seems to happen about 90% of the time after it sits for more then an hour or 2, and it only happens after it starts up perfectly fine and starts running perfectly fine and starts warming up; only then does it start the hesitating... so because it always starts fine, always runs fine initially, and then only starts sputtering w/ no throttle response like it's not getting gas after it warms up (with that clanking), and because a quick shut down and restart has worked to correct it every single time, i'm pretty confident that it almost has to be a faulty sensor acting up and not an actual mechanism gone bad, because if it was a faulty mechanism, more often then not shutting down and restarting the truck, the mechanism itself would still be faulty, whereas sensors are a !#%^ though...

my top culprit and number one guess right now is the throttle positioning sensor, but again, still not sure, and it's still not fixed...

actually i posted it in here hoping it was a common issue with these and someone could just say, "oh yeah, a 2002, that's the so-and-so valve, happens all the time to those, hit it with a hammer and you're good to go"... wasn't that lucky though apparantly, but still, when i got it figured out, and fixed, i'll let ya know what it was...

thanks again though...

*(a quick note, i'm sure it's been mentioned before, but i just wanted to say, at $0.10 more per gallon for midgrade vs. cheap gas, in a 26 gallon tank, that's only $2.60 more from E to FULL; and for even just a +1mpg boost in a 26 gallon tank, that's 26 more miles, which is well more then a full gallon of gas in one of these beasts even on the highway, and when a gallon costs more then $3, that extra $2.60 per tank more then pays for itself with a 1mpg boost, and i got better then that, so for anyone still running cheap gas in their truck, stop being so cheap and pay the extra $0.10 a gallon, cuz you're actually saving money and being even cheaper by doing so)...

 

Leaky injectors?

 

my initial guess is a vacuum leak... my instinct tells me to tell you to look for such, and to pay particular attention to places where diaphragms/valves exist.. based on your description of something popping in the front of the engine, I'd hone right in on the CAD coupler for your 4x4...

those are the things i'd do if'n i were you...

 

Check your cap and rotor I have the same truck and they need replacing about every other year depending on how wet it is where you are and how much you drive it...
Ya the 360 rocks but I do wish I had of waited and found a hemi...lol...

 

Oh and these 360 do have a problem with intake gaskets leaking causing a vacuum leak...

 

a hemi would've certainly been nice, but with truck prices the way they are, holding value and what not, i highly doubt i ever would've found a hemi in similar condition for under 5 grand... shoot, was shocked when i found this one at the price i got it for, (48; 52 after all was said and done w/ title, tags, taxes, etc)...
i was looking at rust buckets with over 200k miles that were being listed between 6-7, so when i came across this one, i expected some issues, but i jumped on it...