Hey y'all, I have an '02 Ram 5.9L 4x4 with nearly 70k miles on the clock. I bought it in June at 62k and it's always run beautifully, maintenance-wise all I've done is an oil change with a factory filter and repair wise I've replaced the serpentine belt tensioner when it got horribly noisy.

Today on the way to work once I got up to freeway speed I noticed that the engine is sputtering and hesitating very slightly when I give it throttle. Oddly enough, if I choose a speed say...80mph and sustain that speed, it won't exhibit the hesitation. As soon as I give it a decent amount of throttle though, it does it. It also does not seem to be exhibiting this during normal moderate-speed around-town driving. I haven't ever pulled any of my spark plugs out to look at what kind of shape they're in, could it be a case of worn plugs? Or maybe the fuel pump? Dirty throttle body? Any suggestions or experience-related stories would be awe-friggin'-some. Thx guys.

Mike

 

might be fuelpump going bad or fuel filter that is conected to the bottom of the fuelpump inside the gas tank. my 94 ram ackted almost the same and it was the fuelfilter it was so cloged up gas could barly get to the fuelpump so the fuelpump was sucking air changed out the hole thing all new asmble and cleaned out the gastank good put it all back together and reinstaled the gastank under the truck and worked good tell i traded it in this year for my 04 1500 with 5.7.

 

lol well that sucks, I've been under my truck to change the oil filter but I never bothered to check whether or not the fuel pump was external or inside the tank, now I guess I know it's inside the tank. If that's what the problem is then it's gonna suck to have drop the tank and change that thing out, but if that's what it needs then it's gotta be done. Does anyone know if this filter is a common problem with Rams?

 

my wife's 01 durango had same problem with 80,000 miles. changed plugs and pcv valve. no problems since.

 

Does it sputter the entire duration of accelerating? Or just hesitates then goes fine?

Sounds like fuel filter as people have mentioned, or plugs/wires. I had a car that sputtered the whole time i accelerated, especially under heavy load (up hill, low rpms). Changed plug wires and problem solved.

good luck!

 

You might consider treating your fuel with some injector cleaner too. Its also possible you have some water running around in the tank, but because you say it happens on acceleration only, my first guess would be crudded up injectors.
I would suggest techron or seafoam to try. I currently add seafoam to mine at every oil change and oil filter change, and I generally fill up with Phillips 66 89 octane.
You in the near future might want clean the throttle body. Not that it would contribute to the acceleration problem, but with 70K miles, and if I'm not mistaken, you still have a cable operated TB, making it much easier to clean. If you do want to try this---get the FSM from above as a download from "MERRY CHRISTMAS" in the sticky's above. The 5.7's are throttle by wire and they are VERY delicate in the cleaning area.

 

There are a couple of things I'd do since it has 80K miles on her.

1. Clean the TB. Take it off and scrub it well. While you have it off, check down in to the intake to make sure it is oil free. There have been some problems with the intake gasket on the 5.9L gasser.
2. Clean the injectors with Sea Foam.
3. New PVC
4. New plugs, rotor, cap.

That should take care of it. Most of it is cheap to do, just takes time.

 

I pulled the plugs out of my truck not to long ago, it has just over 60k on it and they were about burnt up. Put in a new set of Iridium plugs in it, and it has never run better.