I have the great mystery illness "of not starting after stalling" .It would start for awhile but not now.I have a 96 ram van 2500 5.2l 318 v8. I have replaced dist. cap , plugs & wires,rotor,crankshaft position sensor,fuel pump and filter,ignition coil. I have cleaned out the iac valve on the carburetor , checked all vacuum lines.NO codes from car parts computer and only the "12" flash code(meaningless).Only the oil warning light stays on.The check engine light stopped coming on after i changed out the fuel pump and not on since.
I can't find the ignition module ANYWHERE!!! and I'm waiting before i touch the main computer.What do i now want to start poking around for with my new ohm meter and where is the ignition module and ballast resistor?I have NO fire(spark).battery is new and connections are good. OH and none of the fuses are blown in the glove box,main ones under the hood or the ones under the steering colum.
ARRGG.
Have i forgotten anything?

 

Well you can stop looking for the ballast resistor, you don't have one. That has a different symptom than you are seeing anyway. On vehicles with a bad ballast resistor, it will crank, will spark, and will stall not run when the key is turned back to on from start

Where and how did you check for spark? When you tested the coil, did you remove it completely? if so, did you get the positive and negitive sides wired up correctly on reinstall? I know AutoZone around here tests coils for free maybe someplace does that where you are.

There is a troubleshooting section in the Haynes Manual #30065 [pg 0-19] which has 21 different causes of what you are saying. Chapter 5 is probably the most useful. Did you test the pickup coil in the distributor when you where throwing the kitchen sink at it?

 

I have the haynes manual.I used a spark plug tester to test for spark .Nothing to confuse on the ign.coil as it is only 2 plugs and 2 bolts.so no postitive/negative to get wrong.The pickup coil is the camshaft position sensor on the 96, Yes it was replaced.
I still can't find the ignition module they say is on the firewall.
My thought is that it is something not giving power to where the powers need to be for the spark.

 

There is no ignition module, the spark is controlled by the PCM/Computer. The PCM is that large silver box in the engine compartment above the air cleaner, with three large connectors going to it.

You say your oil light stays on? Low oil pressure will shutdown the engine, you might want to investigate whether you have low oil pressureby using a pressure gauge,or if there is a problem with the sending unit or wiring to it.

 

Well I've given up!!!! I'm having it towed to a mechanic shop.I guess I'm ready for the raping......

I HATE FAILURE

 

well i have a couple of days till they can fit me in.I have checked all relays they have power . Still no codes.
So the van has sat for a couple of days atleast 24 hours with the asd relay and 4 others out.I put them back in , still no start(of course). I had been reading about the neutral start switch and the checks and what not. My steering wheel doesn't lock, i think it locked before but i can't remember exactly.So i put it in" R" and tried to start....and nothing, just like it should be ,same for "D,2,1," so i then put it in "N" and IT STARTS......
About 10 to 20 seconds in to it ,it reveved up . Before it shut down, but this time it didn't i hit the gas and it went back to a normal idle.I put into gear and repositioned it so as not to have people vandalize it closer to the house.I let it run for about 20 minutes to recharge the battery.About 30 minute later i went out to try to restart and of course it didn't.I tried to do the same proceedure as before but to no avail.

crankshaft position sensor or neutral start switch or gremlin??????

 

By this, do you mean the starter wouldn't turn until you put it in neutral, or was the starter turning but the engine wouldn't fire up?

 

Only in park and neutral does the starter turnover. In D,R,2,and1 when you turn the key you get nothing but like the radio and oil warning like blank out until you let the key turn back.
Thanks for any info you may give. Also after it ran for a few minutes and shut off by itself, i rechecked the flash codes and got 11, and 45 twice. What does it mean when you get a code twice ?Depending on which 11 or 45 code you look at in the haynes manual they both point towards the crankshaft postion sensor .Which when malfultioning causes the effects I'm experiencing..... a non-working engine.

Also i was told not to bother with PCM as my problem seems to be intermittent and that PCM's either work or not. No such thing as an intermittent PCM . Does that sound right ?

 

The netural safety switch will only let the starter crank while the transmission is in Neutral or Park. That is the correct operation. This isnt a manual transmission where you can move the vehicle with the starter. You really shouldn't do it, but it works in an emergency.The idea is that you dont want the vehicle lurching around while you are cranking the engine to start it. This is also why most newer manual transmissions have a switch to check for clutch pedal depression before starting.

a failing N-S switch doesnt sense that the transmission is in park or neutral and thus wont let you start. Try starting in neutral since the park section is what goes first usually.



I would ask that you be specific about crank, start, and run. It would really clarify your provided information.

Crank is what the starter motor does to the engine, probably from the early days when they did it by hand with a lever. If it doesnt crank the starter isnt turning or not turning the engine.

Start is when the engine catches and some combustion is occurring, but the key is still held into the start postion and the starter is still turning

Run is when you release the key to its normal operating position.


On the coil, I have yet to see a coil that doesnt have 3 wires. I could be mistaken. The wire from the center of the distributor goes to the ignition coil. I think the two bolts you mention are the positive and negitive of the coil they need to be wired up correctly. Rub off the dirt and look for the + and - symbols near the bolts. There should be some wires around that are usually red and black or are marked some other way which goto them. The pickup coil in the distributor is a different coil.

 

A code 11 is normal, all it means is the there is no crank sensor signal at the time, (which is obvious since the engine isn't running.) A code 45 has to do with a tranny sensor. Depending on the year/model, it can mean a temperature sensor, O/D switch, or internal governor valve pressure problems. Neither one of these is a clue to your problem.

I'm starting to think you might have your ignition switch going bad. The van started after you were playing around with moving the shift lever. When the van doesn't start can you check the two primary wires from the coil for voltage with the key in the run position?