Hi all. I have a 99 B1500 mark III conversion. I bought the van last fall and have only put a few hundred miles on it with no problems (except an airbag light) until this week. I am helping friends move to FLA. We left PA Sun afternoon, drove for aboutfive miles and stopped for gas and added a quart of 10w30. About 60 miles down the highway the van just shut off at highway speed with no shudders or shakes. The gauges all turned off, radio and lights etc still worked. I checked the oil and under the engine and everything seemed normal. Got back in and she started right up. Thinking I musthave somehow hit the ignition I went on my merry way. We drove for about300 miles and stopped at a rest area for aboutfour hours sleep, refueled the next morning and got back on the road. A couple miles in and suddenly the same thing happened. Tried to start-cranked but didn't turn over. Checked under the hood again, got back in and she started right up. 300+ miles from home and 600 to go, I went on mynervousway.400 miles later we stopped for gas again. Started up and idled for a minute and stalled. No gauges, wouldn't start. Waited a few minutes-started. Crossed the street and parked (shut off) for a few minutes waiting for a member of our caravan and the started up again and proceeded on my tentative way. A couple miles in and same thing. Took longer this time but finally started up and got me to my destination. Now I'm in Fla 900 miles from home with no tools and no resources. I'm at the library now to get online. The only existing problem that I'm aware of is a vacuum leak (I think) that causes the air vent controls to go crazy under hard acceleration (floor to dash to defrost and back again). The gauges all read within normal ranges and seem to operate properly until the engine thing happens. The temp gauge doesn't show any overheating. The engine does seem very hot but we're in Florida and this is the first I've really run it in hot weather so I have nothing to compare it to. Any ideas?

 

Since the engine, gages, and starter all dye together I would look inside the PDC box (Power Distribution Center box, on top of the radiator) where thealternator &battery leads come in and check for tightness of the cables to their posts. Sounds like one of the main battery supply leads has a momentary loss of connection. Might also swap the ASD (Auto Shut Down) relay with the starter relay. It may be the ASD gets hot enough to interupt the power. More likely a lose connection though.

 

The ASD relay is your first possible culprit, followed by the ignition switch, then the PCM. Since the lights still worked it's unlikely the battery feed.

 

Ok thanks I'll check it out. Thought I'd mention it's the 5.2l since I left that out originally.

 

I checked the battery and alternator leads and they looked tight and clean. I switched the relays and drove around a bit with no trouble but I guess I really won't know anything until I hit the road back to PA. Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

Good luck!

 

Hope it works and you get home safely.

 

Ok well I made it home

 

I stopped four times along the way-twice for gas and twice to rest-and had no problems. Unfortunately, the engine did quit on me once in the middle of a four hundred mile stretch. I put it in neutral and started drifting to the side of the road when all of the gauges came back so I just started it up, put it back in gear and kept going. (how bad is it to put it in gear at highway speed?)

 

On puting it back into gear, if it only had a slight jolt then it should b fine. If it slamed hard into drive then be aware of how it behaves for the next few weeks and definetly don't do that again. Most times if put back to drive and the engine was not overly reved then you get a slight jolt but nothing serious.

I would check the engine ground wire (black wire) to the battery for clean and tightness. That is the only other thing I can think of that the engine and gages share together.