I'm new here, this is my first dodge and i've had it only a few weeks...

I have a 1997 Dodge 3500 Van with a 360 V8, Saturday morning I went to leave and it wouldnt start. I ended up changing the plugs and it started up fine. I drove it into town and ran a few errands without a problem. Started and ran fine. I drove it about 40 miles to my brothers and when we got there it started running kind of bad and chugging. We were there for a few hours and then left to run across town to my other brothers. When i started the van it was idling rough, but when going down the road it did alright except around 30 mph then it would chug a little but but if I push the gas harder it would go fine, then everytime we hit a stop light it would want to stall. I had to keep the gas pressed a little to keep it running. The check engine light also came on. By the time we got there it was running pretty rough. I shut it off and was at my brothers for an hour or two, went out and it wouldnt start. I pulled the plugs and there was gas on them so I know its getting gas. Checked for spark and it was getting spark. I put the scanner on it and it brought up multiple cylinder mis fire and a code for each cylinder mis firing. It has a newer cap, rotor, plugs, and ignition module.

I thought it might be the cat myself, as it was rattling a little so i drilled a few holes in the pipes going in but it didnt seem to help.

A few people told me about fuel pump issues and that so I took down a fuel pressure gauge and was going to test it but it doesn't have the connector to hook it up. I did take down some starting fluid and tried using that, didn't work. Didnt even try. Think i'm ruling out a fuel issue....

Had a friend of a friend look at the van today. ($40) Starting to think it was a bad idea. He thinks the timming chain jumped. He said he had to move the plug wires one over and turn the distributor 20-25 degrees to get it to start and it was running real ruff and would only run for 30 seconds or so. Another guy I talked to said that a timming chain jumping like that are vary vary vary rare and hes sure its not the timming chain. Not sure what to do now. Its gone from bad, to worse, to a freaking nightmare!!!!

PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

How many miles on the engine? I have read about similar driveability issues by those who did find that their very loose timing chain skipped a tooth.

Other thoughts are the PCM(computer) itself, or loose/wet connections leading to it) The crank position sensor, the camshaft position sensor. Others will have better, more helpful ideas.

 

The engine has 140,000 on it. checked the compression, its running between 140-150 psi. I did check the wiring for the computer, it all looked good. Any other ideas??

 

I know it sounds unlikely, and perhaps it is, but remove and clean the battery terminals. Also remove and clean the battery to engine ground, the battery to firewall ground and the engine to frame ground. The ECM/PCM also has it's own ground somewhere as well.

I'm not familiar with '97's. MAR and Alloro should be chiming in soon.

Since you've said it is a more or less instantaneous type of issue, that either points to electrics, or possible the skipped tooth on the timing chain, or intermittant electrics causing stumbling stress which then caused a tooth to skip on the slacky chain.

An ECM going bad will have you chasing down possibilities, until you can rule it out, by swapping out with a known good one of the same year/model/transmission. When Mine was going bad, disconnecting the battery for a while would allow it to start and run normally, until the next time.

Since it worked fine after swapping out spark plugs, look for a sensor wire you might have moved/ stressed in that procedure which allowed contact for 40 miles before failing again.

 

Your friend moving the distributor was a bad idea. The pick up coil in the distributor controls the injector timing. Now that has to be reset. The Crank Position Sensor controls the spark timing and is not adjustable. A way to verify the timing chain jumping theory is to do a compression test. From what you said of the compressions I doubt the chain has jumped.

The distributor cap, is it the brass terminal type or the aluminum type? If aluminum replace with the brass terminal.

Have you checked for vacuum leaks? One big culprit can be the brake booster.

Before this starting issue how long did it take to crank up? Such as less than a second, up to 5 seconds?

Have you cleaned the IAC (Idle Air Control)? Here is a link: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...n-the-iac.html

 

To realign the distributor bring the number 1 cylinder up to TDC, verify compression as you rotate the crank shaft by hand to the TDC mark on the timing cover. Now rotate the distributor back to where the rotor bug points to the right side of the van in line with the notch on the base of where the distributor cap seats on the distributor. Replace the spark plug wires on to their proper spot on the cap.

 

All of these tips and no one thought of the plug wires? Obviously they were moved during the changing of the spark plugs. After running a while the wires settled back down to their original position where the spark could jump to ground.

 

We had to leave something for you, didn't want you feeling left out.

 

Ok, I've found someone to haul my van up here (its 40 miles away) so I can work on it myself. Not trusting the van to anyone else. So it will be here saturday morning and i'll be tearing into it. Thanks for giving me some ideas and i'm probably going to be looking for more guidance in the near future. If theres anything else I should look for please chime in, i'm making a list. I need all the help I can get!!!

 

Aw shucks...I didn't know you cared!