Hello everyone! I'm new here, but have been reading posts for awhile now. Last year, I bought a 1998 B3500 5.9 15 passenger van, with 115,000 miles on it from an auction. It was supposed to be run and drive condition, but the engine had a terrible noise. Turned out bad crank bearings. The crank was turned 0.020, and new bearings timing chain, and oil pump were installed. However, the engine never ran right...poor idle, and low on mid and upper range power...like it can barely climb a hill, but can pull out of the driveway ok. The plugs and spark cables were changed, new air filter, oil change, of course, new cap and rotor, new crank position sensor, new cam position sensor...all no change. Then, I changed out the TPS, MAP sensor and computer...no change. Gutted the cat and changed the fuel pump...no change. New computer, no change. Finally, we fixed the manifold plenum, cleaned out the crud, and still no improvement. The engine does not idle completely good, and is low on power.

I must add, the engine starts instantly, no smoke or ping, no knocks and no backfiring. The real problem is that I'm in Central America, and I can't go to a dealer, and nobody is really familiar here with this van!! I'm not too bad with cars...I've never had one that I couldn't fix, or had to walk away from. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...eeds-help.html


Go to this thread and do what "seal" posted. see what codes you get.

 

I'll try it tomorrow, when I can get out to the van. I did try reading codes before with a Scanguage. It told me a code about "intermittent crank position sensor", so I changed back to the old Crank sensor with no change. It does seem that whatever is the problem, all the eight cylinders are equally affected since there's no sputtering, popping, that kind of thing. the idle is a bit " un smooth" though. I will try the code retrieval technique and report back!

 

weak spark/ bad coil?

 

Hi landyacht,
I changed the coil, and then put the old one back in... no difference. If I grab the plug wires, like when testing for a spark, I've gotten zapped, so I think the coil is ok? The coil "ohmed" out ok too. But I don't know if the coil's supply voltage is ok...tho' I reckon it is...

 

Are you a human Voltmeter? When you get zapped, can you tell the difference between 25,000 and 50,000 volts?

If your van is choosing you as a path to ground rather than the engine, without intending to do so, then I'd say, just as I always say, remove and inspect your grounds. If you do not have a frame to engine ground, Add one.

Once in Mexico, I was told my van needs a ballast resistor for the coil.
Make sure one of the guys down there did not figure the same, and install one for you.

 

Hey Landyacht,
You've made a very good point about the volts, and made me laugh! You're right, getting a zap wouldn't really tell me anything. I'll have to double check on the ground connections and add one if necessary. The guys down here ( small town Panama) do some odd stuff as well...two different sets of mechanics have supposed to have gone over this stuff.

 

Did you have that crank turned down there? I am not as familiar with magnum engines, I know you cant just turn the distributor If you(they?) miss a tooth on distributor reinstallation.
Seems it could be timing related. Perhaps mechanical timing, like they didn't align the dots of crank and cam, or missed a tooth on the distributor.
Somebody else will chime in on that possibility.

 

The crank was turned down here. Right now, the van is at a shop with the front of the engine opened up. They're going to check on the cam and crank sprocket, seeing that this is something that was messed with down here when the crank was turned. Maybe the chain isn't aligned properly? Also, when you mentioned the ground cable issue, it got me thinking that the engine was raised up a bit when the crank was removed, and perhaps some wires got stretched and broken when this happened. I'll post some results tomorrow when I head out to check on the van.

On a positive note, the paint shop guys and upholstery guy down here have got it looking brand new inside and out. If the darn engine would just co-operate!!

 

Well, the mechanic has the front of the engine opened up, and it seems that the previous mechanic did not align the cam and crank sprockets dot to dot. The cam sprocket he aligned with the point of the oil scraper. This created an advanced cam timing of four teeth advanced. Once we get the engine put back together, Ill take a test drive and report back. Many thanks for all the suggestions!