1999 dodge ram van 1500 6cl 5.9l[/b]


[/b] [/b] [/b] My van starts right up every morning even when it’s well below freezing outside. It’ll sit there and idle in my driveway fine and drives great when I back it up to the street in reverse… then when I put it into drive it stalls or sounds like it wants to. I have to drive with two feet and coax it into gear at every intersection. The first couple of side streets I hit I have to go 20 mph until it kicks into gear for me. The thing is… once I get going about 45 it drives smooth and once it starts driving smooth it won’t give me any trouble for the rest of the day even if it sits for hours.[/b]
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[/b] I recently took it in for a tune-up, I told the mechanic the problem and left it there over night so he could drive it first in the morning. He said he didn’t have any problems, which seems impossible to me since I have trouble with it every single morning. I really want to figure this out before I take it back in so I know what I’m dealing with.[/b]
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[/b] This has been an issue for almost a year now, it started off like a fluke thing every blue moon it would happen. Now it’s every single day no matter what the temperature is but, like I said, once I drive it for a while going at least 45 it seems to work itself out and drives great the rest of the day.[/b]
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[/b] Warming it up forever before I leave in the morning has no effect, and if I have to drive it around town for a while and haven’t gotten it over 45 yet it’ll keep giving me trouble at every stop or turn until I leave town and can get it up to speed.[/b]




[/b] [/b] Sorry if this has been repetitive... [/b][/b][/b] Please help, I love my van. [/b][/b]

 

What is it that leads you to believe it's a tranny problem and not an engine problem?

Also, try this tomorrow if you haven't already. Back the van into your driveway tonight and see if the problem happens tomorrow without ever having gone into reverse. It's possible your mechanic never used reverse, so never had the problem. Knowing if this is what happened might help narrow down the problem.

Second thing to try after the engine has warmed up a bit, is to put it in neutral and rev it real good a few times, then put it back in drive. See if that make the problem go away.

 

It may be a tranny problem or possibly not.

I agree with Alloro. Back it into the driveway for over night.

As I read your posting, a thought came to mind about the slope in driveways. Backing the van in may give a different result in the morning.

Also, if you do have the V6, it's a 3.9L or if you have the 5.9L it's a V8. You might have type-o'ed the 5 instead of the 3 in your post.

Another neat thing to try is to turn the key on/off three times without starting the engine and leave it in the "on" position. The trip odometer will display any trouble codes the vehicle is having. You might find something there that could relate to this problem of yours. A "Pdone" means no trouble codes.

Let us know if any codes turn up.

Peace this Christmas season!

Stev

 

Have you tryed adjusting your kick down throttle.I had a similar problem with my van shifting erratically.I had drop a new engine in and during the process the kickdown throttle got caught on the hoist and bent. I ended up having to change my valve body.And finding a kickdown rod that fits just right is a pain in the ***.So, I went to home depot baught some 5/16 rod ...bent that **** into shape and waala!! Runs like a champ with new performance valvebody from Summit race.

 

I had the same problem with my 2001 van 3.9 engine, I replaced the IAC motor and it corrected the problem, the Iac gets Info from the PCM when you put the vechile in gear it lets air into the intake to increase the idle, when you turn the wheel the power steering robs power it increases the idle and when you turn on the A/C it will increase the idle.