96 Ram Van 3500 w/5.9 Fuel Pump or Spark?
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96 Ram Van 3500 w/5.9 Fuel Pump or Spark?
So I was on my way to the beach with the family a few weeks ago, and we were getting pretty low on gas, but to my mind, not totally empty. Anyway, out of nowhere the van starts cutting out and sputtering, check engine light comes on, and the van never totally died, but it started misfiring and lurching only letting me go about 5mph. So I lmp off the highway and into a gas station, shut er down, put a bunch of gas in, and after that, the van started up ok. The check engine light remained on, but we continued on and made it to the beach without noticeable performance issues.
So while still on vacation, I had the codes read at Advance Auto Parts, and the codes inidicated multiple cylinder misfires, and the guy suggested new plaugs and wires, so I bought some just in case just to have with me in case it happened again but did not install them. It wasn't all that long ago that I changed out plugs and wires, so it seemed kind of unlikely that that was the issue, unless I had a wire get too hot and melt on the valve cover or something.
What I've noticed since I've been home is that when starting the can for the first time each day or after a long rest, it cranks for a long time before starting, but it always starts and since disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, the check engine light has not come back on. So I tried the thing where you turn the key on for a few seconds a few times before trying to start it, and it starts way faster when I do that, so I think that indicates a failure in part of the fuel pump that is supposed to hold the fuel pressure while cold.
So my question is, is it possible that the fuel pump starting to die caused the first issue I had with the check engine light and misfire codes? It just seems kind of unlikely that I would have 2 totally different issues at once.
So while still on vacation, I had the codes read at Advance Auto Parts, and the codes inidicated multiple cylinder misfires, and the guy suggested new plaugs and wires, so I bought some just in case just to have with me in case it happened again but did not install them. It wasn't all that long ago that I changed out plugs and wires, so it seemed kind of unlikely that that was the issue, unless I had a wire get too hot and melt on the valve cover or something.
What I've noticed since I've been home is that when starting the can for the first time each day or after a long rest, it cranks for a long time before starting, but it always starts and since disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, the check engine light has not come back on. So I tried the thing where you turn the key on for a few seconds a few times before trying to start it, and it starts way faster when I do that, so I think that indicates a failure in part of the fuel pump that is supposed to hold the fuel pressure while cold.
So my question is, is it possible that the fuel pump starting to die caused the first issue I had with the check engine light and misfire codes? It just seems kind of unlikely that I would have 2 totally different issues at once.
