Have a work van that is the life blood of my company. Dodge Ram Van 3500 5.9L. Here is the symptoms and corrections to date:

-Turned over, but no start. Fuel gauge read E. Thought my partner left it empty. (threw a gas-can into it and took it to the gas station and put $50 in it) and it would not start at the pump.

-Towed it home. It has started up several times since, but did not venture far from the house. On the day when I had planed on a road test, it did not start. THE FUEL SENDING UNIT ALWAYS READS "E" WHEN IT WILL NOT START.

-Partner and I changed the Pump Relay...then the fuel pump (after emptying what seemed like a gas station worth of gas.)

-Put it back together and it started back up without hesitation. My partner and I hi-five'd each other and road tested it and it passed with colors. We returned home to put tools away and when I went to take him home...guess what? It stalled and when I tried to restart, the fuel gauge was on E!

-Pushed the bitch back into my driveway an went looking for my shot gun.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I've seen issues like this that involved electrical, but none of them had my systems listed as above.

Any help would be great--my flooring business needs its van.

 

Welcome to DF.

I will move you to the Ram van section.

 

What year is your van?

I would start at the tank and check all the electrical connections. It may be as simple as a failing ground connection.

 

Ditto on the electrical supply issue. The gauge going to E at the same time as the stalling (or no start) condition occurring indicates a loss of power.

The fuel pump and the gauge have completely separate circuits (both power and grounds.) They do however share a couple of the same connectors. I would suspect corrosion or some other damage at one of these connections that is affecting both circuits.

 

It is a 2001. I checked codes with the odometer method and it is throwing me 920 and 921. May or may not be related. later in the day,I turn the key and the sending unit showed and it turned over. But don't let that fool you.

it's time to trace electrical I think. I had a mechanic mention the ignition coil does that make sense?

 

For the stalling issue, but not for the gauge issue.

 

I found a thread...here is what it said...the OP ended replacing the PCM with those errors

It looks like the Self Diagnostic Codes from the cluster
Here is a list for a 99 Ram
INSTRUMENT CLUSTER FAILURE MESSAGES
Message Description Correction





110 A failure has been identified in the cluster CPU, RAM, or EEPROM.900 The CCD data bus is not operational.920 The cluster is not receiving a vehicle speed message from the PCM.921 The cluster is not receiving a distance pulse message from the PCM.940 The cluster is not receiving an airbag lamp-on message from the ACM.950 The cluster is not receiving an ABS lamp-on message from the CAB.999 An error has been discovered.

 

what gives?

 

okay. we looked at wiring and for shorts in both ground and power. much frustration and jobs looming that the van is needed for, we installed a manual fuel pump kill/bypass switch breaking the power to the pump, (not ground) . I know its ghetto but we need to move rolls of carpet now.

Once completed, the gas gage showed the gas in the tank as well as when the pump was whirling and shot glass with no problem.
We took it for a looooong test drive and when we came back guess what? It stalled in front of my house. Gas gage was in E, but you could hear the gas pumping through the pump and when we checked the fuel line it was actually sending gas! but no start. I let it run after it finially started and it stalled. sending unit dead, but gas pumping in the engine. It's idling now to see if a hot engine is causing something

... what gives? why would an empty gas gauge decide whether a engine starts even though gas is being delivered to the engine?

 

When your fuel gauge says empty does the odometer show "No Buss"?

Since the fuel pump override does not correct this issue then it appears the PCM's wiring harness may need to be cleaned or you may have a failing PCM.