I have been having a problem with my Ram 1500 losing power and or dying at the same place almost every morning in the same place within 5 to 6 miles from when I leave home to go to work and I mean dies like I shut the ignition off, no sputtering, coughing or slowing down it just dies in a heart beat. When it loses power I will put it in neutral and coast to the side of the road where it may or may not still be running, if it is still running I cannot get it to go until I shut off the ignition and restart it, if it dies the same thing I turn the ignition off and then back on at which point it will go all day without a hiccup. This has been going on for about six months during which time I have only had it die once on the way home about 6 miles into the trip home after sitting all day, which is the usual daily routine. I drive about 35 miles to and from work each way. The van is an '03 with a 5.2L. I've had the following replaced: The PCM, ignition switch, ignition module, drive shaft speed sensor, spark plugs and spark plug wires. I've had it into 3 different shops to no avail, although one told me it might be the fuel pump, but that doesn't explain why the same place and same time each morning. I really need to fix this as I have been very fortunate to have a place to pull over when it shuts down. I'm hoping to find enough consensus to not have to drop another 2 grand replacing one part at a time. I love my Ram van.

 

That's a weird one.....

Ignition module? Is that the sensor in the distributor? (cam position sensor) Might be a crank sensor......

Try this: Unplug the front O2 sensor, drive it to work. See what happens. If it runs fine, replace the sensor. If it still does it, I would be really tempted to replace the crank position sensor. (which is a breeze in a van.....)

Moving this to the van section for you as well.

Welcome to DF!

 

Does the van give any stored codes after an engine cut-off?

5 to 6 miles out on a drive sounds like an engine warmup issue. Maybe even the CAT. A clogged CAT would bog down and then the engine would cut-off.

Or, something electrical cuts out once the engine warms up.

With the ignition wires, were they routed properly via the Chrysler TSB 18-48-98 document? http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1998/18-48-98.htm This works for ALL years of the 5.2L and 5.9L Magnum engines.

As for the TSB listing for the Ram Van, this is the last year Geno's covered the TSB for the vans. Your 2003 conversion is actually a 2002. It would be under the 2001 and 2000 TSB articles. http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2001-index.htm and http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2000-index.htm

 

Replace the crankshaft position sensor.

 

Back at last. Still working on some of the replies. HeyYou thanks for helping me get my post in the right place. Yes I was talking about the cam position sensor. Am going to take the 02 sensor out this weekend and see how that works. However I am not getting a check engine light so am still uncertain about that. Also did not mention I do not get any codes showing , have had that checked at 2 locations. Thanks Stev for reminding me about that. As far as I know and can tell by looking at them the wires were routed correctly. So after the 02 check looks like I will try the crank position sensor since this has somewhat of a consensus. One last quandary could this be a throttle body issue possibly with the Idle Air Control since it seems to be a warm up issue?

 

Stev did an excellant write up on how to clean the IAC here

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...n-the-iac.html

 

Coil - I had same problem with my Ram Truck.

 

same problem with my 1979 it was starter relay on firewall heating up.
replaced it no problem since

 

A forum search will turn up multiple instances of the issue: bad coil or coil ground, else bad PCM ground.

I had this exact issue except occasionally I would get an ALT warning light. Check the 10gauge ground wire from the negative battery terminal to firewall. Recommend clean both ends of that wire and replace with larger gauge wire (4 gauge wire with ring connectors already crimped is easy to find).

Never heard of an '03 Dodge Ram van as they stopped making these in mid 2002..

 

My 01 (also a 5.2/318) has begun acting like a cranky beyotch in the same way, only mine is doing it sitting right here in my driveway because it started after the last time I got home with it about to steam and boil over from water pump going out.
Water pump and thermostat both replaced this past Sat. and it starts perfectly , plenty of juice in the battery, etc and then the next attempts (just when I breather easier thinking I am in the clear, it'll start with a very slow crank and then only stay running with my foot on the gas until just now. I went to put it into (foot on brake and gas at the same time) drive to try to go just up the road and it died anyway.
Last night, I replaced the idle something or other that plugs into and sticks into the the front (facing you) of the carb and it started several times just fine and now back to the same problem. I apologize in advance for this but WTF????? Plugged a code machine in yesterday and it gave me nothing and ever since I bought the van in Oct. 2013, it has run like a top despite the check engine light coming on randomly and staying for a week or more then going off just as suddenly for a week or more with nothing apparently wrong.