Ok people, I have a question. My '89 Ram is having a slight problem, when I accelerate from a stop, it sputters, chokes, whatnot. Until I reach about 50mph it does this. It only just begun it today. I think it might just need a fuel filter, as I suspect, but I'm not too familiar with carbureted engines. Could anyone give me any advice? Thanks!

 

my 85 does it too, but ive never paid it any mind. mine is very likely due to the fact that i have a chevy carb.[:@]

 

If it was a fuel filter it would do it passed 50 MPH. Perhaps the carb is going bad, it's got some crap in the bowls, an acclerator pump isn't functioning. Could also be a timing issue. Tough problem to troubleshoot over the internet.

 

wouldnt some bad gas cause the same issue??

 

Are you sure it's carbed? I know with the Ramchargers, they went to throttle body injection in 88. I assume it's the same with the Rams.

 

Ok, sorta got it figured out. Turns out, my truck's gotta throttlebody. Didn't know that! Stepdad figured out the problem as we were searching for the location of the fuel filter. A vacuum line had dry rotted and broke off. I test drove it afterwards and it has improved, but the backfiring has not stopped completely. But it did improve ALOT. I will see how it performs tomorrow at work. Thanks for your replies! Nice to see that! [sm=thanx.gif]

 

Update.. In case anyone was wondering... Truck only improved the slightest bit, still backfired multiple times upon accleration from a complete stop. Stepdad is planning on adjusting the timing, maybe that's the issue. Guess we'll keep fixing things, eventually we'll get it!

 

don't know if this helps but I had a dodge caravan and it acted up and sputtered when I used cheap gas. alot of stations dilute gas, as long as i got my gas at one station that did not dilute it ran fine.

 

Yeah, I'm starting to put 89 in it instead of 87...that seems to help a little bit. Oh, yeah, the timing has been adjusted but the truck is still tempermental. Maybe spark plugs, things like that, are in order. Eh, that's what you get with an old truck! I see, wifeofdodgeman, that you are fairly new! Welcome and enjoy the site! Thanks for your input!

 

Are you getting any codes?