I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 2wd with 95 k on it. I have had no problems with this vehicle until now. My ex boyfriend borrowed it, brought it back to me and said it wasnt running right. I had just ran it the day before and it was FINE. I drove him back home and realized that I wasn't doing 55 mph, but that the speed was SLOWLY decreasing, even though I was giving it the same exact acceleration. I accelerated harder, and still lost speed.
By the time I got to a hill, my truck was going up that hill literally doing 5 mph, knocking and ticking, and shaking.
I went back down the hill in neutral and when I got to the bottom, the truck stahled. It refused to start, but tried while it shook so bad I could actually feel movement in the cab. It also was making a HUGE noise from the undercarriage that I could hear in the cab- It sounds like marbles.

I have replaced the rotor, spark plugs , wires, etc. The truck WILL start and it does engage in all gears. You can drive it for maybe 500 feet doing about 5 mph with this horrible noise coming from the undercarriage and then it will stahl out AGAIN, after doing some serious shaking and bogging. It doesnt matter if you FLOOR the gas peddle, it simply will not go more than like 5-10 mph.

This particular dodge does have a recall on the catalytic convertor. I would hate to have it flatbedded all the way to the dodge dealer and get that done to fine out it wasn't the problem.

Can the catalytic convertor do all this? What else can?
Any suggestions.?? I lied, I just remembered that the ONLY problem this truck gave me was the oil pump went bad. I wasnt there when it happened ( my ex boyfriend was) so obviously, I dont know how it acted when it happened. the garage wanted 500 bucks to replace the damn thing. My boyfriend paid 19.00 for it and replaced it himself and it ran fine. This was approximately 4 months before this TOTAL breakdown.

 

It does sound like a catalytic converter problem. They are known to cause a loss of power. Usually it's not as extreme as you're experiencing, but it can be if the converter is bad enough. The marble noise is certainly something that would be occuring if it was going bad. Can you (or someone else) check under the truck while it's running to better pinpoint where the noise is coming from?

The easiest way to diagnose a converter problem is to cut the old one out and straight pipe it. Auto shops can usually test them, but you have to be able to get it there.

 

if your cat was plugged there would be a CEL on the dash. most likley your crank shaft sensior is going. this controls the timing of the fuel injectors. out of sync and the system fails. if the check engine light is on. turn the ignition on and off three times. the light will blink. count the number of blinks and look up the code in the manual.if its a code 23 the light will blink twice wait a few seconds than blink three times. when the codes are done the system will flassh three time .