07 ram with the 5.9 in limp mode .

[WBraico]

Just purchased on Saturday an 07 with the 5.9 , manual trans and 158K on the clock. It all looked good, fluids, no blow by or smoke. So I was driving it about 125 miles back home in the rain to Temecula. Stopped about half way and got 20 buck fuel at a 76 even though it had a quarter tank in it, got back on the freeway drove the remainder 30 miles. As I exited the freeway the check engine light came on and it wouldn't accelerate much more than 1500 RPMs and sounded like its missing under acceleration. Drove 2 more miles and its parked in the driveway tonight until I can find an auto zone or O'Reilly to see if they can scan it, or maybe I shouldn't drive it at all if its a fuel starvation problem like my 24 valve had many years ago. The previous owner was the original purchaser of the truck, he said in the last year he put a new South bend clutch, AC compressor, fan clutch and the regular service, the trucks been very reliable. I dont know if these have these common rails have lift pump issues or injector hiccups? Any help would be great since I'm new to these 3rd gen motors. I've pretty much done everything on my 24 valve in the past 20 years, so now it's time to do it all over again with this new truck. Lol

 

[JR]

Sounds like you could have gotten some bad fuel or perhaps the filter is plugged. My first step would be checking the condition of said filter and replacing if necessary.

 

[WBraico]

Thanks, Hmm... I put only 5 gal. In it I just don't like to drive my diesels with less than a qtr tank in them. Wasn't sure if these 3rd gens have low inlet fuel pressure sensors. I have every gauge and buzzer on my 24 valve and know it like the back of my hand, lol This 3rd gen is just to new to me. Gonna try to find a cheap scanner tool, I'm not sure if I should try to drive it to an auto parts store that might be able to scan it.

 

[bcbender]

Sounds like you could have gotten some bad fuel or perhaps the filter is plugged. My first step would be checking the condition of said filter and replacing if necessary.

Been know to happen, doenst take much to stop up a filter or alittle water.. Id Drain the filter and change it. Also you should be able to check codes with the old cycle the key trick, at least it worked on my 01 and 04. (put key in.. Turn key on / off / on / off / on and the codes will be displayed on the ODO. (dont start engine..)
Good luck

 

[WBraico]

Ok, finally got a code reader. And found these 4 codes P0483, P0541, P2609 and P2146 on the fuel inj. System. I'm pretty new with reading codes and some said active some said Stored and some said pending. Also they were in two groups.: Dodge OEM Enhanced PCM-Engine control module. And the other group were under: Global OBD2 Dodge. Not sure which code triggered the limp mode, but I erased them and now it's back to running good. At least until I can troubleshoot these codes and prevent them from rearing their ugly head again. One thing I did notice that the previous owner had removed the 4 or 6 ga. Red wire feeding the grid heater solenoid. When I hooked it back up it seams to cycle on a few times every time you start the motor even if its already up to temperature. And today here it was around 50 deg. When I tinkered with it.

 

[Ozymandias]

That's the normal behavior of the grid heater.
Silly but it is like it is.

 

[JR]

P2146 is the one thats gonna bite you.

How many miles did you make it from the Previous Owner until the code came on? He didnt mention any injector problems?

Could be a few things, solenoid, injector harness/valve cover gasket.

Does the truck have a programmer?

 

[WBraico]

Didn't get to much info from previous owner about any codes that may have come up or if he cleared them. No Programer, no injectors replaced, has oem fuel filter / in tank pump. I'm monitoring oil level in engine and watching my MPG . I'm getting about 20/21 MPG Cruising at 2200 RPMs in 6th gear. I was going to order the Geno's HPCR Fuel pump return flow test kit ? I looked and wiggled the wiring connectors on the outside of the valve cover. Does the ECM store several DTC and when it gets over a few does it automatically put the truck in limp mode? Prior (about 10 miles) to it displaying the check engine light I did run the truck up to 100 MPH for about 5 seconds ( the freeway was empty at 1am) could that have triggered something?

 

[Ozymandias]

ECM stores all codes, but only some trigger the MIL, and a few force a limp mode.
There is no such thing as have ten codes or something and hen it goes to limp.

Some codes go from active to stored after a couple key cycles. The interesting ones are the active ones.

 

[WBraico]

Thanks, is the Geno's HPCR Flow test kit a good way to determine if my injectors are going south on me?

 

[cerberusiam]

Thanks, is the Geno's HPCR Flow test kit a good way to determine if my injectors are going south on me?

No, that is for the CP-3 and rail PRV.

To do injector return test accurately you need the software to set the RP and rpm correctly for the required time period and isolate the injector return flow. You can get a ball park figure without the software but it s really rough.

 

[WBraico]

OK Gotcha, so in the mean time should I watch the Tell-tale signs like excessive oil in the crank case, high MPGs or a rough running engine?

 

[cerberusiam]

Yeah, that is something to always do. If you mean low mpg's that would normal if you have bad injectors. How are you getting mpg, the overhead or hand calc? The 21-22 mpg at 2200 rpms is not going to happen all things being equal, that is normally a 14 mpg scenario if everything is good, less if you have issues.

Since you don't have a good pedigree on engine performance I would heavy dose a full tank of clean fuel with a quart of power service, a quart of MMO, and a quart of 2 SO and drive it hard. If you have a trailer hook it up and run it hard up and down hills. You can pickup cheap code readers from any parts store for less than $100 that will give you the OBD codes and clear them. You really need to get a baseline before starting into parts changing.

There CR trucks do not like DD and low loads, it will carbon injectors and the cylinders causing issues that may go away once it used hard.

 

[WBraico]

Yes, using the overhead, I just filled it for the first and will be calculating it on my next fill up. It might just be a coincidence but the check engine light popped up about 10 minutes after I did a hard acceleration on the freeway up to 100 as I was exiting the freeway and it went to limp mode. I either did a maneuver that past owner never did or it blew the lines and injectors clean or possibly starved for fuel?
I did buy the middle if the road code reader from Harbor Freight and it works quite well. But when I went to get the Smog inspection the other day, the tech says I had 12 more miles and 15 more warm up cycles before those "pending" codes would go away.
And I do normally run some additives, injector cleaners or anti-microbial products in my other Diesel motors, just trying to get to know this truck better, since I hang on to my trucks a long time.
And btw, I'm an o'l fart not real techy and not sure what all those acronyms like CR, MMO or 2 SO are either lol.
Thanks
Walt

 

[mfurrh55]

Yes, using the overhead, I just filled it for the first and will be calculating it on my next fill up. It might just be a coincidence but the check engine light popped up about 10 minutes after I did a hard acceleration on the freeway up to 100 as I was exiting the freeway and it went to limp mode. I either did a maneuver that past owner never did or it blew the lines and injectors clean or possibly starved for fuel?
I did buy the middle if the road code reader from Harbor Freight and it works quite well. But when I went to get the Smog inspection the other day, the tech says I had 12 more miles and 15 more warm up cycles before those "pending" codes would go away.
And I do normally run some additives, injector cleaners or anti-microbial products in my other Diesel motors, just trying to get to know this truck better, since I hang on to my trucks a long time.
And btw, I'm an o'l fart not real techy and not sure what all those acronyms like CR, MMO or 2 SO are either lol.
Thanks
Walt

CR= Common Rail, MMO= Marvel mystery oil, 2 so = two stroke oil, DD= Daily Driver

 

[GAmes]

MMO Do you really want to put a "mystery" oil into your fuel?
2SO The GASOLINE additive I put in the fuel tank of my boat for my outboard engine.

 

[mfurrh55]

MMO Do you really want to put a "mystery" oil into your fuel?
2SO The GASOLINE additive I put in the fuel tank of my boat for my outboard engine.

Yeah I run it in my diesel and my gas rigs, good injector cleaner, also a good upper cylinder lubricant

 

[GAmes]

Yeah I run it in my diesel and my gas rigs, good injector cleaner, also a good upper cylinder lubricant

Your money, your engine. meh

 

[mfurrh55]

Your money, your engine. meh

There you go..., been running it for 203k miles, still have same injectors

 

[GAmes]

Since I have always get more than 350k on a set of injectors 203 isn't that big a deal. I still have the original injection pump with nothing that is fuel lubricated replaced. Yes, I know, apples and oranges compared to an '07 but relevant. I also have a thread about dissecting my original 800k mile engine. When you get there, dissect yours and we can compare.