Archived My son's 2001 is sick

[ChipD]

I'm having issues with my son's 01 5. 9. Truck has 185K miles and has been maintained very well by his Grand Father. Did a road trip from Tennessee to Texas and it ran fine. After arriving in Texas the tach began fluttering 1-200 rpm at idle. When I would take off, it seemed to intermittently cut out. Truck has big tires and a small lift so I thought it might be my foot moving on the pedal but it got worse over 2 weeks. Talked to several folks and was told it sounded like a ground short. Checked virtually every wire and found a few questionable wires that were fixed. Truck ran fine for a couple days, very short trips and began acting up again but getting worse. Truck is equipped with a noise filter which I disconnected and immediately reconnected after driving a short distance, still acted up. When the truck is cold it starts and runs fine but after warming up it drives like I have a tire out of round. The engine never dies just feels like its cutting out. Talked to more folks and they suggested that it could be the Throttle Position Sensor which I replaced. Followed the service manual instructions and it worked fine for 25 miles. Acted up again but this time after starting it sounded like I was running on 3 cylinders, kind of like it was starving for fuel and died several times. Truck is equipped with a booster pump so I hot wired the booster pump and drove home with no problem. Cleaned all of the connections for the booster pump, depressed the throttle with the key in the start position, turned the key off and on a the booster pump cycled so I though everything was ok. Took off for Houston and made it 10 miles and it started acting up again with cutting out and acting like a tire is out of round. I'm beginning to feel like a professional parts changer rather then a troubleshooter. The only code I get is 0500. Any suggestions?

 

[Bob Cochran]

Does he have an Edge or any of those kinds of devices? If yes maybe disconnect and see what happens.

 

[KLauber]

SOunds like the problem we had with my sons 98. 5. A fuel line connection was loose and it intermittently sucked air and ran poorly. Check and tighten all fuel line connections.

Ken

 

[icman95]

I second that motion for the air in the fuel lines, but also was thinking that the vp44 injection pump might be acting up on you. If there is no other problem-air in the lines, etc-and the engine is still acting like it was starved for fuel, then maybe it really is due to the injection pump being on its way out.

 

[ChipD]

Thanks ya'll. I'll check it out this weekend and post my findings on Sunday. I'm not a performance expert, what is an EDGE?

 

[DennyDay]

Edge is a Power Box - - This truck used to have an edge, now has Smarty



Denny (Grand Pop)

 

[dknoch]

Just a thought, but could the IAT sensor be messud up causing it to go into high idle, 3 cylinder idle and changing the timing based on false reading? Just a thought. Good Luck!

 

[PeteFleming]

It sounds like you may have a small air leak in the fuel line before the boost pump to the tank? I have never had your problem with either of my dodges (yet) but the tdi vw passat has it now. VW uses a translucent fuel line so you can actually see the bubbles in the line. It runs about like your truck... I have been chasing it down the same as you have. It would be nice if dodge had a see thru section of fuel line. It really helps on the VW. Sure sound like air if you hot wired your pump and eliminated the problem.

 

[DennyDay]

Got it fixed

After replacing the ACC this thread was started - - Thanks for all your suggestions... ..... Findings . . . and fix . . . This truck spent the last 5 years in salt country and as the owner of the truck at the time didn't know what salt would do the electrical system - - - WOW! He went through the electrical system and isolated the problem to the fuel lift pump, located on the frame near t he front of the fuel tank. . Thought the fuel pump was going south and replaced it and the problem continued. He found and intermitant open circuit in the electrical feed to the pump, made the repairs to the electrical, including installing a new relay and the propblem went away. A run from the Denton, Texas area to Jackson, MS,then to Plaquemine, LA and back to Texas with no problems!



Again, thanks to everybody for providing suggestions.



Denny,

for ChipD