Engine Performance problem
1997 Dodge Ram V8 Four Wheel Drive Automatic 200000 miles

when i slow down the engine will stop, but not all the time,which makes me think its not the I.A.C. Now im thinking it may be my alternator because after only being able to drive for a mile before the the truck stalls out and i have been doing this for about 8 days.Iam now hearing a screaching noise from the belt, but not that load yet,but when i started the truck and disconnected the positive battery cable the engine stayed on, where if the alternator was bad the engine should have shut off. im not having any dimming of lights or any electrical problems, but i did notice that the battery gage needle was to the right a little more. If you think its the alternator, is there another way of cheaking the alternator to see if thats definately the problem.

Hello –

Need a little more info on your truck. Is it a 1500, 2500 or 3500 and the engine in liter, 5.2L or 5.9L and what is the 8th digit of your VIN. Is this a magnum?

First please go to Auto Zone or O’Reilly’s and for FREE they can pull the codes to the car. Most important: Once they check your codes, if they find something and you don’t get it fixed and need to get back with us, please make sure you tell us exactly what the code was, number and all. Example, if the code was E0568 O2 Sensor bad. Then make sure you give us all of that. While there for FREE also they can bring their tester out and check your battery, alternator and starter.

When was the last time you did a tune up….plugs, wires, fuel filter?

We also need a fuel pressure check.

My first thought with this many miles is your fuel pump. I may be wrong so we need to do the other tests to verify.

Please do the above and provide the information requested and we can take it from there.

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Please let us know if what the final fix was for your car so we can better assist others. Thanks!

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