Truck will not start

AGCARLOUGH

MEMBER
1998 DODGE RAM
5.2L
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
165,000 MILES

Ran fine for years. Going down the highway, engine quit. Waited fifteen minutes, started. Drove off highway and called service.
Got it home, ran fine, one week. Driving around town, engine quit. Won't start at all. Towed home. Fuel pressure around 45. Spark good. Cranks strong. What's next?

Truck is the 1500 model.

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,200 POSTS

Welcome to 2CarPros.

First, if you have spark and fuel, it should run. So, we need to try a little trick. See if it starts for a couple seconds using starting fluid. If it does and then stalls, we know it is a fuel related issue. If it will not even try to start, then we have an ignition issue.

Here are a fuel links you may find helpful:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-cranks-but-wont-start

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-an-ignition-system

If it does start for a couple seconds with starting fluid and the pressure is a minimum of 45 psi, then we need to check for an injector pulse. Even though there is proper fuel pressure, if the injectors aren't putting the fuel into the engine, it won't run.

Here is a link that explains how to check injectors:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-fuel-injector

Here are a few links to help with the testing:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-test-light-circuit-tester

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-voltmeter

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

Let me know what you find.

Take care,
Joe

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Saturday, July 27th, 2019 AT 6:55 PM

AGCARLOUGH

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for your guidance. I must have missed the spark issue because after continuing probing I didn't find a good spark, which led me to the coil, which led me to the problem. Replaced the coil and it runs fine. Just surprised that coils can fail "slowly". You know, on-again-off-again performance. I would have thought they would be go/nogo components. Anyhow, thanks.

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Tuesday, July 30th, 2019 AT 5:51 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,200 POSTS

Welcome back:

I'm glad you got it fixed and you are very welcome. And yes, they can act that way, but usually (like you thought) they go all at once.

Regardless, I'm glad it's running again. Take care and let us know if you need anything in the future,

Joe

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Tuesday, July 30th, 2019 AT 10:08 AM