Any newer Dodge mechanics in the house?

[Larry Callahan]

My 2001 Dodge Dakota 5.9L R/T died on the way to SEMA. I had it towed home and thought my trouble was ignition related. While driving down the freeway the engine just died.

I tried to start it again and it would idle real rough for 4-5 seconds and die. I tired that several times and the same thing happened each time. You can hear the fuel pump run, the injectors click and you can smell raw fuel coming out the exhaust.

So, I tow it home and pull a plug wire. I find what I think is a real weak orange spark. So, I both to Autozone for a cap, rotor, plugs and wires. I replace the cap and rotor and the same thing only now that it's cold it won't start at all. I put the new coil wire on and put a new spark plug in it tonight and ground the plug. I get a spark that arcs at the rate I think it should but it's real weak looking and very orange. Not blue at all. I don't think it's the crank trigger or pickup or I would not get any spark. I pull the ignition coil and grab my ohm meter and the primary and secondary #'s look spot on.

Thoughts? Do they use ballast resistors any more? Could it be the ignition control module? The pickup in the distributor????

I did have a computer fail last year due to some internal check error but the truck ran fine but failed smog due to the error. So, I still have the old computer and I installed it and I still have the same problem.

Help!

[MrQuick]

RT 5.9L no start, intermittent start then stall, I'd say you have a plugged catalyst. very common. Is yours original?
Its tough to tell spark output without a gap jumper. Where are you checking the spark? Coil or plug end?
A crank sensor will give you no/intermittent spark. Back of bellhousing.
A cam sensor will be good or bad. Work or not work. Also controls injector time. Under the distributor cap. They can be out of sync.
PCM controls spark dwell control, coil driver and injector ground.

One thing to check is the pick up window in the distributor. They are plastic and do come loose. Just pull your cap, rotor and pickup plate. Under you will find the hall effect window plate. See if it moves out of sync with the shaft.

Also when runing, pull your PCV out of the valve cover and put your finger over the PVC vent hose (other valve cover to air cleaner box) and hole on the valve cover, see if you get any suction, if you do the base plate gasket on your intake manifold is faulty. I have seen them so bad that the car would not run.

I realize your truck isn't running, peer down into the intake through the trottle body blades and look for puddles of oil on the intake floor.

Is your check engine lamp on? Should be flashing.


Vince

[Larry Callahan]

I'm checking spark at the distributor end of the coil wire. I pulled it off the center of the distributor stuck and new spark plug in it and grounded it to a bolt on the motor. All I get is a weak looking orange spark.

I will look into the the other items you suggested tomorrow after work.

Thanks for the pointers.

[mpozzi]

Crankshaft position sensor is also a known problem for these engines. This sensor is about $35 and relatively easy to change out. The CPS references crankshaft position to the PCM for injector and ignition timing.

I had one of these fail in my '06 Dodge Ram and it came on very suddenly with the engine running like crap. RPM would vary and be inconsistent and also NOT be what the engine was running at. At idle, engine speed would be very low almost feeling like the engine was running on half the cylinders. I've heard of CPS causing a start, then stall condition as well.

Mary Pozzi

[MrQuick]

Crankshaft position sensor is also a known problem for these engines. This sensor is about $35 and relatively easy to change out. The CPS references crankshaft position to the PCM for injector and ignition timing.

I had one of these fail in my '06 Dodge Ram and it came on very suddenly with the engine running like crap. RPM would vary and be inconsistent and also NOT be what the engine was running at. At idle, engine speed would be very low almost feeling like the engine was running on half the cylinders. I've heard of CPS causing a start, then stall condition as well.

Mary Pozzi

I agree on the 05/06's, the 4.7L have had a bad batch of crank position sensors but the older 5.9's where much better.

Larry, did you change your coil? come to think about it I've seen a few go bad and still give a good ohm test. I thought I read that you replaced it already.

[Larry Callahan]

I had not replaced it. I ohmed it and it looked fine. I will pick up a coil and a CPS on my way home tomorrow. I'll change the coil first.

[rrunner68]

While you have the CPS out, you can hog the bolt holes a bit so you can artificially add some timing to the motor. :)

For the original problem, I doubt that it is the plenum gasket, unfortunately the engine bay ECU is the main brain for all engine management for OBD2 Mopars. I'd do the coil first. MSD blaster 2 is a great unit, and is only 35 bucks.

[Larry Callahan]

Thanks for the help everyone. In the end it was the ignition coil.

[rrunner68]

Good to hear. Blaster 2, or stock replacement?

[Larry Callahan]

I didn't want to deal with finding a place to mount it and hacking off the connector so I went stock.

[CarlC]

A 2010 Z06 in black would have cured the whole problem.

[Larry Callahan]

Oh, since you put it that way. LOL!

[JEFFTATE]

Well , it looks like I'm a little too late.
But , I was gonna say , check the coil.

My wife has a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2.
I tune it up every 30K. ( It has 245,000 miles on it now)
On the last 30k ( which was about 20k ago) , I didn't replace the plugs , cap , and rotor .
I just cleaned the plugs , cap , and , rotor and re-gapped the plugs .
And the truck hasn't had a new set of plugwires in over 100,000 miles .
Anyway , the crank time has gone up to 3-5 seconds , and a couple of times it didn't start and my wife had to re-crank it.
The extra resistance of the old cap , rotor, plugs , and wires had weakened the coil .

I put a new coil , cap , rotor , wires , and plugs on it .
Now , it cranks and runs like new.
Gas mileage went up a couple of mpg's too.