Hopefully someone here can shed a little light on this for me. I just bought a ram from the inlaws a few days ago. Its a 2000 ram 1500 4x2 5.9 auto 4 door with 102k. I was able to get the truck for only $1300 because it didn't run and has been sitting for about 6 years without moving because it overheated one time due to a small coolant leak and lack of upkeep by the inlaws. I ended up putting a junk yard fuel pump in it to get it running because the old pump was trash. It actually started right up after putting the pump in. I have also replaced the distributor cap, starter, and battery. After I got it running while in park I reved he engine and it had a hesitation and sounded like it was lightly backfiring in the exhaust. so I got tags for it and drove it home which was about a 15 minute drive on some highway and some back roads. During the drive it ran fine for the first couple minutes but the longer I drove the worse it ran. it seemed to buck and miss and did it the most mainly when cruising with the trans in od at highway speeds on flat ground or down hill. while going up a incline or under a slight load it seemed to smooth out. also before I forget to mention it, the truck starts and idles perfect. while driving if I accelerate enough to drop down a gear or two the engine seems to be pretty smooth. its mainly having problems after it warms up at crusing speed with no or only slight load on the engine. last night I got on it pretty hard on the highway and the check engine light started flashing, I let off of the gas and coasted for a while and it stopped flashing but the CEL stayed on, so I took it to autozone today and had them read the CEL and got the following, P0300 random cylinder misfire, P0301 misfire cylinder 1, P0306 misfire cylinder 6, P0308 misfire cylinder 8. Also yesterday I did try resetting the pcm by disconnecting the battery for about 15 min and turning the key several times, no change in engine behavior. We are moving out of state and im starting a new job in 2 weeks so I need to get this fixed asap and don't have a ton of money to just start replacing every sensor and wire on the truck. Please help im lost :4-dontknow:
If it's a money issue (when isn't it) you can try an old trick I use.
Pull the plugs, clean 'em and re-gap them. Pay close attention to Cyl 1, 6, and 8, as they were the cylinders that were misfiring. Move those plugs to a different cyl (like 2, 5, and 7) and reset the ECM. Just pull the negative cable and cycle the key once to drain the system. No need to wait 15 minutes.
Take it for a ride and see if the CEL comes back on. If the codes come up cyl 2, 5, and 7 after the swap. You just checked to see if the miss followed the plugs. If so, then it's the plugs and you've diagnosed it at $0.00. If not, then it may be the wires. Wait til dark and fire it up. Check for any arcing in the wires because it's easier to see it, the darker the better.
It's always a good idea to reset the ECM (as stated above) each time you check the codes with a K3 check.
New plugs, new wires, reset, 12 minutes down the road CEL, same exact codes as before. so far ive eliminated plugs, wires, dist cap. Maybe the coil ? but i would think the coil would cause even problems with all cylinders. it seems strange that its not one single cylinder, and its also not one side of the engine. 2 on one side and 1 on the other side. Also i saw a tsb for wire routing earlier today and i did follow that with the old and new wires so thats ruled out. im pretty stumped, i would think if it was cat, coil, o2, ect it would effect all 8 cyl. and if it was a plug or injector or valve or something it would just be one single cyl acting up, but its 3 cyl on 2 different sides.
Well the second thing would be injectors. Again try cleaning and swapping them out to see if the miss follows.
If they're not supplying adequate fuel it will show up as a misfire, because it's misfiring. The plug may be sparking but without fuel...there's no fire.
The coil doesn't choose which cylinders will misfire that'd be more of a distributor issue, like the pickup.
i was also thinking injectors, maybe its 3 of them because it sat for so long ? ive also ready that the upstream o2 sensor can cause similar issues however i would think that as well would cause problems across the board. any recomended cleaning method for the injectors ? ive always just used the in-tank stuff which ive already tried with this truck.
He said HE PUT A JUNKYARD FUEL PUMP in a truck that was not well taken care of & sat for how long? No mention of it's filter? What happens to gas tanks over time that endure this? Then a junk pump? I get it he's avoiding throwin $ & parts at it but thers a few more top of the list items TO START AT...his in laws overheated it then basically parked it, so ya dont exactly know WHAT got overheated nor how bad for how long SO, u must assume the head gaskets could easily hav an issue due to the clue of it runs fine at 1st then loses power &....wich leads to the next big one, emissions! I guaran****intee u thos vac hoses & lines are SHOT! FIRST THING U DO IS PLUG THAT VAC PORT ON THE FRONTSIDE OF YUR THROTTLE BODY LOOKIN RITE AT YA (that goes to yur purge cntl cylnoid) & PLUG IT TIGHT!! that wil eliminate the section of emissions (comin from a rusty gas tank & dryed up split hoses...) THEN MAKE SURE YUR 02 SENSORS ARE OPERATING RITE, THEN REPLACE PLUG WIRES & (at least) CLEAN & REGAP PLUGS.....now did anyone notice he didnt say anythn about fixin that coolant leak that overheated it...?? Think about it yur thermostat is cooked, only God knows what u got for coolant in any part of it's cycle, gas tanks dry up fast & junk pumps yeah thats gamblin but even if ya gota decent one YUR TANK IS FULL OF SHIT plus yur emissions r all the hell off so the gases in the combustion chamber r not correct OR correct temp most likely burnin too hot destroying yur plugs & WIRES (reasn for misfires!) & COOKING yur c.a.t.......fix all of this then start over in the same fashion, get the p.c.m.'s "head right" & gas & spark & ALL FLUIDS where they should be THEN evaluate how its functioning & go from there...
Crap my 1st post & I sound like a dick I so apologize, about to put my15 yr old dog down, I'm in love w/ hormonal impossible goddess that I have to let go, & my lil brother died this year....just tryin to help, my truck is my sanctuary & my sanity, I hav scoured it repeatedly yes tryin to make it the best I can but also to keep occupied wile I concentrate on every next breathe....my point is think slow, logical, broadly & work yur way down the HUGE list of possibles...throwin parts & guesstimations & assumptions is like fishin in a dark unknown river w/ only a hook & a prayer...go back to (or learn) the basics then........
first of all the jy fuel pump is all I could afford and so was the truck. also if you read my posts you would see that I already replaced the plugs, wires and cap. as far as the over heating I have replaced the bad water pump as well as the thermostat and flushed the system, didn't mention that because I didn't feel it was related to the problem at hand, my mother inlaw was driving the truck when it overheated. she was in her neighborhood almost home when it overheated and as soon as it did she pulled over and shut it off, walked home then went back later after it cooled and drove it the remaining half mile home. I doubt any major damage came from that incident. when I put the new to me pump in I dumped all of the junk in the tank and sprayed it out and let it dry for the rest of the day. also the truck has a returnless fuel system, its also a plastic tank so not sure where the rusty tank is that your talking about or all of these cracked hoses coming from the tank, the only thing from the tank going anywhere is the metal fuel line which I have inspected several times. I appreciate your help but i don't talk to anyone on here like they are an idiot so please don't do it to me. im sorry for the events that are going on in your life, we have all had hard times but its not my fault or anyone on this forums fault so please don't take it out on me. thanks
If you can get yours hands on a scan tool. Autozone may be able to help. Check the O2 sensors. They are usually the first things that create these problems and it's the last thing that people seem to check. After warmed up they should operate in the .7 Volt range. With that mileage they are well over due to go.
I agree, im headed to autozone shortly to get o2 sensor. from what ive read it would most likely be the upstream one (before the cat). When i had autozone read my codes yesterday it only gave p0300, p0301, p0306 & p0308. No codes for the o2 sensors but it sounds like they could be the cause of the misfire. Also just to add, i went about 5 minutes up the road last night to get gas in the truck and of course it ran like crap (im not driving it anymore at all unil its fixed) but when i got home i parked in my driveway and slowly started to push on the gas pedal and once i got above about 1200 rpm it started rapidly backfiring out of the exhaust like a fast popping sound that followed the speed of the engine. hopefully the o2 sensor fixes it, im just about out of probable causes. if that doesnt fix it im going to switch the injectors around. ill post with results later.
In the short time I had my 05 ram I purchased an Actron code reader and it paid for itself. You can monitor the sensors in real time. Like I said it should be at about .7 volts. Much higher or lower and i'ts time to replace. I had 3 go bad at different times and the truck ran like crap and I could pin point which one went. Gives you fuel trim and temps and other information. Good luck. I'm sure when you get it up and running you will enjoy the truck.
I was was speaking from experience relevant to low or no cost diagnostic techniques that are tried and true. It is in no way fishing in a dark lake with a hook and a prayer. THAT would be suggesting that he BUY new plugs, BUY new wires, BUY new injectors. It would appear that the OP (colvin224) had more time than money than he needs to waste in the truck, but needs to get it running correctly.
I did read your second post, and you are correct Tanketh, insofar as what you sounded like. I don't want you to view this as a personal attack but a clarification: There is no fuel filter, there is no rust in a plastic tank.
Misfires in specific cylinders are usually products of a mechanical issue specific to that cylinder. I believe that the OP requested help and then followed up with a request on the best way to clean the injectors other than in in-the-tank cleaners. The OP was requesting a direct reply to an obviously direct question.
In that regard, I don't know of any over the counter (low cost) way to pressurize the system and clean the injectors.
You might be able to decarbonise the engine with Sea Foam but I don't think that's going to do much for the injectors. They actually make it in a spray can now.
This is somewhat of a low cost and minimally timely process:
I have had some luck cleaning the injectors by soaking them, re-installing them, and then bringing the engine up to operating temperature. For time sake it's best to do them one at a time. After reaching operating temperature, shut the engine down, remove the shrader valve from the fuel port to permit the release of fuel pressure.
Be careful hot engine + raw fuel. Get as much Sea-Foam into the fuel rail as possible, and as much fuel out as possible. Re-install the shrader valve in the fuel port and start the engine. This is the best method of delivering direct pressure and un-concentrated cleaner to the inside of the injector to clean it. I usually unhook the coil wire while doing this because you don't necessarily want to start the engine with a large amount of barely un-concentrated Sea-Foam in the engine. You just want to clean the injector(s).
Do it for each cylinder that was misfiring independently (3 times) to attain the best results.
** Disclaimer****When I refer to the "Best method" I am making the presumption that the OP does not have a fuel injector cleaner to pressurize the injector cleaning the inside.
NOTE: As for the 02 sensor(s) mentioned by JWM59 I agree. You can unplug the upstream 02 sensor as a diagnostic procedure and run the vehicle as the vehicle will not detect the variables introduced by a bad 02 sensor. The vehicle should run in limp mode under the factory pre-set parameters deleting the misfire if it is being caused by the faulty 02 sensor. It will merely indicate that you have a bad 02 sensor and not result in a misfire as a result of a faulty signal of the 02 sensor.
no luck with the o2 sensors, just got done switching injectors around and resetting computer. one other thing that i also noticed is that the exhaust gases seem abnormally hot. if i hold my hand in front of tailpipe i can only stand to get my hand about 8 inches away from the opening of the tail pipe because its so hot. maybe im just imagining things, but i figured id mention it.
i looked around at what i could see and everything looked ok, no cracked hoses or anything or abnormal sounds. but i will try this, carb cleaner in one hand, fire extingusher in the other haha. also i switched the injectors around and now i cant get the stupid thing to throw a code, its still running like crap though.
hi i have a 2000 ram 5.9 engine and i have the same problem p0300 p0303 p0304 it idles bad rpms are about 600 i have change almost everything i change spark plugs , wires,iac valve ,intake gasket, temp sensor,check for compression it was 105, clean injectors, and it still running bad today i clean the 02 sensors and same thing how low is yours in rpms?? i am running out of options i check for vacuum leaks and it seems to be ok i am going to keep working on it if i find a solution be sure i will let you know next is the tps sensor good luck with yours
idle is actually when it runs the best, its nice and smooth at idle. it tuns the worst around 1200-2600 rpm both in park and while driving. i havent actually checked the fuel pressure but when ive relieved the pressure on the rail several times it seems really strong. no egr on the 2000 5.9, however the cat is one of the only things left that i can think of, ive tried just about everything else. when i was messing with the o2 sensors yesterday i did notice that the cat and the exhaust and gases seemed abnormally hot, anyone know if those are signs of a clogged cat ? I had a bronco years ago and just took sa big pipe and a small sledge hammer and hollowed out the cat and never had a problem. we dont have emissions where i live or where im moving so i could just gut the cat on this truck to, unless anyone knows of any problems that might cause ?
Well That'd be my next step as mentioned above to check the back pressure at the upstream 02 sensor.
Your exhaust should not be that hot and is an indication of a restricted catalytic converter.
Yes you can hollow it out but there is another option. Check the local prices at the local scrap yards and see what the old cat is worth. If you find a good one you'll get around $100-$125 for a large domestic converter. An aftermarket replacement can usually be found for less than you'd get for the old one. But do the research FIRST.
You may actually make a profit by changing the cat.
Have you at least just unscrewed the front O2 (leave on harness but ziptie safely) and then driven it to see of any change?
Have you looked closely at your plug wires and made sure NONE are in contact and parallel to eachother? I don't have the TSB link handy, but this can cause misfires also.
well I switched the injectors around and installed new O-rings while I was in there today, still cant get it to throw a code but of course still running like crap.
I agree with the cat scrap yard idea however none of the scrap yards around here will buy cats unless they buy the whole vehicle, apparently there was a big problem with people stealing cats and selling them to scrap yards because of the high value so they wont buy them now. not sure if its statewide regulation or what. however im going to just hollow out my cat tomorrow to see if that solves it since im planning on eventually doing a full exhaust from the headers back once I get moved and settled in my new job (who wouldn't want to hear that big 360 talk ???). A clogged cat does seem like it could be a problem however not sure if it would make it run that bad and it was only misfiring on 3 of the cylinders, but we will see soon.
yes I did unplug both o2 sensors with no change, and I even replaced the front one, also with no change. im running out of possible causes and time. the only things left I can even think it would be is cat, injectors (hopefully the truck will tell me soon), crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor. other than those ive tried everything short of replacing the engine.. and as far as the wire routing tsb, I have a print out of it and followed it word for word. good thing I got this truck cheap....
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