[chrisman183]

Hey guys, my 2001 is acting really bad. When I'm driving, and only partial throttle, motor will shake like a son-of-a-b, especially around 40-55 mph. i'm sure its the engine causing this, i can somewhat feel it even when the truck is parked, and i give it just a little gas. the thing is, at idle it doesn't shake, and at full throttle it doesn't shake, or i can't tell, and when I'm driving at let off the gas it stops shaking immediately. I changed plugs/wires/rotor/cap. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe injector? or fuel pump or something. please help, kinda scared to drive it, the shaking is pretty bad. No engine light on. :4-dontknow:

 

[studda]

Does it pop and sputter? Mine shakes too. It kinda lunges repeatedly, misses, and sputters until I let off the gas or go to wide open throttle. If that sounds like yours, I'm trying to figure it out myself.

 

[Warlock III]

Hey guys, my 2001 is acting really bad. When I'm driving, and only partial throttle, motor will shake like a son-of-a-b, especially around 40-55 mph. i'm sure its the engine causing this, i can somewhat feel it even when the truck is parked, and i give it just a little gas. the thing is, at idle it doesn't shake, and at full throttle it doesn't shake, or i can't tell, and when I'm driving at let off the gas it stops shaking immediately. I changed plugs/wires/rotor/cap. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe injector? or fuel pump or something. please help, kinda scared to drive it, the shaking is pretty bad. No engine light on. :4-dontknow:

Sounds to me like a bad clutch on the cooling fan. Get under the hood with it off and try spinning the fan. I'm almost willing to bet that it's locked up tighter'n a clams wallet.

Either that or it's on it's way out and spinning intermittently. It'll throw the whole balance off the engine and drive you nuts...you're probably thinking...Hmm now that he mentioned it...

Oh and Welcome to the Forum!

 

[chrisman183]

ha, thanks a lot warlokIII, i'll go check that in a minute. should it be easy to tell if it's the fan? if it is able to spin now with it off? how would i know exactly?
as for the popping and sputtering studda, its hard to tell really, it isn't doing that very loud, but when its shaking like that, it does make it sputter, it seems, but that may be just the weight shifting back and forth, causing a little lunging. I saw your post on here, but thought mine sounded a little different, i wasn't sure if I should just post a new thread or post on yours. but maybe we can help eachother out, maybe it is the same thing. its impossible to relate exactly how something feels/sounds on here...

 

[Warlock III]

There should be some resistance in the fan when you spin it, it should be smooth.

If it's cold it may seem okay, so it it does try it again when it's warmed up. It's controlled by the engine heat that monitors it to engage and over time the oil inside of the clutch can escape or go bad. As for the popping, that's usually one of the side effects of the engine being unbalanced.

Think about those old black and white movies of helicopters when the rotor is unbalanced and the whole aircraft flies apart.

 

[chrisman183]

hmm, seems like the fan is ok to me. checked it out when it was off, and when engine was hot. seems fine. more details, it seems to be bogged down real bad, the engine, it is the worst right after the shift into overdrive. right when the rpms are at the lowest, and you are just barely on the gas. engine shakes like crazy. almost like a tire is loose, thats how its shaking. as soon as you let off the gas, its smooth. and if you give it over 50% throttle its also smooth. the miss isnt too noticeable at idle, wires are correct, and firing on all cylinders. bought some techron stuff. doubt that does anything.

 

[Warlock III]

I'm still leaning towards fan clutch. Any way to get a camera to stay under there and video it?

 

[DTA47]

Mine has the same issue I'm waiting on parts now. But for me it ended up being the Sway bar link bushings, they were completely shot. Hope this helps.

 

[Screamintrashcan]

I'd have a look down the intake with a flashlight, with the throttle plates wide open, to see if it 's oily inside the intake. Low rpm miss, most noticeable under load, runs good with high rpm, with motor mashed, with my 98, it was a vacuum leak, but I was lucky, it was those axle disconnect tubes off, down on the drivers side of the crossmember, it also wouldn't connect the 4x4 at the axle disconnect, apparently, if you have a vac lk, it isn't the same one I had...

 

[macez]

my 98 was doing the same thing but it was throwing codes and it turned out to be the downstream o2 sensor.

 

[chrisman183]

Does it pop and sputter? Mine shakes too. It kinda lunges repeatedly, misses, and sputters until I let off the gas or go to wide open throttle. If that sounds like yours, I'm trying to figure it out myself.

well man i figured it out finally, it was a broken valve spring. bastard kept me working on it for like 2 weeks, finally found the issue, now its running fine. Hope you got yours working, or that i could help.
Thanks guys for the help!

 

[Tigg-99]

Im kinda in the same boat with my '99. Similar problem, but mine also starts hard. I was thinkin if the fan clutch was the problem could it cause a hard start? and also would a flex fan be an option? Didnt see the valve spring post till just now. Ill check that as well

 

[Tim Heath]

I know this is an old thread. I read through and see that a broken valve spring was the problem. I've experienced the same symptoms on my 09 Ram 1500 however, I can put the truck in neutral while driving down the road, shut it off and turn right back on and the problem is gone. Every time this works. No codes. I'm thinking I have a different problem based on it going away immediately after restart. I didn't want to start a new thread for same symptoms.