89 dodge ram stalling-Please help!!!!

I own a 89 Dodge Ram with a 5.9 with fuel injection, the problem is the truck keeps stalling at idle or lower rmp(under 1000)in gear at a stop sign. It seems like it has a miss. It mostly happens when it's warmed up and I have driven a half mile or so. But, it has done this when it's still cold. Sometimes it will stall just idling in park, again it seems like a miss but it's not all of the time. I put it in neutral and give it some revs. I was told that the motor was rebuilt at about 10k, but I checked the throttle body(opened flaps and checked for buildup) every thing seemed clean. I have replaced: idle control motor, tps, map, new plugs, wires, cap and rotor, fuel filter, checked all vaccum hoses. I am not getting any codes. The first big snow fall is near and I can't plow with the truck driving like this. Please help. Thanks

I have basically the same prob with my '88 Dodge D100. I just got it out of the fourth shop, and up till now, none, including the ones that put in a Jasper-rebuilt engine, have been able to fix it, or even help a bit. Also, for your info, don't worry about cleaning injectors or buyin a rebuilt or new t.b., like i did, or buying another comp for it like i did. Let me know if you find out anything.

does it stall when you touch the gas? I would check the hall effect pickup coil in the distributor. Had a bad one in my 89 ram pickup and also in 88 dodge van. They were both bad, would stall at random, sometimes wouldn't start. Also, did not show any codes !!! Should have shown up as " no distributor refrence signal"

Usually I can keep it running by giving it gas, around 1500 rpm or so it will smooth out. I never have a hard time starting it even after it just stalled, it fires right up every time. Thanks for your replies.

I'd say it sounds like a timing chain. High RPM it's fine, right? When you take off from stop sign, does it run rough until it gets up some RPM's?

haha, no codes eh? well so far only one of the four shops my truck's been to have even been able to access the dang computer, new one or old.

It does run good under higher rpm and does stumble taking off, but it doesn't idle bad all of the time. If it could be the timing chain, could I ajust the timing so that it would run better at idle and tell me if it is the problem? Obviously I wouldn't leave it that way as a fix, but at least to diagnose the problem. Any other ways to tell if it is the timing chain? If I pull the dist. cap I probably wouldn't be able to tell if it was just too much slack or jumped 1 tooth right? Thanks

Assuming the chain has slack in it:

Distributor cap -EDIT- WRONG, MEANT TO SAY TIMING CHAIN COVER is on the front, behind and below the water pump. Once you get in there, the chain will likely have some slack in it, you'll be able to move the chain left and right some, maybe up to 1/4".

Adjusting the timing I don't think will help much, since the slack in the chain is making the timing off in different directions as it is. OR, it will help at low rpm's, then make the engine stumble at higher rpms.

And I've never seen one that jumped a tooth without having something else bad wrong with it.

Is the distributor really on the front on these engines?

Oh, crap, I just checked my post and it's wrong. It's the timing chain cover, DUH.

Editing now....

Thanks Bleed.

I wasn't sure, I've never looked at these 360's. I knew the distributor was always on the back side of the small blocks, and on the front of the big blocks.

Yep you're right. I just had a brain fart and typed distributor when I meant timing chain cover. That's a real bad mistake when you're buying parts!!

I just noticed today that when I am coming to a stop if I put it in neutral and smooth out the engine with some revs then back into gear it didn't stall. So i'm wondering if a bad timing chain would do that? I really don't want to tear apart the front of the engine if I don't have to. Thanks for your time.

I don't know what else it would be. With FI, if the fuel pump was going bad you'd have problems at other times. With a carburetor, it could be a float bowl. That's all I can think of, unless....

There's some posts on the Dodge Dakota forum, where the 3.9 V6 is doing the same thing. I just remembered it. You might want to check out that forum to see what they did to fix it. Sorry I don't recall the titles, it was something like 3.9 stalls at lights, or something like that.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Does the engine flood to a stall or simply stall? For all of the advances with FI, I wish I could just play with a carb..

I'm not 100% sure, but I would have to say it just stalls.

If you're not sure, then it probably isn't flooding. Mine, you can tell when I'm coming to a stop or trying to idle it by the smell a ways away.

I still can't figure it out! I have since: changed coil, cleaned throttle body, repaired any vaccum lines that were questionable, and 02 sensor. It will idle fine for about 5 minutes and then start to bog down about 300 rpm then the idle motor will pick up the idle again. I disconnected the idle motor to make sure the bogging and surging wasn't because of a faulty idle motor- still dies. Antbody have any other ideas? Thanks

I still haven't found the problem. I was at another site and was reading about a speed sensor problem on an 87 charger. The car acted just like my truck, so I went ahead and changed it and reset the computer and it didn't work. About a week ago, before I changed the sensor, I reset the computer to see if maybe the computer didn't learn some other sensors I changed. Before I reset it, it idled like crap just sitting there. After I reset it, I put it in drive with my foot on the brake until it reached op. temp. and it idled great until I drove it. I would've bet that it was the speed sensor, everything made sense when it's acting up like that's what it was. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks

Forgot to mention: The previous owner replaced the gas line from the tank to the fuel filter and used rubber hose instead. I know your not supposed to do it that way because the hose might collapse. However I don't think that could be it because, it would bog more when I was on the gas and starve fuel and not at idle when there is minimum fuel needed right? What about the thermostat? it usually runs about a quarter way past the "c" but has gotten up to about the middle. It seems like the further you drive the worse it gets. Thanks again.

Found it! It turned out to be the egr valve. Thanks everyone for your time and input.

Damn; EGR valve caused all that trouble? I'll be sure to remember that! It's a cheap fix, too, isn't it?

I knew it would turn out to be something stupid, and the state wonders why people rip off all of there emission parts, what a headache. Any way, all I did was block off the hose and block the egr off, runs perfect now. It would've been a $60 part. Can't wait for next inspection lol!

ok....i had to sigh up to this forum cause i can relate to too many of u guys...my ram...although it is a v6(for now) has a major stalling problem... however it is caused from excessive fuelbeing injected...the guy i bought it from said it wasa leaky throttle body, which i disagree...i believe it is error codes from a faulty sensor....that is why mine is running good on top end too....i bet if u pump your throttle it will choke up for a second, rev up, run good for a sec, and then settle back into its gargly routine. i don't know the codes yet but i plan on checking them if someone could send me the codes. i haven't found them yet online. also, i checked my timing and it was real jumpy. i gave it a tune up and adjusted the timing a little and it settled back to about ten degrees. but it was still putting out too much fuel.

hooptyram, there are a bunch of us with the same problem, and you nailed it. BTW, did anybody find the posts on the Dakota forum that were supposedly about this prob.? I looked, and then asked, but never found them or got any real help.

The posts on the Dak forum were things like "3.9 bogging at lights" and such. They were on there a couple months ago, but addressed the problem in detail.

i did the check engine codes today and got the number 27....Injector circuit isn't switching when it's told to (TBI). anybody have any leads on this...a lot of people sya they changed everything, including computer, but still have the same problem

I've read a lot of high tech answers but the one solution that I have never seen anyone offer something as simple as a vacume leak. this can cause the rough idle, long crank hard start, stumbling when you tip into the throttle and sometimes won't throw a code especially on older vehicles. If it does it will throw a lean code.

An intake gasket leak can cause the same symptoms, cause a lean code. On V8 engine this is detectable by feeding propane gas through pcv hole in the valve cover with the valve out of line. If the engine revs with the gas, the lower gasket is leaking below the valve cover gasket...BE CAREFUL!!!

race4time, good advice and Welcome to AF. Please check the date prior to posting, this thread has been dead for over a year and a half.

Closed.