2001 Ram 2500 Idling Issue

[uzzo2]

I had a strange issue today with my 5.9L gas burner truck. The CEL light has been on since I got the truck. EVAP codes, I replaced all the hoses that I found split which was pretty much all of them. I also replaced the gas cap when I was told that it could cause that problem. I would erase the code with my scanner and it would always come back on at some point. I finally just gave up on it since it seemed to be running just fine. One day, I hit the lottery and was able to afford to fill it all the way up. I started smelling gas real strong and looked under the truck and sure enough it was leaking.

Upon further inspection, I found that there's a plastic 90 degree fitting that a smaller hose hooks to that goes to the filler neck. So, there's the large filler hose and this smaller hose that branches off and goes to this fitting. That's where it's leaking, where that fitting screws into the fuel tank. I did the back brakes a while back and decided I was going to try and fix it. I pulled the hose off and tried to get the fitting out of the tank. It looks to me like it's cross threaded in the tank.

I put quite a bit of pressure on it with a pair of channel lock pliers and it didn't want to budge. I was afraid it would break since it's plastic. So I decided that I needed to wait until I was going to have the fuel tank down to actually fix it. I've been told that any leaks in the fuel system can cause these codes. As I said, it wasn't hurting the truck performance wise so I decided to leave it until I was going to replace the fuel pump or something requiring the tank to be removed.

Well this morning, I started it up to move a generator I've been working on. It started and ran fine, I backed it up to this gen set and turned it off to get it hooked up. It didn't want to start back up. I finally put my foot on the gas and it started but wouldn't idle. I went ahead and moved this gen set all the while having to hold my foot on the gas to keep it running. I unhooked and pulled it into my shop, it still wouldn't idle.

What seemed strange to me was that the CEL was off. So I got my code scanner out and plugged it in, no codes. That's what has me perplexed. I finally disconnected the negative cable and waited a few minutes. Then I reconnected it and the truck started and idled just fine. I drove it into town and ran several errands and it did fine. I'm wondering if it's some kind of default with this fault code. Does anyone here have any ideas?

[catback23]

No one has said anything so I'll share my thought on the matter. I think the computer had a hiccup and caused the idle problem, I don't believe the EVAP system has a cripple mode on it. The new DEF diesel trucks do though, don't ignore your DEF tank empty light or one day you'll find you won't be going anywhere or going anywhere faster than 5 mph.

[uzzo2]

Originally Posted by catback23

No one has said anything so I'll share my thought on the matter. I think the computer had a hiccup and caused the idle problem, I don't believe the EVAP system has a cripple mode on it. The new DEF diesel trucks do though, don't ignore your DEF tank empty light or one day you'll find you won't be going anywhere or going anywhere faster than 5 mph.

I'm in the trucking business as well, so I am all to familiar with this. Same thing with the Mack's and Volvo's, they have DPF's. When the light comes on for it to regenerate, I think you can override it 2 times. After that, you'll be on the side of the road waiting on the dealer to come and get you going.

As far as this Dodge goes, I pulled the breather off of it. I put a cold air intake on it when I got it because the stock breather was broken. Anyhow, the filter element itself just fell off the end of the pipe. When I took the top off of the throttle body, it was pretty nasty. I cleaned it up with some berryman's carb cleaner. It hasn't given any more trouble so far. What still has me scratching my head though is that the CEL hasn't come back on with the EVAP codes.