Can't Figure It Out

[dodgeman1981]

I think someone may have dumped something in my gas tank. It started
and ran good for a few min. then sounded like it was running on two cylinders. then died. been working on it put new plugs, cap, and rotor in it and it fires every now and then. but won't start. Any ideas cause I am getting mad.

Thanks for any help.

[BleedDodge]

Plugged cat. Sounds exactly like the same thing that happened to my truck.

[praisethelowered]

Are you getting enough gas to the carb? Is your timing correct? Try cleaning the carb with some carb cleaner, or better yet, take it off completely for a thorough cleaning. This will also allow you to see if you have any odd substances coming to the carb. What makes you think someone put something in your tank? If you think that's a real probability, you can always drop your tank and drain it.

[BleedDodge]

What year is this truck? Motor? You didn't even mention that.

[praisethelowered]

Originally Posted by BleedDodge

What year is this truck? Motor? You didn't even mention that.

I assumed his was an 81 (and therefor carburated) based on his user name.

[BleedDodge]

Yeah I was hoping he would tell us what it was. In his profile under Vehicle Info, it says 1998 Dodge Ram 1500, so I'm not sure what this is about...

[praisethelowered]

Sounds like you're a better detective then I am.

[BleedDodge]

LOL!

If he wants answers he'll be back anyways I guess...

[dodgeman1981]

It is a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500, 318, Fuel Injected.
I noticed when I got the truck home the gas cap was loose and there where marks on the side of the truck by the tank. but I just droped the tank the other day and the gas in the tank was a yellow color. trying to find a new fuel filter but everywhere I have been they have told me that I have to buy the whole fuel pump kit and it is $455.00 and there is nothing wrong with the pump. Any answers????

[BleedDodge]

Things are probably actually worse than that. If the tank was actually contaminated, which I now believe it was, and you tried to start it, that crap is in the motor, and everything is basically fucked. You've got real problems now, buddy...

[fredjacksonsan]

I'd try a junkyard for the filter/unit/tank assembly. Bleed may be right, since that crap made it to the motor (depending on what it was) it could be really bad. On the other hand, you may be able to flush out the fuel lines once you get the new tank on there, then crank the engine over enough to work that stuff out into the exhaust.

[BleedDodge]

Well I don't know how effective that would be. If he's lucky, his tank was sugared and it was enough to clog the lines completely before it was able to get to the motor. If the sugar got to the motor, the only way to fix that is to tear the motor down and clean everything. Sugar really puts a hurt on engines.

If this was me, I'd pull all eight plugs and spin the motor over for a few seconds, and see if anything comes out of the holes. Some idiot put something in my Polara's tank, and what we had to do was disconnect the lines and drain them with pressurized air, blow the tank out, and pull all eight plugs and let all that crap shoot out the holes. I changed the oil for good measure as well. We still don't know what that stuff was, it smelled wierd like lantern oil, kerosene maybe. When we did get it running, the car smoked white for a good 5 minutes, and then everything was okay again. To this day, we still don't know what the hell that stuff was, but it wouldn't fire on it. I was lucky.

A good rule to follow is, if you think your tank has been contaminated, don't even try to start your truck. Have it towed to someplace you can work on it, and then make for damn sure that everything is okay before you try to get it going. You probably did more damage to it just by trying to get it going than you would have by fixing it first. But how can you tell sometimes? It could happen to anyone. Best of luck to you.