Hello everyone,
Ive got a 99 dodge ram 1500 sport, with nearly 250k miles logged, and it refused to start up this morning.
It ran fine this past friday, aside from a horrible squealing noise it made. It has power, its getting fuel, and it coughs and sputters like it wants to start, but it refuses. How do I get this thing to come back to life?
Maybe squealing is seized pulley and belt drag is causing motor to stall? Or your motor is not getting enough gas? Elec fuel pump or mechanical? Could be bad ignition part. Coil, module, distributor itself?
You say it’s getting fuel… How do you know? What diagnostics have you performed?
I can smell it if I flood the injectors. Im not sure if the fuel pump is mechanical or electric, but i can hear it when i turn the key to the ON position. Ill pull the belt off and see if i can move the pulleys.
How long has it been since the vehicle has had a basic tune up, with plugs, new distributor cap, rotor, etc? How cold is the outside temperature? Does the motor crank briskly but not ‘catch’ when you turn the key? Have you tested for spark?
Try starting it with the accelerator held to the floor. This will command the computer to not feed any fuel to the injectors, clearing a “flooded” condition.
I will call about a tuneup tomorrow, because today is a holiday. I was able to move all of the pulleys i could reach, aside from the crankshaft. I dont have the proper tool, nor the reach to get there.
I was able to get it started, and everything sounds ok.
The squealing noise would only happen if the truck was driving about 10+ mph, so I stuck a new belt on it while it was down yesterday. Im taking it for a drive in a few minutes, to fuel and see if the old thing continues to impersonate a piggy on the road :).
edit: The weather has been rather cold here in wyoming the past few days, right around -10*F in the early morning, then getting up into the single digits over the course of they day, then dropping back down again.
Truck has 318 or 360 motor and fuel injection so it has intank elec fuel pump. Lots of sensors that might affect cold weather starting. Could be a bad Fpr or coolant temp sensor or even a bad maf.
This happened to my '99 1500 v6 last week. IT was the ignition coil. $35 part and very easy to replace (just next to the alternator between the alternator and the exhaust manifold - on the 239 V6 and the 318 V8 I know anyway)