Dodge ram Van 2003 V6 1500 series

Hi Car talk; My Van sometimes seems like it is not running at peak performance, when I go up hills it seems like bad gas;running kind of rough at around 30mph;when I get up to 50mph it runs smooth; I had this same symtom on another car I had and replaced the fuel filter; and it did the trick;(ran much better) I called pep boys and they told me the fuel filter on this van is in the tank.(part of the fuel pump assembly(why would they do this?)I would think like my other car you want easy access to this part.If you were me what would you do next? I was thinking cleaning out the fuel Injectors. thankyou for you time. Frank

I checked a couple of sources and both said the filter is in the fuel tank. Sounds crazy to me. I would have the fuel pressure checked to see if it is within specs and go from there.

Yes, the filter is in the tank. One of their better ideas?

There are a number of things, singularly and together, which can cause poor acceleration, such as your truck. Fuel pressure is one. Worn spark plugs is another. A dirty air intake tube and throttle body are others. Poor spray from the fuel injectors, another. Etc.

thankyou missleman for checking, I was wondering to the vacume pressure in the tank; the engine light came on; took it to pep boys; they did a computer test on it; just tightend the gas tank and the light went off,and the van seemed to running ok then;hmmm that might be it. maybe the seal on the gas cap. Is is posibel if air gets in the gas tank could cause the symtems I described. thankyou Car talk and missleman Frank

When was the last time the van had a tune up?

hi Missleman, don’t know if your still here and have this chat thread in an rss reader? but since the last thread; I have had fuel injectors cleaned;cleaned throttle body;new spark plugs;new rotar cap;new spark plug wires; but still at 30 miles an hour sometimes not all the times it seems sluggish;(like bad gas) maybe catalytic converter, or the fuel filter which is part of the fuel assembly in the gas tank I am feeling could be the culprits.