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Please help with 98 Dogde problem

I have a 98 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4, about 2 weeks ago my I loaned it out and they ran it out of gas. Now it won't stay running after it warms up. If you start it and its cold, it will hold the idle right at 600 RPMs. Once it warms up and you are driving it when you put your foot on the brake to slow down or stop the RPMs drop to 0 and it dies. I have taken the truck to two of the local mechanics and they are telling me the fuel filter is inside the fuel tank and is non-serviceable. I have never heard of such a thing. I took it into my normal mechanic and he ran a pressure test, it came back fine. He also hooked the truck up to the computer to see if any error codes would come up, nothing. Then I went down and bought some SEA FOAM and put that into the gas tank. The problem is still there. It's funny because if you bring the RPMs up to 2500 for a couple of seconds and then take your foot off the gas it will run just fine for a short time. I am afraid of doing any more damage. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Gina snipped-for-privacy@duffertech.com

Reply to
Gina Fierro
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Clean the throttle body and check the operation of the IAC motor. You stated that the fuel pressure is good so that rules out a plugged filter or bad pump.

Reply to
Mike

Seen similar symptoms with both a stuck EGR valve and clogged cat converter....but would expect some kind of code to be set.

Reply to
curmudgeon

Good reason to avoid those two mechanics in the future. The filter is on top and fully serviceable.

Reply to
John Kunkel

It sounds to me like you have a bad battery as this stalling at idle is a common symptom of low battery voltage. How old is that battery? Keep in mind, if that battery is over 4 years old, it is getting around the time to change it and if the person who ran it out of fuel cranked it to death in the hopes that they could magically get it to start again, that would put excessive strain on the battery and further shorten its usable life, especially if the battery is getting older to begin with. When the engine is cold, it is running in what's called an open loop and is not depending on all of the sensors to run which also makes it less susceptible to stalling due to low battery voltage. Running the engine at high RPM for a few minutes causes the alternator to put out a higher voltage which can and does apply surface charge to the battery which will allow it to hold a higher voltage for a short time which could allow the engine to run just fine until that surface charge bleeds off. I would have that battery load tested or if it is an older battery, just replace it and see what happens.

As for the fuel filter, it is in the tank as part of the fuel pump module and may or may not be serviceable. My FSM for my 97 said that some modules had a replaceable filter and others didn't and mine was not and neither was the one on the replacement module. Either way, you would need to remove the tank to service it and with the possible condition of the pump due to age, running it out of fuel, and sucking up all of the crap accumulated after 10 years of service, it is probably not in the best of condition anymore and would make more sense to replace the entire module rather than just the filter if it needs to be done. I kinda doubt that it is the pump because the pump really doesn't care if the engine is warmed up or not and if it was that weak, you really should have problems at any RPM.

Reply to
TBone

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