1999 Dodge RAM 1500 would not start

Move out of the truck and get a house, or at least a mobile home. Better yet stop crossposting to alt.HOME.repair

Yo Dude Why yo posting this on alt.home.repair? Do yo live in that piece of shit Dodge? The next time yo post to this newsgroup I will send the gang to yo house or truck and yo mouth will be filled with all the gasoline in yo truck, and then yo will be shot and burned along with yo dodge.

Step one - have the battery load-tested, or swap with a known-good battery. Alternatively, hold a DVM on the battery while attempting to start. If he voltage drops much below 11.5V (ie. into the 10's), you need a new battery.

The battery is one month old and cranks very well. I could load test it, etc, but I pretty much know the likely result.

Okay - that's just the first usual suspect. Next is the fuel supply. Do you have, or can borrow, a fuel pressure gauge? Check the pressure in the rail before cranking (test port should be in the middle of the driver's side fuel rail). It should be at least 20psi or so with the ignition off. Have someone turn the ignition switch on, and see if the pressure jumps up to

If you have no pressure at first, you could have a leak in the fuel pump module, or a leaking injector. If there's some pressure there, but it's slow to come up, or doesn't come up to 45psi (or better), then you've got a weak fuel pump (or a partially clogged fuel line - more likely a pump issue).

I have some pressure gauge that goes up to 30 psi.

Excellent point. Here are some facts that contradict the hypothesis about bad fuel pump.

"Rebooting" the truck (by disconnecting battery for a minute) seems to usually solve the problem.

I will check coolant availability tomorrow. Maybe I am running out of coolant. It is too late right now.

Coolant??

Hmmmm.... y'all were on a roll 'til he mentioned coolant... he lost me there too Tom.

;^)

Mike

I mean antifreeze. :)

There was no antifreeze in the excess antifreeze tank(?), although there was plenty in the radiator. I added water and antifreeze today. We'll see how it goes. I doubt that this is "it", but we'll see.

Yeah - we got that part. I think Mike and I are both a little confused as to what this would have to do with a no-start/hard-start condition.

I see. My hypothesis is that the engine senses lack of antifreeze and refuses to start if it remembers that it did not have enough antifreeze. A reboot would correct that. Just a wild guess.

I will try to pay close attention to my truck. Soon, maybe tonight or tomorrow, I will attempt reading codes with code reader.

Another bit of information is that lately, a parking brake light is on, even though the parking brake is disengaged, and also, the ABS light is on.

That is not just a parking light, it is a warning light and will light any time there is a problem with the brakes. In your case, the problem appears to be in the anti-lock system.

Thanks. I will try to change my drum brakes this weekend.

Are you proud of yourself? This went on pretty long.