My wife's 2000 Dodge Ram Van (full size - V8) won't start. It will crank, started once (air temp about 40) but died within about 30 seconds and would not restart. Any common problem on these? Anything I should look at/check in particular? - Bill
As with any newer car....I wouldn't touch it without having some sort of scan tool that displays live data. At this point anything would be just a guessing game.......... which just costs you money. Find a mechanic/shop with the right equipment to trouble shoot it. Doing that will actually save you money in the end. Mike
I can tell you that it is not a crank sensor. The magnum v-8 still uses a good old distributor. A few queations for you Bill. First how many miles? Did you notice what I can best describe as a backfire? This will happen during acceleration only. Do you do a lot of driving at highway speeds? If so does it go through alot of oil with no noticeable evidence of a leak. I ask because my 1999 Dakota does all of the above. it once would not start because all the plugs were completely burned off due to a lean run condition. Put in new plugs and strted just fine. The problem is a poor design on the stock "beer barrell" intake manifold. They have a belly pan on the bottom side that is expsed to the lifter valley and are prone to blowing out the gasket creating an internal vacuume leak that will suck oil into the intake tract, thus causing a lean burn condition. This can be cured buy removing the manifold and replacing the gasket. Myself, I am going to install a mopar performance M1 single plane maniold from Mancini Racing to fix mine simpley because the gasket can just blow out again. An easy way to tell if you have this problem is to look down the throttle body into the manifold. If you have this problem you will see oil puddling on the bottom of the manifold. Sorry for such a long post. If you have questions pm me adn i'll try to help out as much as possible.
Scan Thanks all - looks like I'm going to the dealer for a scan! Eric - thanks - it has about 43,000 on it. My wife drove to NY and back OK. Then it sat for about a month. When I went to start it....it fired ran about 30 seconds and then died. I noticed a occasional miss before it died. I will check the oil puddle. Too bad its out of warranty! - Bill
Bill, Talk to them about the manifold situation. They will have a tech bullitan (TSB) about it. They might help you out with it. My truck has had this problem sence it has ahd 30k on it I now have 90+ so i'll have to foot the bill myself.
it was... the crank sensor, if anyone was curious. Had the shop run a scan and there it was. Aren't computers great???? lol - Bill
Crank Sensor Must be something they started in 2000. My '99 Dakota still has a standard old dist. Guess you learn something new everyday.:error:
Your Dakota should have it as well, look on the bellhousing behind the distributor. Just because it has a distributor doesn't mean no crank sensor. The hall effect switch in the distributor is in effect the CMP and is used in reference with the CKP signal to determine injector pulse/ ign dwell time.
time Hey Artie - they charged me three hours to diagnose and fix - sound about right? They were not "dodge" mechanics, but all car repair place. - Bill
Should have been about 1 hour to diagnose, it's a bitch to get on top to do the sensor and swap it so that was at least an hour to an hour and a half if they don't do them often. If you've swapped a few you know the tricks and can get it done a lot quicker. Diagnostic charges are usually 1 hour minimum, so you weren't too far off. The scanner they bought cost them at least $3500, they need to make it profitable enough to have it at the shop. Hopefully they used OEM parts instead of aftermarket, crank and cam sensors are 2 items I only like to buy from the dealer. I can look up the labor at the shop tomorrow and give you exact #s if you'd like. Artie
Thanks! Cool Artie - only thing is with the Van you can pull the inside cover and get right to the back of the engine. But hey, they did it quick with no complaints! :grin: - Bill
I just went through the same thing on my truck.. Should have read this post sooner. Although it uses a distributor, it does require the crank sensor to fire. If you have additional problems sometime down the road, Dodge is notorious for having floating Relay problmes when the weather is below 40 degrees. Not a problem down here, but hate to gloat. The relay will stay open/closed, but will work again when warmed up. -Jon
