r/DodgeRam

My truck will not idle at all I've changed the air intake sensor and map sensor and changed the throttle body gasket what could be the problem

FINAL UPDATE: I appreciate all the comments, but we changed the distributor totally to a known good one and it fired off without issue. We inspected the factory distributor and it appeared to be arcing internally somehow to the metal plate the cam sensor picks up on.

Felt the need to add an edit, I am not new to Dodge's of this era and their electrical issues, we have a Durango with the 318/5.2 that also had a load of electrical issues (mainly grounding). I'm also not new to the world of diagnosing them, but this one really has me scratching my head as all the "common" engine bay related issues are not present or are doing a real good job at not showing.

ALL GROUNDS ARE CLEAN AND INTACT, I EVEN ADDED SOME WE HAD TO ADD TO OUR DURANGO.

It also ran twice without issue previously and ran fine the day I picked it up until it didn't.

I have a 98 RAM 1500 I inherited from my dad who passed away last year. To sum it up as quick as possible unless people need more info, I've replaced basically every critical sensor with a new one except the cam position sensor in the distributor, tomorrow I am going to replace the cam position with a known good one I have to save the money as I just purchased a new PCM for it.

I've checked over and cleaned main power and ground connections, checked the grounds at the PCM and all is well.

Now the weird part is, when I picked it up a week after my dad passed, it was running fine, I went up the road to head back towards my house, stopped at the stop sign and went to take off and it shut down as if the key was turned off, wouldn't restart but cranks healthy. Had it towed home where it continued to crank but not start, sometimes it would sputter, till one day it fired up no issue after sputtering initially on the first go around. Now between those 2 tries, I did not turn the key off and simply left it in run to allow the starter a few seconds of a break.

All seemed well, I let it idle up to operating temp and gave it a little rev and on the idle down, it shut off and resumed its routine of crank no start. The other day after doing the crank sensor (the last sensor I replaced aside from cam position), it did its routine of sputtering but not starting, gave the starter a break and gave it another try, it acted as if it ran backwards, as it was backfiring through the intake but was "running" rough, it stalled, gave it another go almost immediately and it fired right up like nothing was wrong, let it idle a minute and gave it a little rev, came back down to idle, gave it a bit more of a rev and it shut down on the idle down

Since replacing the crank sensor I have been monitoring the PCM with my scanner and I noticed just as the truck stalled everything like cam/crank counts went "N/A" and my scanner had a delay when trying to re-establish connection with the PCM. I decided to order a PCM because why not at this point. Today's effort was met with N/A on those type of monitors aftrr about 30-35 secobds of just cranking through the sputtering but the PCM stayed in contact with my scanner.

I'm at a loss as everything I've read/tried turns to be idle, sensors, harnesses, grounds, etc.

Hello everyone, I am coming here to get some advice on something. November of 2025, I was given a truck from my father. The CV Axles were completely shot so I got on rockauto, bought some new ones, and set off to a buddy’s shop to get them installed. On the driver side of the truck, the CV Axle would just NOT go in properly. Long story short, we got it in but it would only spin freely under load. We just left it like that because the boots on my old ones were honestly just GONE. Fast track to current day and I am having a binding on that side in my steering. We put it on the lift to see what was happening and he explained it as the cv axle was at its maximum angle it could be at just sitting in the air. He said he wasn’t sure why it was like that, and that everything was seated correctly. What are my next steps with this? Also, the CV axle was a slight bit thicker than the OEM one, but rockauto didn’t sell them by driver side or passenger side (at least the ones i got).

Problem:
Truck is overheating. The upper radiator hose stays cold even when the temp gauge shows hot/overheating. Coolant in the radiator rises to the top but does not appear to circulate.
What I’ve tested:
Used a block tester (head gasket test kit) → fluid did NOT change color (no combustion gases detected)

Coolant level is full

Watched radiator with cap off from cold start → coolant rises but no noticeable flow

Other symptoms:
Blue smoke from exhaust (noticeable at [startup / idle / acceleration])

No constant bubbling in radiator

Heater blows [hot / cold / inconsistent]

Question:
Does this point more toward a stuck thermostat or circulation issue (water pump or air pocket), or could it still be a head gasket or cracked head even with a negative block test? Also, could the blue smoke be related or is that likely a separate issue (valve seals, rings, or intake gasket on the 5.9)?

[supprimé]

I have a 2000 Dodge ram 1500 with the 5.9 magnum 4x4 and when I drive for about 40 minutes to an hour, it will just randomly shut off everything and then I have to pull off I have already done the crankshaft positioning sensor and it does nothing but anything else would help. it does start back up after like 10 to 15 minutes.