1995 Dodge Ram Power Loss

Dodge experts:

I have a 1995 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup with the 5.9L V8.
The truck has about 70K miles on it, and I have recently
been having some power loss issues. The problem I have
is if the truck runs at highway speeds for about an hour
(my commute is 1.5 hours one way), the engine will suddenly
lose power, backfire, and will stall. I can re-start the engine, but
it will run very rough. Even when it runs a little smoother,
the engine has no power (I put it in Drive, but the truck
barely moves). If I let the engine cool down for about 15
minutes, the truck will run fine.

I just replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, rotor,
distributor cap, and air cleaner with no luck. When the
engine dies, there is no "check engine light" that comes
on. I have yet to replace the fuel filter.

I have done some investigating, and it looks like replacing
the MAP sensor and/or the crankshaft position sensor
may help. Before I invest any more money, however, I thought
I would ask for some help.

Any ideas on what is causing my problems???

Thanks for the help.

Regards,

Jeff Kolodziej

 

i would inspect the cat. converter to see if it's restricting the
exhaust and do a fuel pressure test

 

A crank sensor will shut off lke a switch, no loss of power just shut down.
More then likely you are having a fuel pump issue. slowly loosen pressure,
slowly loosing power. Perform a fuel pressure test when the problem is
occurring. if you do a test when the problem is not there it will show a
good pressure.
Just a thought!!

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Put a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail test port. My hunch is that
you have a dying electric fuel pump that gets worse as it heats up. Been
there/done that with a 92 Dakota (same basic drivetrain and fuel setup).

You may also find that you have an error code set for the O2 sensor
being out of range because its running excessively lean when the fuel
pressure falls.