# 1988 Dodge Ram Problem (Bogging out)



## greenworldh20 (Dec 28, 2002)

Sunday when i was driving the motor bogged down and backfired. When this occurred, i can only drive 5-10 mph. the motor was running real rough. then i stopped, put the truck in park and it idles beautifully. it was very cold out in the morning. gas tank was 1/2 empty. so i parked truck in the sun, put dry gas in truck, waited a few hours, and truck ran great.

today i was traveling down the nys t-way to the office and by route 17 the same thing happened! i got the truck off the road. put dry gas in truck, waited a few hours, and it started up.

it was cold in the morining and decent in the afternoon.


what gives??? 

choke on carberatour? frozen fuel lines? bad fuel pump? change fuel filter? the motor is a 360 v-8 auto trans. 4x4. real great plow truck. no problem until now.

i purchased the truck in december. tuned up, new fuel filter, & brakes. 

any help is appreciated.

brian


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

This is just a wild guess,but I say its the catylitic convertor.Do you have a rattling exhaust that you cant find loose anywhere? Could be somethign else,but I suspect this.if its broken it will block off the air flow,bog it down barly run,shut it off,it piece wil lfall to bottom,fire it up,run good until you hit a bump or rev it up,then same thing.


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## Tommy10plows (Jan 1, 2001)

*bogged down?*

Next time this happens run around to your engine and take the air cleaner off. Shut off the engine first. Then manually advance your throttle while looking down the carb throat. If you see ice in there you have water in your gas, or a carb icing problem. YOu will need to continue to de-ice the gas, and make sure your original carb ducting for heat off the exhaust manifold and air flow is intact. Otherwise you are getting too much cold air to the carb


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## ProSno (Nov 24, 2001)

I wouldn't look down the carb as I was advancing the throttle! What happens when it pops back through the carb and your face gets fried. Its all fun and games till someone looses an eye LOL


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## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

> I wouldn't look down the carb as I was advancing the throttle! What happens when it pops back through the carb and your face gets fried.


shut the truck off first, before you look down the carb on the "sick" engine.

quick way to get hurt, if the engine does pop through the carb.


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

Two most common things would be the fuel pump,and the catalytic convertor like John mentioned.

Put a vacuum gauge on it,and drive it.If the vacuum drops down dramaticaly when the problem happens,I would suspect a plugged cat.Most muffler shops can drop the cat,and put a test pipe in,so you can test drive it to see if the problems dissappears.


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## JThompson (Feb 12, 2003)

I have an 87 Dodge Ram. Had a very similar problem. Mechanic checked it out. Said the carb was no good. Put a new carb on and it was solved.


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