Truck wont stay running

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LocuMob

LocuMob

Fluid Technician
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I drove my truck home fem work a few days ago and left the lights on by accident. I went to start it a day or twice later, needed a jump, no biggie, but once started it does immediately when you let off the gas. I've never had this problem with this truck before. It would/will die if you don't have the gas applied on restart after its warm. It's a 98 2500 360 auto, New alternator 2 years ago. When that died, it lit the red service engine light. No warning lights other than the yellow check engine light that's been on since I got the truck. I'll check the alternator, but anyone have any insight or suggestions?
 
Sounds like the battery is dead and the alternator isn't supplying enough voltage at idle to power the igniton. Do you have to jump start it every time now?
 
Started it up 4-5 times, and it needed a jump every time. I forgot to borrow a battery charger the other day. I'll try to get one after I work tonight. I will also try a good battery in place of the dead one to see what that does. Good thing I have my Polara to get me to work.
 
If it's anything like my Neon it has to re-learn a little. Just drive the truck a few miles and it should be fine. The loss of battery voltage will also give you a light so best bet is have the codes cleared too.
 
moper said:
If it's anything like my Neon it has to re-learn a little. Just drive the truck a few miles and it should be fine. The loss of battery voltage will also give you a light so best bet is have the codes cleared too.
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xx2,.. needs to re-learn..
 
exactly, if the battery isn't up to full and your alt isn't pushing enough for the computer system to run the ignition it will shut down my wifes new car was doing that last month and we changed the battery and that was that.
 
inertia said:
xx2,.. Needs to re-learn..
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moper said:
if it's anything like my neon it has to re-learn a little. Just drive the truck a few miles and it should be fine. The loss of battery voltage will also give you a light so best bet is have the codes cleared too.
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x3 Had the same problem with my 99 Durango 5.2, I would have to drive it around for a while and make sure to keep the RPM's up at a stop sign/light otherwise it would die. After 10 minutes or so it would be running fine and after each trip, it would progressively get better. It took a day or so before it was running 100% normal again. Battery would test fine and would crank over quick.
 
GaryS said:
Sounds like the battery is dead and the alternator isn't supplying enough voltage at idle to power the igniton. Do you have to jump start it every time now?
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Yup low battery will do it every time. The 97-98s both have this issue. Its even worst on the 3.9, they will idle real bad and die on ya untill you replace the battery. My 97 and 02 both had the issue. New battery is your resolution.
 
Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks everyone. I'll charge up one of my spares and put it in and let you know how it goes.
 
It's lost the memory of the idle speeds, timing etc,, so it'll idle low till it learns to idle higher,, new batt won't refresh the memory, it'll likely stall until you keep it running long enuff to re-learn, just run it..
 
I'm by myself and I can't even get out of the truck to disconnect the battery cables. If only my dog had opposable thumbs... I'll do it after I get a charged battery.

Btw, does this happen when you replace a battery or is there an internal battery that lasts a few minutes/hour?
 
The degree of lost info isn't the same on every vehicle. My wife is famous for leaving the key or lights on and I've had to jump start every car she's ever had. Never had a problem with her '97 Intrepid, '98 300M, 2000 Sebring, 2005 Chrysler 300, 2009 Chrysler 300 or her 2014 200 convertible, and she killed the battery in every one of them. They had to relearn some things, but not an idle low enough to allow the engine to die.
 
LocuMob said:
I'm by myself and I can't even get out of the truck to disconnect the battery cables. If only my dog had opposable thumbs... I'll do it after I get a charged battery.QUOTE]

Sometimes it makes you wish for the days gone by when all cars and trucks came with a hand throttle. Before automatic chokes, hand throttles were the only way to set a fast idle for warm-up.
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I agree with others that the ECU learning curve is not going to cause it to die. It may idle funny for a few days or hours but not die. It takes a lot of energy to run EFI, Fuel Pump, Ignition, ETC. I vote either the Battery is bad, a dirty terminal or another issue unrelated to draining the battery down. There likely isn't enough energy to open the idle control valve and when you apply the throttle, your doing the job the Idle control valve does.

On my carbonated cars, I've had battery's down enough to turn the car over but not enough juice to run the electric ignition and not fire.
 
Not sure if the battery is bad, hope not, it's fairly new (i know they can go to sh*t any time). I know what drained it, my dumb *** leaving the lights on. They were on for an hour or two. I did jump the battery with another battery, not a running car. I'm sure if it would help to have a running car provide the jump, but it shouldn't matter, you jump a car with a jump pack, and that ain't running.
 
You may get it running by jumping but that does not mean the battery has sufficient voltage to operate everything.
Use a battery charger and charge it over night that should help.
 
dano said:
I agree with others that the ECU learning curve is not going to cause it to die. It may idle funny for a few days or hours but not die. It takes a lot of energy to run EFI, Fuel Pump, Ignition, ETC. I vote either the Battery is bad, a dirty terminal or another issue unrelated to draining the battery down. There likely isn't enough energy to open the idle control valve and when you apply the throttle, your doing the job the Idle control valve does. On my carbonated cars, I've had battery's down enough to turn the car over but not enough juice to run the electric ignition and not fire.
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It might if the battery is low enough. Charge it overnight, and if it runs, check battery charging / running voltage after you get the battery charged, and warm up the engine.
 
sireland67 said:
You may get it running by jumping but that does not mean the battery has sufficient voltage to operate everything.
Use a battery charger and charge it over night that should help.
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I've never had a vehicle die on me after jumpstarting it, run poorly, but never die. Granted I haven't had more than 6-7 1990 or newer vehicles, but many of them had been jumpstarted and some with completely DEAD batteries, and all kept running. Hope it's that simple.
 
It's got nothing to do with the charging voltage or the alternator. It's memory of the IAC values were lost when the battery went dead. All you need to do is start it & let it idle in park with no accessories on at all for about 15 min. You may have to keep your foot on the pedal lightly for the 1st couple of minutes, then shut it off & restart it, then drive it around as you normally would & it should be ok. (After of course you replace the battery with a good one.) It's just got to relearn the IAC value & position over again. Many cars do this when battery power is lost. I would make sure that there are no blown fuses in it however. Just in case one might have been blown during jump-starting.
 
IF it still dies after you've done all that with the battery, go out and get you some intake cleaner and thourghly clean the throttle body. Clean it down past the butterfly too. I've had this same problem with my 96 INDY Ram with the 360 mag. It was the battery the first time, after that it always seemed to be the throttle body getting dirty. Good Luck Jim
 
It was the battery. Got low enough that it didn't provide enough volts? Or whatever. Charged up the battery and it kept going on it a own on the second attempt, I kept my foot off the gas the fist try. Held the throttle lightly for 10 seconds and all was good. That was yesterday. Guess what I did today? Left the lights on when I got to work! It was only 5 minutes though. The Chime doesn't go off when the lights are left on, always a good thing. Thanks for the help, I never would have thought the electronics needed to build up some stored energy.
 
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