1998 Dodge Ram 1500 V8 dies when i let off the gas.?

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bryan m

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Initially it wouldn't start at all so we took the battery in to test at NAPA. The battery ended up being bad so i bought a brand new battery from and took it back home and put it in. At this point the starter would click but it would not turn over. The car sat for a few days and I went out to try and start it a few days later only to find that it would no longer even click much less turn over. A little research online told me it was either a problem with the alternator (draining the battery when the car was off), the starter or both.

After a bit of work we got those off and took them in to NAPA to test. As luck would have it, they BOTH were bad!!! I couldn't believe it but I went ahead and checked the local salvage yard to see if I could find some used ones so that I would be able to eat for the rest of the month (HA!).

After a few days down time we put them in and found the battery had been drained from the previous alternator. So we jumped it and started it up. It started up but turned off as soon as i let off the gas. Tried it a few times and after a few seconds one time it started to smoke so i disconnected it and here I am. My funds are nearly extinguished and I'm not yet ready to sell my soul to pay for tow truck and mechanic. Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated.
 
the starter wont usually drain the battery when the car is off,but the alternator will,and those are real popular for going bad on chrysler products,and that will also make it die when you let off the gas if its not charging right,id start with having it checked,then check and make sure its charging when its at idle speed,if not replace the alternator some will charge above an idle enough to keep one running but not at idle speed,good luck.
 
hmmm, take the new starter and the alternator and have them checked, also have your idler checked, it could be loose... other than that idk, my car had the same problem but i cracked two heads and warped a piston, hope thats not what happened to yours, then you would have to sell your soul and your mom's to get that fixed (cost me $3,500) but just in case, check your oil, if its cloudy, you've deffinately got a problem.

OH! disconect the positive terminal from your battery for about 10 min and then reconnect it, that will refresh your computer so that it doesn't remeber the last prooblem you had, could help, maybe not but its worth a shot

good luck
 
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