So I park my truck yesterday(*on level ground) morning and then try to go somewhere later that night. Truck fires up like normal but as soon as I release the key, it shuts down. Park, or neutral same deal.

If I hold the key to the full start position it will run until i release it. My guess is my ignition switch... but I wanted to get some experienced input first.

If you want me to try anything/look at stuff let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

Could be the fuel shutoff solenoid.

http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/tro..._solenoid.html

 

Hold in relay or circuit.

There is one circuit to pull the solenoid in during start and another to hold it back during run.

You will likely need to find a FSM to track things back.

 

Read these:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ght=hold+relay
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ght=hold+relay
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ght=hold+relay

 

dieselbox, did that help out at all?

Let us know if you need more help.

 

well i tested the batteries first, someone told me that one of the two batteries is for the glow plugs and if its not a good battery they aren't working. but they batteries were fine.

so i tried new ignition switch, same problem. im going to go look for this fuel solenoid idea now.

 

looking at that, it seems the arm never goes up, and if i manually lift it, it shoots back out/down.

i dont have anymore time right now to test relay, that will be tomorrow. seems like we might have found it though.

 

That's great that you found a potential problem. Just so you know, these trucks don't have glow plugs. They have a grid heater that is like a toaster on the intake manifold. Much better than the glow plug design that "light duty" diesels use.

Also, the batteries are hooked up in parallel. They both act as one battery. So one battery isn't used just for one particular thing.

 

As WCB has said, we don't have glow plugs, and its a good thing, because mine has had bad relays since I bought it......that being said, I don't even plug it in until it hits 20 degrees or so, always starts fine! Suppose I had better get after those relays soon though, I feel better having the grid heater working.

Something else, if you need to use the truck, you can just wire the lever up to go somewhere, or those really into it have replaced the solenoid with a heavy duty cable operation setup........ Just a thought.

 

ok, i lifted the solenoid by hand and had someone else start truck. runs fine and when i move my hand the arm drops and truck shuts off. the arm neither lifts or stays up on its own though. i figure since it works when i make it move the solenoid is fine, but the relay must fried. does this make sense?

 

Yes it makes sense. You can get the relay from Larry Bs at; fostertruck.com
I think he sells them for under $20.00

 

It's the relay. Get it from Fostertruck.com, and it's a quick fix. Had the same problem on my '97 a few years ago.

Good Luck!