Rosie87

I have a 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 truck with a 5.9L diesel stock engine. It is only used to take off trash and pull my horse trailer on the very few occasions my horses need to go to the vet, so most of the time it sits in the yard. In the early summer of 2017, the a/c quit working. The blower still worked fine but the air it blew out was hot. In mid-summer 2017, my husband tried adding freon but the freon meter said there was plenty of freon in the system. A/C still doesn’t work. The truck was used occasionally the rest of the summer and winter but then sat for a couple of months without being used. This past June 2018, I needed to use the truck again, so my husband went to make sure it would start up for me and found that mice had made a huge nest under the hood between the felt liner and the metal hood. When he tried to start the engine, it would start/run for a few seconds but then cut off. He has been unable to get the truck to do any more than that since then. All the truck will do each time you try to start it is that the motor starts/runs for a few seconds and then cuts off.

He has replaced the fuel filter, says the fuel pump in the tank is working because he can hear it, checked the batteries, checked all the fuses, lifted up “some box” (my words) and checked all the wires coming into the box to make sure they weren’t chewed, He has checked all the rest of the wiring for chewed areas and only found two chewed wires: The control wire to the air grid heater and one of the horn wires. He can’t tell where the air grid heater control wire is supposed to hook back up to, so he can’t repair that wire. Would the factory electrical repair manual show him where this wire should be hooked back up? If yes, where can I get a copy of the factory repair manual?

Based on my story, does anyone know of any reason why my truck won’t continue to run? Could it be as simple as one or both of those chewed wires causing it not to run? Thanks so much to anyone who can help.

steelblitzkrieg

Make sure your A/C pulley isn't coming free or seizing up. Mine would start and run if I gave it some pedal, then die soon as I let off. I found the pulley for my A/C had play up/down and out/in, it was enough friction on the belt to kill the engine. I by-passed with a non-a/c belt which required me to relocate the tensioner slightly. If that is your issue and you do the same, remove the airfilter box it will save you immense time when you relocate the tensioner.