I have been reading many posts on here and getting the impression I have come to the right place. I have a stock 2003 2500 160K miles with 5.9 and AT. I have been having an issue with the engine dying when we slow down to turn or going down a hill with no throttle. Steering gets real stiff and engine light comes on. Starts up but usually required more cranking to get it going again. Engine will sometimes sputter and acts like it is going to die when I pull away from a light so I push throttle pedal a bit to keep it going. I have now changed 2 fuel filters and installed a new Carter on fuel filter cannister pump and it still is dying all the time. It seems to run ok when going faster. I took it to Dodge dealer and they said it sounded like lift pump was going so that is why I changed it out. They said no codes found with their Cummins scan tool only dealers have, rail pressure was good and no issues found any place else. The mechanic even drove it home with scan tool attached and it did not act up of course. They wanted to install new in tank pump for $1100. Based on what I read on here, there are a couple areas still to be checked out. Fuel tank pickup filter and clogged vent line and a possible FCA replacement. Fuel tank is about 5/8 full so it is going to be awhile before I can drop fuel tank. Since the engine runs fine when going highway speed, I suspect in tank fuel pickup filter is fine. Does anyone on here have any thoughts on what this could be?

 

I stopped by dealer to discuss how to figure out what is going on with this dangerous and intermittent issue. Now he says my symptoms are indicative of air in the fuel lines somewhere not a clogged in tank filter. The morning after it kept dying I started engine and it ran for a second and died. After that it ran fine for the next 2 days. I am scheduled to go in here tomorrow for a thorough check of my fuel system. Is this a symptom of the injection pump going out and sucking air somewhere? He said something about it going "flat" and I did not understand what he meant by this.

 

Actually sounds like a possible APPS issue. That is the throttle position sensor.

 

How do you test this theory? Where is it?

 

When my FCA was on the blink it would do just about the same thing.....and of course, there were no codes and the dealership "could not duplicate the problem." The rpm's would dip, it would rattle like the old 24v and rev up on it's own if it didn't die altogether.

New FCA fixed all of that, and that's been 8 years ago.