I have had dodge Ram diesels in past. Now have a "bought new" 2000 Dodge 2500 4x4. Couple of day ago noticed it running somewhat rough but felt it might be bumps in highway. Had filled up the tanks just the days before. Yesterday...began running very rough...very jerky-like. Past experience with other Dodge diesels caused me to think it my be water in fuel issue...so I stopped truck and opened the water in fuel valve for a few seconds (over gravel where I could not tell if any water had been in fuel). Closed valve, restarted engine and pulled back onto highway. No improvement. Automatic transmission. iNoticed that the roughness corresponds in severity to the throttle load, i.e., no roughness noticeable when just starting out....but very much noticed when up second, third and Overdrive. so much that truck has a big loss of power as well. Pulled off road again and again drained the water in fuel valve. This time...drained it until nothing more would come out. Naturally, starting it back up by 'bumping starter' took quite a while to get the engine running. (Miss my little primer pump I had on earlier models). Anyway!..once engine was running good (seems to run fine when in neutral even if one revs it up to 2000 rpm or so. Put it back and gear and went back on highway. again...as the throttle load was increased the truck ran terrible...so bad that a moderate hill where I'd normally run at 65mph slowed me down to 45 mph. also noticed white smoke coming out of exhaust while trying to climb the hill...but smoke quit upon being back onlevel road. Stopped and bought some 'diesel injector additive' and continued on about 20 miles to home. Running so rough that I felt lucky to make it home. No real improvement! Based on fact that the truck runs increasingly rougher as load is placed on the throttle...feel that it might be a fuel filter that is plugging up perhaps from some bad fuel....in other words, as the engine is demanding more and more fuel to maintain speed....sediments in filter might be causing engine to starve. Your opinion is welcome. Have not yet changed filter for fear I might break of the filter top. Older diesels had a 'spin-off' can from the bottom. This newer model has a plastic cap with a 1/2" hole apparently for a wrench. Put a fair bit of leverage on the wrench with no loosening of cap and decided to stop in the fear that I might break the cap. Opinions are welcomed.....both as to cause of the problem....and whether I should continue to apply more pressure to that top cap over the filter. Thanks Much for your patience in reading this!

 

You don't want to use the 1/2" square hole, it will break the cap.

You want to use a 6 point 1 1/8" inch socket.
Mid 2001 they changed the style of the cap, put a round hole in the middle instead of the square one, to keep people from using it.

Here's some good intructions for changing the filter.

http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/fil...uel_filter.htm


Good luck.

phox

 

Mine does that as well, except only between 60 and 65 mph, with no loss of power or white smoke. I'm thinking it's the torque converter on mine but I would tend to think it would happen anytime, not just between those speeds. I know it's not the tires. I'm hoping alignment. Try changing the fuel filter and see if that works. Also fill out your signature for us. That will help. Have you checked your fuel pressure recently? I'm almost willing to bet your lift pump is dead.

 

Thanks for the input...especially the tips for removing the fuel filter cap....as I had stated I somehow felt that using that 1/2" drive tip was not the right thing to do.

As to the thought that it might be a bad lift-pump....is there a way to check the lift pump without using a pressure guage....such as how much volume it should be pumping within a designated period of pumping?

Thanks again. Will fill you in more as I learn more. JrP

 

Do a search for the volume test. Should come up with something. You might also try calling dodge and see if they can give you the specs.