Dodge Ram 1500 - Spits, Sputters, Misfires and Stalls 

My favorite diagnostic tip or trick you’ve taught me so far is the forcing the system lean or rich by removing a large vacuum hose and letting the air leak or adding throttle cleaner. Just a great tip

If I lived in your area - you would be the only mechanic I would ever allow to touch my vehicles. You are the MAN ..

That was the most comprehensive diagnostic of a bad plug wire I've ever seen!

Reminds me of a time when my boss asked me to tune up his Chrysler Imperial, it had ~100,000 miles on it. He had always had the dealer tune it up since new. I put in new points and condenser, this was a long time ago. Changed 7 spark plugs 1-7. Then went to change no 8, could not even see it. Jacked up the car, crawled underneath, and low and behold there it was with easy access, so I pulled it and there was no side electrode what so ever center was almost gone too. It was the original plug that came from the factory! The dealer mechs had never changed it ever. Car then ran like a top!

It's good to see an O-scope in use on modern vehicles. It's a tool largely forgotten but still very valuable.

Most people can not do what you do. I cannot do what you. Nothing beats experience and having good high dollar equipment. I have watched a lot of mechanics or technicians on many different platforms, and i have never seen anyone as good as you. You are the best man hands down at everything you do.

There isn’t another video on the Internet that I’ve learned more about my POS Trick than this one!!! I’m sure I’ve watched it five times now start to finish every word

Great job as usual Eric,love how you film the faults people make so they can watch and see your so honest.Keep the great vids rollin buddy,God bless you and the family

Your an awesome troubleshooter. You have a great balance of expertise, common sense with customers budget in mind.

These are the videos I love, mechanic experience is extremely important even more so than dealerships. Love seeing the no nonsense, true work and educated guessing because thats the reality of fixing these kinds of things.

covid 19 lockdown here in NZ makes the perfect time to watch these oldies but goodies and pass onto my techs sitting at home for refreshers! Sometimes you may get a little hiccup from the misfired sparkplug if it has been in that environment for some time. Great video Eric as always - nice to see a scan tool used as it should be, more than a code reader. 4-5 yrs on still churning out quality videos-Thank you! to you, and your family for allowing you to take the time to do them.

"I'll be jiggered." I heard my grandpa say this a hundred times. He's been gone 30+ years now, but I can still hear him say it.

Great job! I really like these long videos in which the vehicle has more than one problem. I enjoy seeing how you decide where to start. Keep up the good work!

What I can say is this.. Whatever town you do live in is very lucky to have a person and a family working on their cars. You are a Gem... Happy Holidays...

Totally awesome, Eric. I sit through some much shorter videos and they seem so long, but yours, an hour + went by so fast. I love watching the scope graphs as you explained the burn cycle. Brings back the physics electric class back to me after 30+ yrs ago. I just enjoy your videos so much. Thanks, so much for allowing us to ride along on your adventures. Kevin

Excellent video, once again Eric. You haven't dissatisfied me once with any of your videos. Every time I watch your videos I learn something new and inspirational. You, sir, are an excellent teacher. I would prefer to learn by your side rather than those vocational college teachers. You make learning this stuff such a fun, enjoyable, and hopeful experience. And it makes us all coming back for more. You say your weak spot is ignition diagnosis but you were pretty sharp in this video, in my opinion. Keep it up. I strive to perform my work on autos more like how you do it.

There isn't anything Mr. Eric O' cant figure out. Simply the Best!

Dr. O saves another patient. Once again patience prevails and gets the job done. That customer should be very happy. Great video. Thanks Eric.

Great job on the diagnosis. I love watching someone who has a good diagnostic procedure.

Your videos are always educational and informative. It doesn't matter if you are in the trade or not, there is always something to pick up, as long as one wants to learn. After 6 years this video is still full of great info. You have only gotten better since! 👍🏻👌🏼

Great vid as usual and one hour of SMA just before Xmas is certainly a great present for all your viewers. Thank you Eric.

I watched the entire vid start to end, perfect on a cold Delaware icy and rainy day like today. Dude the term you used "fish biting" was spot on. I never had a term to identify that issue, that slight hesitation while driving, perfect..... thumbs up once again to your vid

I have watched hundreds of diagnosing videos, It seems and I have not came across anyone that has gone into that much depth and explanation. Not just saying "this is what I replaced" you actually gave reasons why, and showed the troubleshooting. Very informative video for Ram owners.

Another great Eric O. video on the simple repairs explained in detail! Yes, a visual inspection first really can give the beginning of repairs to start. From there, get into the electronics and use your gut feelings, Use the force Luke! Bravo Eric! This customer will be very happy.

Thanks for your time,first and foremost, your video was awesome and informative. I've done my share of wrench turning and never been so thorough in diagnosing/changing O2 sensors....way more involved than what i realized...your efforts are admired and appreciated in bringing your knowledge to the layman masses! Thanks so much

By far the best youtuber out there love your videos..

You are a GENIUS with your skills! WhenI was a youngster I remember most shops had one of those huge Sun Scopes that I think were more to impress the customers that anything else. If a car had a miss in the engine it was one of just a few things it could be. It was a simpler time!

Simply a master demonstrating his craft to the max!!! Very detailed electrical troubleshooting expertise from years of growing with the technology!! Thank you for sharing with us all!!

You have one of the best channels out on RU-vid, and you worked hard for it. Love the video :-)

Outstanding! My favorite kind of video. I always learn so much from watching you diagnose things. Thanks for sharing this!

I don't know how I've stumbled on your videos. Youre vids have a lot of good info and your dry humor gets me every time. Glad I found your channel and actually learn something and actually want to do my own work on my own vehicles.

“There’s your problem lady” great line!!! Great troubleshooting and thanks for sharing!!!

Explanation was good, thanks for bringing us along, always learing from your experience! Great vid Eric O. Thanks!

Hey Eric, excellent repair. Thanks for staying with us and recording the whole repair. It was cool to see the pico scope out testing the secondary wave form on that misfire..that's probably the first time I've seen you use it , I think. your repair videos help keep me out the dealership..cool 😎 thanks again..oh yeah did ever install a new hangar on the exhaust ?

I've been watching the evolution of this master mechanic from the beginning it's inspiring wish I lived out there would be my first stop ! But great amount of knowledge for DIY

Awesome video. Something to take note of, in the first 10 minutes of the video when you are looking at the engine data stream you accidentally clicked the upstream O2 goal V’s instead of the actual V output. I would also like to tell you that I really appreciate your videos, you are very good at teaching diagnostics. I am learning how to diagnose my own vehicles without throwing parts at them like I did when I was a teenager. Thank you very much.

Fascinating, Eric. Thank you for posting such a thorough diagnostic video. Really enjoyed it, and I learned a few things too.

"Tokyo Drifting" freaking hilarious! Merry Christmas to the O family 🌲

One of your best diagnostics! You’re a sharp young man! We need more out there who can use some smarts and can diagnose .

Hi, Eric, yours is one of the best channels on youtube. I love it. I actually feel much smarter every time I sit with you and watch the cool knowledge and tools you use to some mysteries inflicted on us by robot cars! As for the spark event seemingly happening on the #8 cylinder, I have a long long background in electrical and HV so let me propose a very plausible explanation. When High Voltage (HV) is introduced in a conductor, even one rated for well above its the possible voltage peak if resistance is encountered in the length of the wire that potential at 15-25KV will simply rise to whatever peak voltage the power supply can provide. When it reaches the peak threshold voltage of the power supply any flaw, even minor, in the wire will result in a spark over and a resultant ringing wave. Weirdly enough that ringing wave (much like the ripple in a lake immediately after tossing in a rock) will give the illusion of burn time in your scope indication! But like other things you and I both have encountered over the years, the spark is not going where we want it and is not producing a productive spark at the plug, but rather a Tesla (Nikoli) event like micro lightning. As your cable grew worse the spark dissipated was larger (more resistance) since the power supply, to use a term you love "has the beans" to pump out more voltage up to a maximum, the spark got larger but still did not do the job which manifested as a misfire! The spark flashover was happening either in the rotor cap (rotor to cap) or flashing to the block or valve cover! The moral of the story is the new wire created a uniform, even resistance, and total circuit path. resistance down, voltage down, current down spark gets the to the plug, plug fires, burn time is REAL now not an illusion caused by a peak flashover on all components that can flash when an excessive voltage occurs. Final analysis spark arrives, gas burns, misfire GONE!! We learned a lot 40 or more years ago when we started taking standard ignition (Point/Plug/Condenser) and integrating the new "spark booster" systems which were nothing more than an electronic booster (pre-electronic ignition days) to jump the spark up on the older systems for "better performance". Wow did we smoke some standard rotor caps and rotors? I think in mentioning that with the events we were seeing on your scope showing very high voltage peaks on that one cylinder dielectric breakdown of the rotor cap (if I understand correctly this is a transitional system that still has a cap and rotor) you might want to do a preemptive strike and replace the cap and rotor since the high voltage sparkover may have compromised the insulation (carbon buildup) around that tower where the high voltage sparking may have happened. All in all, I love your channel, you are crazy smart and sharp and funny as heck (I have to be careful to replay some segments after I lose it busting a gut laughing at your incredibly good sharp wit and humor) Keep up the good work. It's encouraging to an old-timer like me!

Beautiful Eric O .. your workability is getting better and better. Trying to learn things from You.

Outstanding driveability diagnosis vid. You are an excellent teacher brother. Thank you very much sir and Happy Holidays to you and Yours!

The only auto channel I turn to now. Love you Scotty, but your videos are too short! Another great SMA video!

Great vid Eric. I really enjoy watching you figure out and repair “issues”

Awesome vid Eric. Lots of editing, nicely done. 👍👍

Wow Eric great video!!! i enjoy watching all your videos you truly are a real technician, i learn something new every video.

Awsome video with great explanation of your diagnosis!!! People in your neck of the woods are lucky to have such an experienced mechanic!!

Great troubleshooting on all posted work. You are precise, methodical, persistent and cost-conscious. Thanks and keep videoing.

I love the long intense video's and on a Friday, WOW!!! what a treat.

That was an excellent diagnosis. Great work on the ignition system!

Old video, but very interesting. Good troubleshooter and very humble as well. Eric admits to what areas he is not real strong. Thanks for making.

Nice job systematic , detailed and calm.......Better than some of our instructors at school. Bravo bro!

Just a great way to spend an evening, thanks Eric for these long vids, I really enjoy the 'hunt' and the fix. Merry Christmas to you and the family.

Another amazing informative video thank you sir your knowledge and time is greatly appreciated!

I have been watching Mr. O for some toime now and rate him among the BEST.

You are a great mechanic and a thorough mechanic and not a bad instructor to boot

Thanks for giving the diagnosis on your vid’s, always most helpful to see the hands on procedures you use! Duly noted for future reference!

This was SUPER informative, you're an awesome mechanic

Good result Eric you proved the individual faults through commonsense in your analysis. Thanks for taking your audience along and made it entertaining and in depth educational. Thanks Christmas 21

Dude, awesome explanation, good mic use (your voice is pleasant and no hard P's or S's) and so informative. This may fix my issue!

I’ve been watching your channel for several weeks now and learned a lot! Awesome diagnostics. I use to be a medium duty diesel mechanic for quite some time. The only other thing I would have looked at is the number 8 spark plug to see if it was fouled a bit due to the open wire. But apparently it’s fine with the nice road test!👍

Your assessment of a steady intermittent is actually a “constant variable “. Love your videos, if I lived closer, I would buy a Dodge just so that I could bring it in for repairs.

Im a DIYer and this is by far the best channel I enjoy watching. You. Sir are very intelligent and very interesting to learn from. Keep teaching Sir.

The amount of times I have had to diagnose cars that have had parts cannons fired at them by other shops and "so called mechanics" to get the vehicle in the air and find the most stupid things wrong with them almost instantly is unbelievable. Then when you call them almost laughing the excuses are hysterical. Great job diagnosing Eric, keep the dream alive!

Nice diagnosis, thanks for bringing us along.

Dam good job very impressive . not only are you good at what you do but you have a way of explaining your self and not making excuses .

Big mahalo Eric! Watching this video has made my truck cherry again. My Ram was running intermittently funky and clunky. Thought to myself, “maybe it’s spark after all”. I purchased new coils and plugs… check engine light went away and now she’s purring right along. Keep up the great content!

I feel like I've struck gold. Watched a few of your videos and haved subscribed after the first one. Coffee and SMA on a Sunday morning. Greetings from Raleigh, NC. !

You sir are a master watched this vid had same issue with mine 2003 ram 1500 changed both o2 sensors and still nothing never thought fuse changed fuse bam works like new thanks merry christmas

Pico making waves baby!! Proper thorough diag. Nice one Eric

I have an 03 Dodge Ram that has the exact same symptoms I watched your video and today I put a couple new O2 sensors in it and now the truck runs beautiful thank you so much for the video it was a big help

absolutely the best description i've ever heard. just what my truck is doing and sounding like. yes you can have a constant intermittent misfire. some days or weeks my truck runs great. and sometimes it wont even crank. when it dose, it does that missing thing you described. i've been suspecting a short in the harness or O2 sensor. it is the upstream and its is high voltage. and I have the miss thing going on also, erratic, spontaneous, and loss of power. up large hills it shifts into overdrive. I had the O2 sensors replaced. 75 miles they threw a light again. 9 months ago. I changed plugs and wires, twice in 14 days. had the intake and exhaust rebolted to the engine. all three cats replaced too. replaced the pcv valve. fixed a few vacuum hoses. done a spark test on the coil and plugs. cleaned the throttle body. replaced the breather filter. flushed the system and heater core. it has 241000 miles on it and its my daily driver. today I cleaned the crank case with a little sea foam and then changed the filter and oil. Boy it sounds much better. it still tries to stall, and there is a miss. cylinders 1, 3 and 5 all are coding out as a miss fire. the up stream bank one is the O2 on that side and the bank 2 downstream on the other side is throwing the same high voltage coed. Im trying to figure this out. also I have to replace the oil pan gasket. and the power steering pump.

This helped me out a lot with my dodge I really appreciate it god bless .

Excellent video glad you made it and you even used an actual wrench.

The best mechanic I've seen on RU-vid

Eric:you are not just a good mechanic. You are a darn good one,keep up the good work

Another Great vid. Thanks for all your time and hard work.

Eric great video as always

Nice video as always Eric. Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. O, and the kids!

the man knows his stuff ! i was watching a video for something else on my ram and this popped up, kept me entertained as i was prepping to remove the doors from my 03 2500 cummins ram. bad ass diagnostic tools as well.

It's a fun video to watch, thanks for posting. I own a 98 5.9 Ram, so the territory was familiar. That engine has had a lot of work.

Whenever I had a misfire ,I would use my inductive timing light on each plug wire. If no misfire the strobe would be constant, if there was a misfire, the strobe light would be erratic,then I would look for a bad wire or bad plug, never failed me.

These are great videos of trouble shooting and not just part changing! Thank you.

Another great diagnostic video you make it look simple and I am sure you have helped quite a few on there diagnostic skills. Good job!

What do I think ? I think your one hell of a mechanic... Am 62 and Navy retired Diesel and auto mechanic old school and I think you could take me to school Subscribed Joe Navy veteran 🇺🇸

VERY helpful video, my 99 Dodge is doing this very same thing! Thank you for sharing

Brilliant video man. Really like that after the whole video you take a few minutes to synopsize the whole thing. Great work all around

You explain your situation very well my friend actually the best I’ve seen. Your definitely top notch buddy.

thank you Eric for sharing your knowledge with us very much appreciate it! Merry Christmas to you your family and those beautiful dogs God bless you brother !!!

You definitely shouldn't worry about not clearly explaining stuff. You do a fantastic job of it. Trust me.....I get what you're saying and I'm an idiot when it comes to anything electrical and anything automotive newer than 1970.....lol. 1.314 ms, that's faster than a speeding bullet! Thanks for another great vid.

I can fully understand why you are who you are! My dad was born in Dalton, Pa., Lackawana county and raised in Binghamton, Pa! We moved here from N.Y! He was a Yonkers boy! Like you, a true mechanic!

Eric thank you sir for sharing your knowledge! I appreciate you taking the time to teach me. God bless ya my friend

Another Great video, Thank You!

Anyone with a Chrysler/Dodge/Ram/Jeep etc from 1996 1997 1998 1999 etc with the jtec style computer (the same ones in the '98 Dodge Dakota), there is a simple solution to the random rough idle and stalling issues. Remove the left torx screw on the PCM computer, add two washers and then replace the screw. Can do the same with the other side, but do them one at a time. The screw seems to be just long enough to eventually ground out a component inside the computer and cause the engine to stall out. Didn't believe it myself, but when I pressed on the screw there in the front the engine died and backing the screw out fixed the issue. On warm days or once the engine was warmed up, the thermal expansion must have been just enough to momentarily ground the component.

Great video, learned alot, despite the grounded o2 you still checked the wiring and found a blown fuse. Very helpful!

I always enjoy your videos. Logic Prevails! What a Concept!!!

Congrats on 58k subs!

That wave form and plug wire failure is somewhat common on Dodge v8s like this one. I'd see it more often in the extended vans, where those two rear cylinders are up and at the back of the engine over where the heat is really high. In later years they pressed aluminum heat shield tubes into the heads to try and protect the boots. When I encountered the broken/burned inner core, I'd cut back the outer and repair/recrimp the plug connector with good result, and also put a good amount of dielectric grease in there.so that future boot removals were easier.

Great Video I really enjoyed watching you work and listening to your train of thought. You made good use of the diagnostic tools, very fun to watch

Even threw the tube I could here the difference! your a very savvy mechanic! enjoy your vision thanks!