1988 Dodge 250B engine its out

[Doll]

Hi All, i'm having an issue with my 318 engine, i'm driving along then suddenly my engine cuts out. No warning, no hesitation just shuts off. Once I pull over and give it some time, maybe 15 min, she starts up again. I've YouTube it and tbye suggestion is that its he "automatic shut off" relay. I don't know where to find that in my engine.
Help!!!!

[SteveJ]

Not sure if it applies in your vehicle but Dodge use to use a ceramic resistor in the ignition system that was infamous for failing. The symptoms match. I always carried a spare in any Chrysler Corporation vehicle that I owned and occasionally had to use it.

The resistor was generally mounted on the firewall or a piece of metal to help dissipate heat. Inexpensive and should still be easily obtainable.

An ohmeter/voltmeter would be quite helpful for diagnosis but the part is cheap enough to try anyhow. If it doesn't fix the problem at least you would now have a spare for a failure prone item.

If not that, ignition coil?

[Bruceper]

1988, should be the first year of the 318 Magnum that was fuel injected.

Culprits could be
EGR
Crank sensor
Fuel pump

Get yourself a scanner and see what codes are being set. This would be an ODB1 system.

[Doll]

Thankyou so much for your reply.

[Doll]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Not sure if it applies in your vehicle but Dodge use to use a ceramic resistor in the ignition system that was infamous for failing. The symptoms match. I always carried a spare in any Chrysler Corporation vehicle that I owned and occasionally had to use it.

The resistor was generally mounted on the firewall or a piece of metal to help dissipate heat. Inexpensive and should still be easily obtainable.

An ohmeter/voltmeter would be quite helpful for diagnosis but the part is cheap enough to try anyhow. If it doesn't fix the problem at least you would now have a spare for a failure prone item.

If not that, ignition coil?

Thankyou so much. I will check this out.

[Doll]

Originally Posted by Bruceper

1988, should be the first year of the 318 Magnum that was fuel injected.

Culprits could be
EGR
Crank sensor
Fuel pump

Get yourself a scanner and see what codes are being set. This would be an ODB1 system.

EGR has been replaced, after 3 faulty ones. Fuel pump also replaced.

[Bruceper]

I can't remember, is there a separate coil for each cylinder in 88 or just one coil?

In the old days an engine that would stall like that would likely be a faulty coil. It would overheat, fail, cool and then work again.

[Doll]

Originally Posted by Bruceper

I can't remember, is there a separate coil for each cylinder in 88 or just one coil?

In the old days an engine that would stall like that would likely be a faulty coil. It would overheat, fail, cool and then work again.

I have no idea, that's why i'm reaching out. Very limited info on my 1988 engine.

[vwmaniaman]

You can get engine codes on the OBDI motors without a scanner. Scanners for OBDI are almost impossible to find anymore. Especially with the correct plug adapter. You can just cycle the key on and off for 3 times quickly and count the flashes. It will be in 2 digit codes. Look the codes up on the web and hopefully that helps. Mine has done like yours but I just had the bad coil and now I have to replace my ignition switch assembly. I believe mine is the ignition switch because when it quits no light are on at the dash cluster. I turn the off and to accessories position and then restart and all is good. You may wish to find a spare computer for your camper since those have capacitors that do fail over time. Oh and yes the automatic shutdown relay on mine is one of the 2 relays mounted under the master cylinder. I believe it is the one on the right. Hope you can get yours going again. The 318 Magnum is by no means worn out easily and your issue would not be fixed by motor replacement. My brother in law has my old camper now and has had issues with vapor lock because it still had the carb instead of fuel injection.

[Scottie409]

Originally Posted by Doll

Hi All, i'm having an issue with my 318 engine, i'm driving along then suddenly my engine cuts out. No warning, no hesitation just shuts off. Once I pull over and give it some time, maybe 15 min, she starts up again. I've YouTube it and tbye suggestion is that its he "automatic shut off" relay. I don't know where to find that in my engine.
Help!!!!

I had same issue with my dodge and solved it by installing an HEI style distributor and a separate power source to make sure that the circuit powering the new distributor was totally independent from the original wiring.
Cured the problem and made starting better as well as slight mileage increase

[Rodneyhelfrich]

I hope you love this RV and have a lot of tech savvy about electronic injection and ignitions.
You need to read the OBD codes and look at likely causes. In a 1991 Ford the EEC-IV, TFI-IV, and PIP I had an intermittent failure of the IDM signal that caused a problem similar to yours. I used the Emissions manual process, changed all of the above including EEC relay, fuel relay and several fuel pumps. The shielded triple data wires between the three components above shorted PIP, SPOUT signals to ground or IDM Signal from coil- to EEC -IV was open. I built a new harness for the TFI-IV and moved TFI off the distributor to solve all the potential historical Ford problems. The aluminum shield with the bare copper drain wire likely corroded with moisture allowing spark wire noise to interfere with the computer operation..

[Bruceper]

Where are you in Ontario?

You can try the following

Be sure the engine is not running. Then do the ‘Key Dance’. This means that within 5 seconds:

turn the key to ‘ON’ (not start) and then ‘OFF’ repeatedly, in this order: ON-OFF-ON-OFF-ON.

Be sure to leave the key in the ‘ON’ position and watch the red ‘Power Limited’, ‘Check Engine’ or ‘Limited’ light (we’ll refer to this as the ‘Power Limited’ light). One of the first diagnostic steps is to see if the light comes on at all. If it does not then you probably have a burned out bulb; replace it and start with the ‘Key Dance’ again. (If you’re a real beginner — you will find the bulb specifications in the owner’s manual.)

Looking at the Power Limited light, count the flashes. These will come in sets of two flashes. For example if you count one flash then after a pause two more that’s a code 12. This will be followed by five flashes and a pause then five more. This is a code 55 or ‘end of file’. Codes will always end in a code 55 and there will be no more flashes. This is the computer’s way of telling you that it’s all done. If the only code you receive is a 55 then you ‘have no fault codes’ and the computer has nothing to report.

Sometimes it takes a while to get used to reading the flashes, but remember that the delays are important, so watch for them — but not too hard (there are no three-digit codes!) There are also no numbers higher than 7— you'll never see more than seven flashes in a row.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

When was the last time you had your engine professionally serviced?

Today's vehicles and even your 21 year old 1998 has so many computers running the engine, unless you are an expert at diagnostics, even with the codes, there's so many things that can cause this to fail.

I don't know how many miles are on your 1998, but, any vehicle past 20 years is going to take a lot of care and feeding to keep it running smoothly....

Years are way more important than "low mileage", it doesn't matter how low the mileage is....

If I were you, I'd have a professional check it out before heading out on the road..... breakdowns in the field are way worse than a local problem. Just my two cents.

[Doll]

Thanx for your two cents, it's an 88, so its had lots of recent service. I'm trying to avoid more expense if it's a minor fix. I'd rather exhaust those options first.

[Doll]

Thanx for the info.

[Doll]

Thanx for all the great info!

[Doll]

Bruceper. Thanx for all the info. I'm in Kingston, ON

[Sehc]

Hi. I have a 87 318. Mine is the first to have the computer control. There are many sensors with lots of connections that will fail at the age of our babies. I would start with checking the ground wire connections. Just about every thing on mine that failed was solved with a new ground connection. Battery negative to chassis, and battery negative to engine block are the first two. There are many plug together connectors that fail on these older Dodges. The problem you describe suggests electrical intermittent problem. The other thing is if a carburated engine, the fuel filter has a connection to bled vapors back to the tank, preventing vapor lock, that is three hoses. I would also check this.

[Doll]

Originally Posted by Sehc

Hi. I have a 87 318. Mine is the first to have the computer control. There are many sensors with lots of connections that will fail at the age of our babies. I would start with checking the ground wire connections. Just about every thing on mine that failed was solved with a new ground connection. Battery negative to chassis, and battery negative to engine block are the first two. There are many plug together connectors that fail on these older Dodges. The problem you describe suggests electrical intermittent problem. The other thing is if a carburated engine, the fuel filter has a connection to bled vapors back to the tank, preventing vapor lock, that is three hoses. I would also check this.

Thankyou so much for your help!