1985 D 50 Up and Died...

[dylanrmarshall]

Hey Friends,

I have a 1985 Ram D50 with the 2.0 power plant.

The starter was bad and I was having to push start it. Drove it several times and it ran super.

Got home, is sat for three days, I then replaced the bad starter...now the truck will not run. It just turns over and over, like it's climbing up stairs.

I figured hey, it's a spark issue so...I replace the coil, ballast resistor, plug wires, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and the distributor...and still have the same issue. It just turns over and over, like it's climbing up stairs.

I got out the starter fluid and sprayed that in the air intake figuring, hey it's a fuel issue. No dice. Same thing.

Suggestions?

Thank you so much for your time,
Dylan

[BradMph]

Stop spending money on it at this point Your throwing money around but not sure what it is. When you replaced the starter, what kind of starter was it?
Did your truck come with a starter that has an S, R, terminal?
R is for coil wire, S is for the start when you turn your key. Obviously this one seems to be working. Have you pulled the coil wire out of the distributor cap and laid it on a ground spot on engine and tried turning key. Should see a nice blue spark jump 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the coil wire to ground. Think hard, what else did you do...you will probably kick yourself when you find out what you did and forgot to replace it back. Need to check for spark off coil to determine if your engine can even think about starting. If your truck is an automatic, I think they have an inhibitor switch that has to be connected also. You replaced so many things it's going to be tough to figure out which one is causing it now. Again, you need a spark from coil, that's number one. Sounds like you probably missed a wire somewhere, these trucks are too simple and the problem is probably right in front of you. lol.

[camoit]

try push starting it to make sure. it could be they gave you the wrong starter or you hooked up the wires backward.

[pennyman1]

also check the timing belt to see if it broke on you - that will stop it from running for sure

[irotagrup]

yep you can check that by taking the dist. cap off and turning it over, if timing belt broke the rotor on the dist. shouldnt turn

[dylanrmarshall]

Yeah...I've got GREAT spark at the coil...

[dylanrmarshall]

and the timing belt is just fine...

[camoit]

OK, You can crank it over correct?
Does it have spark when cranking?
Does it get fuel?
Have you checked to see if it jumped timing? The belt may be ready to break and you have lost some cogs. So it will have spark but at the wrong time. check all timing marks on TDC.
Does it have any vacuum when cranking?
What is the compression in each cylinder?