Dodge Ram 1500 (missing, surging shaking)

[rsykes]

I have a 97 Ram 1500 4wd automatic. The problem is 45 mph to 60 mph with engine under a slight load, the truck surges. Chrysler says they have been aware of the problem since they first stated building the truck in 1994. Of course they did not tell me this before buying their truck! They say they can not repair the miss or surge, and that it is the nature of the V/8 automatic 4w/d Ram in other words they say they all do it to some extent. I have been through Arbitration, to no success. I am now entering into a law suit against Daimler Chrysler to replace the vehicle. The truck is still under factory warranty. Is there any one else who has been down this (rough road)? Any suggestions?

[fnkychkn]

factory warranty on a '97 Ram? you sure about that?

[formerice]

If its a 10 year old, can't help you but if it's a new 03-07 with a hemi, never heard of that problem. If it is a hemi, new plugs? My hemi Ram with 66,000 miles has always run like a beotch! Also the trannie is incredibly smooth, owners of Fords and Toyotas have commented. Sorry for your troubles. The old Dodges had some problems, for sure.

[DodgeDude99]

whatever the dealer is feeding is BS.

remove the air hat, open the throttle and look down into the intake with a flashlight, if you see oil in there, you need to replace the plenum gasket.
(the manifolds are a 2 piece design, the gasket for the bottom likes to blow out, oil leaks in, gets burnt, the O2 tells the PCM its running rich, and cuts back fuel). that could cause your problem.

if you are not running Champions, Autolite 3923 or 3924s, or NGK ZFR6F-11G, and believe it or not, platinum plugs as well will cause this problem.

obviously bad plug wires will do it as well.

the throttle position sensor will cause the surging as well, its making the torque convertor lock and unlock, causing the rpms to shoot up a few hundred rpms, on these motors, this is a very very common problem.

my guess would be a combination of all of the above.

FYI, i have a '99 1/2 ton 4wd automatic, it did the same thing, once i replaced the TPS and the plugs with the NGKs, everything went away.

have you checked out dodgetrucks.org?