Dodge Ram freak engine problem- long

[hornian]

I just (read 2:30 pm today) bought a used '01 Dodge Ram. I had a mechanic my family has used for years do a pre-sale inspection, and everything looked good. So I take delivery, and I'm driving home (I bought it in San Antonio, I live in Austin). I decide to put the cruise control on at 80, and get in the middle lane, just taking it easy. I get to San Marcos, and I figure I should slow down a little bit so that I don't get a ticket.

I tap the brakes, because in GM vehicles that turns the cruise control off. But it doesn't work in my new Dodge pickup. So I turn the cruise control switch off. Still I don't feel like I'm slowing down. But I figure, its a big vehicle, it has a lot of inertia, maybe I just need to brake more forcefully. I brake and slow down to about 60, and then let off the brakes, and I slowly start getting back up to around 75, and I wasn't touching the gas the whole time. So I know something's not right.

I get off at the next exit, and slowing down is a chore, I really have to ride the brakes hard. There's a stop sign on the access road about half a mile after the exit, and I just barely am able to come to a complete stop. And as soon as I let off the brakes, my truck jumps forward and accelerates to about 40 mph, all without me touching the gas pedal. Now I there is absolutely no doubt in my mind I have a problem, something's definitely not right.

I put the truck in neutral, and the engine redlines, jumping to about 6000 rpm, and I cost into a store's parking lot, with my engine making all sorts of noise from being revved that high with no resistance from the transmission, luckily the store is closed and there aren't a whole bunch of people to point at me and laugh. I turn my truck off, and sit there.

Now, forgive me if I don't use the proper terms, I'm a liberal arts major who knows just enough about mecahnical stuff to make a mess.

I popped the hood, and took the air filter assembly off of the engine, to see if the throttle was stuck or the exchange was being kept open. I saw a rubber thing lodged in the fuel/air exchange, and knew that was the culprit. The only problem, with my engine redlining like that, it was about 250 degrees and I couldn't get the exchange lifter pushed open in order to remove it without burning my fingers. Luckily, I noticed at the back of the store I had stopped at a couple of trucks, I walked back there and asked the guys I found If I could borrow wrench or a screwdriver. With my tool in hand, I went back to my truck, pushed open the exchange lifter, and pulled the culprit out. It turns out it was the seal that is supposed to go between the air filter assembly and the engine block, it had come loose and lodged in the fuel/air exchange, effectively giving my engine gas even when I wasn't touching the gas pedal.

I think that when the dealer had the truck prepped for delivery, they had someone clean and Armor-all the engine and whatnot to make it look good, and when they reattached the air filter assembly, it wasn't secured tight enough and the rubber seal worked itself lose and got lodged where it shouldn't have gotten lodged. Luckily, I was able to fix it pretty easily, and there's nothing really wrong with my tuck.

I did however, not put the rubber seal back on. I didn't have any way to tighetn the assembly back onto the engine. I'm assuming this shuld be there, but what kind of tool shuld I use to tighten it so that it doesn't happen again?

 

[accuratehorn]

I don't work on Dodges that much, but this should be fairly simple. The rubber gasket goes between the throttle body and the air cleaner base to make a seal, so the incoming air is forced through the air cleaner rather than bypassing it. Without the seal, and with the filter housing loose, you are getting air directly bypassing the filter, which will take dirt into the engine, reducing its life. So you need to get the rubber gasket, probably at the dealer, and replace it. And make sure you tighten the filter housing which usually just has a wing nut on top, or a decorative nut of some sort. Some are more elaborately clamped down with clips or bolts, but should be easy to attach.
Your main worry is-anything damaged by overrevving the engine. I think you should report the incident in writing to the manager of the place you bought the vehicle from, because if you have an engine failure in the very near future, you would then have grounds to sue them if they declined to repair it (even though they probably sold the vehicle "as is"). They were at fault in creating this problem, after all-unless your mechanic removed the air filter housing during the buyer's inspection-you should ask him.
This is another of those simple items that can really screw something up-you could have had a wreck, or ruined the engine.
In the future, if the throttle sticks open, move to the shoulder asap and turn the key off-that is a dangerous situation.
Yes, a lot of dealerships "detail" the engine by cleaning it and spraying Armorall on all the hoses and other parts. This makes it look nice, but it also makes it impossible to see any slow fluid leaks for awhile. Used car dealer trick, but it's better than putting bananas in the differential or transmission to quieten down annoying howling noises. You did check there for bananas didn't you?

 

[hornian]

Accuratehorn- Thanks for the reply.

I still have the gasket, can I reuse it or should I get a new one? It looks fine.

Also, the filter housing is attached to the throttle body by a clamp type thing, is there a special tool to tighten this?

And I didn't ask him about any bananas. Has that actually happened before?

 

[accuratehorn]

If the gasket is still intact, you can just install it properly. If the housing is held down by little spring clips, just make sure they are all clipped in place.
Yes, bananas have been shoved into noisy gear boxes to quieten the noise, but that is really an old trick, and I have not heard of it in years, so that part was in jest.

 

[Lat22]

Yikes. You did a great job on getting it whoa-ed down without killing anybody. That happened to me in my Powerstroke one time but the culprit was my floor mat. Damn scary none the less.