Sputtering and popping with loss of power?

TONIDEMARIA1970

MEMBER
1980 DODGE RAM
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
149,344 MILES

My vehicle listed above (d20 360 V8) ran good one day I shut it down and it rained over night I fired it up with no problem, but when I take off it started to chug a little and then popping back through the carburetor and lost power with any type of incline. I live in the mountains are and northern California, so there are a lot of hills and steep grades l. I thought might of had contamination in the tank or some water from the rain so I put some heat treatment in it and the sputtering got a little better but it will slow down to 20 MPH up a hill. It has a new fuel filter and air cleaner. Would it be needing carburetor adjusted? Can you give me somewhere to start? I'm on the side of the road now giving it a break but I really need to fix it.

1 Reply

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,380 POSTS

I would start with a new ignition coil and spark plug with wires, also change out the fuel filter. There is a chance the ignition module is going out as well but let's start with the basics first. If you could upload a short video of the van when the engine is having a problem, I can tell for sure what's going on.

Here is a guide to help walk you through the repair:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-tune-up-a-car-engine

Please go over this guide and get back to us.