not a mopar but need some help

I had a 1996 1500 Chevy Silverado. It had the V8 vortec as well. It was actually a great truck, till it hit 286,000 miles. Then it would buck and stall, and shut down electronics randomly. What i used to do is open the hood, get out, smack the engine with my fist a few times and it would start and run fine that day for a while. I am not kidding, I literally did this, and it worked. I do not know why, but it did. Perhaps the Vortec feared me, and did not want to anger me further. After 2 years of not passing smog the state crushed it and gave me $2,000 for it. I owned it from 115k miles. Only GM I ever owned that was amazing. Try punching it, or kick its bumper.