My 97 Dakota stalls while breaking/slowing down, at a complete stop and in reverse

IRISHPENGUIN

MEMBER
1997 DODGE DAKOTA
150,500 MILES

It also idles really high at around 800/900 rpms and shifts hard and delayed. When in the cab I can hear a slight knocking sound when it idles from the vibration of the engine and it's really rough. The fuel economy is rapidly decreasing, I go through about 1/3 of a tank a day and I only drive about 20 miles combined to and from work. When breaking I can feel the truck sputtering and at a complete stop it almost always feels like it is going to choke up and stall out. The oil pressure is also slightly erratic, but that's a new problem. It always starts back up, but very rarely I have to give it a little gas for it to turn over. I've ran a fuel line and fuel injector cleaner through it, replaced the TPS and fuel pump, had a complete tune up, checked the air filter and all of the fluids. What is causing this?

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 12:31 AM

24 Replies

DJCL

EXPERT

Is the check engine light on. Have you scanned the computer for stored codes. Check it and get back to me

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 12:42 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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The check engine light is not on. It flashed on once when it stalled out but promptly went away. I've had it put on a scanner 3 separate times. The first and last time there were no codes, but the 2nd time it showed a misfire, which is when I had the tune up. I've also had a vacuum leak fixed and recently sprayed some starter on all the hoses and fittings to make sure it didn't return, and that came out fine.

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 12:48 AM

DJCL

EXPERT

After the tune up did it run smooth? Sounds like its misfires. What engine is in the truck? When its running poor @ idle and shaking try pulling inject or connectors off or coil wires if and note which cylinders have little to no affect on how it runs. That will be the cylinder that is not working. After that we can narrow it down. Let me know how this works out.

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 12:58 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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It ran smooth for about a day and then started messing up again. It's done that with every element I've replaced and after I ran the cleaner through. I'll try that out tomorrow when there's light again and get back to you.

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 1:11 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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Also it's a 3.9L 6 cylinder. Automatic.

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 1:13 AM

DJCL

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Good luck

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Thursday, March 29th, 2012 AT 1:37 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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Alright, so I cleaned up the throttle body, ended up having to replace the iac valve and the gasket on the throttle plate. Also tested the ignition coil with a ohm meter and the readings were spot on. I did this after hooking up a code reader and getting the code for the ignition coil. It's starting up better and doesn't feel like it's going to die when braking, but there's still a starvation issue. When I open the throttle too quickly I can still feel it choking up, so my acceleration isn't great, but it is improved. It is also still idling hard, I can feel the engine shaking, but the rpms have stabilized.

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Friday, March 30th, 2012 AT 1:40 AM

DJCL

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Check and see if its still setting a code. If it is let me know what the code is.

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Friday, March 30th, 2012 AT 5:33 AM

DJCL

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Check fore spark @ each plug wire end and check your firing order make shore all plug wires are on the correct plugs

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Friday, March 30th, 2012 AT 6:09 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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Will do and I'll get back to you to let you know the results. It died again in my drive way this morning and now I'm having a problem getting it to start up. It cranks and starts to turnover then dies immediately after.

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Friday, March 30th, 2012 AT 10:13 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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So the wires and plugs are both good. Firing order is right and spark is good (got a first hand feel for that one). Two of the wires were kind of loose and after ensuring all of them were good to go it ran good for about half a day again then stalled out and died at a light. Had a hard time cranking it back up and keeping it going. Got home and checked the alternator, which checked out good.

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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 3:29 PM

IRISHPENGUIN

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There's no code showing again. I replaced the CPS and it's running better, but it still died on me once since yesterday. It didn't seem to choke up so much as just shut off. Check engine light still isn't coming on.

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Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 AT 8:54 PM

DJCL

EXPERT

Have you checked for vacuum leaks. Howis is the idle

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 12:30 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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I've checked for vacuum leaks several times and I can't find anything. When first starting it, it idles really high around 1500 rpms then once it's been put into gear it will idle around the normal 750. I can feel the engine shaking when it does idle, however. I'm starting to run out of options on things to replace. My next guess would be either the MAP sensor, catalytic converters or the computer. I would say the O2 sensor, but I know that always sets a code.

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 2:50 AM

DJCL

EXPERT

See if you can get a scanner. We need to read some computer date on this. We need to look @ fuel trim readings. Is the computer adding fuel or removing it?

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 6:18 AM

IRISHPENGUIN

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So new development: the truck has starting to rev on it's own at idle. Also, there is a whistling/whirring sound in the vicinity of the left front of the engine. I immediately thought it was a vacuum leak, but I can't seem to locate it. I might have to wait to get it on a scanner since I will be out to sea until June starting this weekend. It's eating gas very quickly, too. I've gone through almost a half a tank in about 3 days.

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 8:06 PM

DJCL

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Check it out when you get back. Good luck

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 9:22 PM

IRISHPENGUIN

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So I took it up to autozone, just to see if I could get it to throw a code on the scanner. My truck kept resetting the scanner, tried another one, did the same thing, went back to the first one and it finally threw out P0351. I've eliminated the ignition coil, wires, plugs, cap ant rotor. The truck doesn't have an ignition module so that leaves either a poor electrical connection or circuit fault or a faulty PCM. Any thoughts?

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 AT 11:18 PM

DJCL

EXPERT

Is the coil pack new? Testing with an ohm meter is not a good test. A labe scope is the best way. But yes you are looking @ a bad coil ecm or wiring problem. Have the coil tested with a labe scope or try a known good one from another car. Trace the wires back to the ecm. If all checks out replace your ecm. Good luck.

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Thursday, April 5th, 2012 AT 12:42 AM

IRISHPENGUIN