Stalls out

I bought a 1987 Dodge Dakota V6 2 months ago. Had a stalling problem since the get go. Changed the fuel filter, seemed to fix it for a month. Then it started again so we changed it again. Now the problem is it still stalls out as soon as you throw it into drive,
Since we bought it we have changed a lot. To try to fix the problem we have changed

Fuel Filter 2 times
fuel lines
battery
battery terminals
PVC valve
Preheater hose
Spark plugs/wires
distributor cap/rotor

Still having the problem. You can drive the car in reverse no problem. Will sit an idle beautiful. Will REV RPMS fine. As soon as you throw it in drive it stalls.
Had a mechanic friend come out and look at it. Claims its a ignition coil ballast resistor. We pulled the part, pictures included. CAN NOT locate the part. NO ONE sells it. HELP! Do we have the right name? Is it really this part? Where can I find this part?
Truck is beautiful. No rust, paint is good. Engine/Tranny are great. Only 120 thousand miles on it! Do not want to but at the point of scrapping the truck. Help

Driving down the road, doesn't matter how long I've been driving, seems perfectly random, engine suddenly dies, speedometer drops to zero, indicating an electrical problem but I don't have a clue where to start.

Putting truck in neutral and turning ignition off (but not to lock) for 15 seconds then it will start right back up like nothing happened.

It's been getting worse, 30 mile trip a week ago, only died once. On the way back, 3 times, today, 3 mile trip, died 5 times.

1995 Dodge Dakota, v6, 109k miles
Anyone have an idea?

Would the ASD also shut off power to the speedometer?

Crud, means it's something closer to the ignition switch, if not the switch itself.

Does the computer control power to the speedometer or does the speedometer's pickup go through the computer?

I'm trying to find what the ignition and speedometer have in common, which is most likely the part that has failed.

Also, went to autozone and found out how to check stored codes and I get 55, which means that's the end of the codes, no error codes are stored :o(

Hi guys, I'm having stalling problems with my '87 Dodge Dakota. It starts up alright (sometimes I have to give it a little gas), idles great, but the second I throw it in reverse or drive it stalls out. I idled for five minutes or so today to see if it was something with the carburetor and it idled fine but then I put it in reverse to back out and it died immediately.
For some background I just bought the truck a couple of days ago for $1k (so I'm not expecting much) but I was hoping it would last me the year. When I picked it up it started just fine no stalling issues or anything, nor had it stalled out the day before when I took it for a test drive. I drove it home 20 miles or so with the low fuel light on (45 mph to like 55mph) but also no stalling issues. However, the very next day I parked it and it started stalling out. Any ideas on what could be wrong with it? I hear low oil pressure or something is common with the 87's but I don't really know a lot about cars/trucks.

The engine dies at the exact same moment that the speedometer drops to zero. It's happening after only a few seconds of running now, can't drive it any more.

After turning the key off for a few seconds and back on, the speedometer will start to register my current speed again, something electrical has reset.

If the PCM also controls power to some part of the speedometer system, then that's the problem.

If it has nothing to do with the speedometer, then it can't be the problem.

Edit:
I've gone to www.alldatadiy.com and have been looking at wiring diagrams and such. Since the guy at Autozone said it sounded like I had a dying ground wire, I'm going to check the ground for the PCM and hope it's just corroded or something.

Diagrams refer to Z12 as supplying ground for the PCM, if it loses ground the vehicle will not run, doesn't mention whether or not that will kill the signal or power to the speedometer though...

Look to bottom left of the image, G201 is a ground connection, when I get to the truck I'll check that. I'm at work now.

*sigh*
When I got back to the truck this morning, I opened the hood and checked the grounds on the PCM, seemed secure, wiggled the PCM's main plug and it seemed secure.

Started it up and drove it home, no problems. Turned it off while thanking coworker for escorting me home. Went to restart it and it works perfectly now. 30 minutes of idling it up and down, putting it in gear for 20 minutes with the emergency brake on, gasing it once in a while, no dying at all.

GAHH, when I want it to mess up so I can test stuff, it works perfectly, when I need it to work (like going to work) it dies.

I'll post again the next time it screws up, even though I'm paranoid to go anywhere now :/

Hey there

My truck will idle fine but when you go to drive it won't accelerate properly, it kind of bogs out at which point you have to release your foot from the petal to prevent it from stalling out. If you push the gas then take your foot off, push the gas then take your foot off you can sometimes be lucky and keep it running. I have found if right from the get go you push the petal to the medal it usually works more often then not to get it going, but then going around corners or slowing down you must repeat the process of continually taking your foot off the gas. Plugs and wires have been replaced as well as fuel filter. Also sometimes when taking the gas cap off it makes a wooshing sound. I have tried not screwing it on so it won't create the vacuum effect, but this didn't help. Any ideas?

Thanks

The entire system doesn't go dead, radio, heater/a-c fan still blows, windows all of them work.

The only thing that I can see that goes dead is the ignition and the speedotmeter, maybe the tach, but since the engine stops, it's going to read zero if it's working or not.

I've uploaded 4 images to my website which detail the wiring I think may be involved. I'm thinking that there is more than one wire that gets powered when the ignition is switched to ON. One goes to ignition system/gauges and other for accessories. Maybe one going to ignition system has intermittent loce of connection?

I'm going to keep trying to make it die while at the house so I can climb under the dash and see if one of the wires that's supposed to be hot isn't.

Well, this is interesting. I drove for 15 miles, several turns, 5 or 6 railroad track crossings, didn't die once. Makes me think it's not a loose connection and an actual part that's partially failed.

After I got home, I thought maybe the ASD relay was going bad. I decided, since they all have the same number and appear to be identical, to switch the ASD and a/c clutch relays.

When I pulled the ASD, it's plastic case was very hot to the touch. Maybe it's overheating causing a failure. When it dies, it's hot and can't cool down because the ignition key is still in the RUN position.

After turning off the key for 15 seconds, it's got a chance to cool off and start working again?

I went ahead and switched the relays between the ASD and a/c clutch. I'll post back if it dies again, will mean it's on either side of it and not the relay itself.

I checked all the grounds for the relay box and PCM, all are tight and in good condition.

Really hope it's this simple, can't afford to have it in the shop for several days/hundreds of dollars chasing down an elusive problem like this.

Edit: well, went to autozone, 4 miles, no dying.
Went up to friend's, 6 miles, died 3 times.
Way home from friend's, 5 miles, no dying.

Soo, intermittent, can't figure it out.

Oh yeah, guy at autozone said it was a loose wire on the ammeter 0-o which can't be possible because it registers correctly during the little "deaths" :(

*sighs*
Drove 20 mile to Dodge dealer, didn't die once. After I explained the problem they looked at it. 1.5 hours later they came back and said there was something in the intake manafold that needed replaced because it's not getting enough air or getting too much air.

I told them to go back and look again, the speedometer dying at the same instant engine dies (with no warning) means it's electrical.

Another 1.5 hours and they think it's the sending unit on the transmission for the speedometer. They drove it for almost 20 miles in several trips, never died for them :/

I paid for a new sending unit and labor and had them unhook the sending unit to see if it ever dies again (they had to order the sending unit).