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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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9/26/2011
18:55:52
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 Subject: 3.9 stumbles
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I just bought an 03 Dakota. It starts and idles fine and drives fine, but ater about 2 miles down the road, it begins to stumble...loss of power and almost like a backfire sound from under the hood.
It will stumble then clear up for a bit and then stumble..on and off. I am suspicious of a fuel fitler issue....But this is a pricey fix to be guessing...any thoughts?. This is a 3.9 auto in a 2wd reg cab model, sxt... Thanks in advance
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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9/27/2011
07:31:46
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Check for codes first.
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JET
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
01:32:26
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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The codes will help narrow down whether the problem is air,
fuel, or spark related.
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
07:17:15
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Thanks for the replies. Codes came back evap, large leak and small leak...replaced a hose and it stopped throwing codes. Truck runs good most of the time, stumbles more in traffic than freeway. I can her popping through the throttle body, not so much the exhaust.
When it stumbles or looses power it will always still run well if I floor the gas pedal, then it either clears up or still stumbles. It has cleared itself up at speed and also at an idle at a traffic light....truck never stalls, just rough idle when it's struggling.
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Curly
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
14:15:56
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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How does it idle?
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
21:18:02
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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It will rough idle when it's not running right with little loss of RPM...when it clears it idles smooth enough that you feel nothing.
It tends to act up within a couple miles of leaving my house, but will clear up pretty quick and it may go several miles before it acts up again.
When it begins to act up, I will push the pedal and feel a loss of power and popping through the throttle body...if I mat the throttle it will downshift and accelerate smoothly everytime...at that point it will either start running right or I may have to do that a couple times.
I have replaced plugs, wires, distributor, distributor cap and rotor so far and I have done the sea foam treatment. It is very drivable, more aggravating than anything.
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Curly
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
21:43:53
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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You need to get the battery "load" tested.
Note load tested not just tested....
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/24/2011
22:04:38
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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The battery is a month old and load test as new
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Curly
Dodge Dakota
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11/25/2011
13:20:29
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Message:
New wouldn't matter you still could have gotten a
bad battery (happened more times then you may
think), The symptoms you describe could be from
the PCM losing memory (first thing to cause that
is a bad battery).
You have to go through the process of elimination
since you are not getting a code for a specific
problem.
Next I would recommend checking fuel pressure.
Do this with a mechanical gauge hooked to the
schrader valve at the fuel rail.
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/25/2011
18:25:28
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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I will check the fuel pressure. I have a battery load tester and it's good. What it feels like to me is, when it acts up...it's like what you would feel if your timing was off.
Like if you were driving and all of a sudden the timing changes and then resets itself, but I have to factor in, if I mash the gas it will accelerate normally. But messed up timing is how it feels to me. Or as you say something in the PCM...it definitely feels like an electrical intermittent problem, but I could be wrong.
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Curly
Dodge Dakota
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11/25/2011
21:44:54
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Message:
How many miles on the truck?
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JET
Dodge Dakota
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11/26/2011
00:03:12
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Message:
It might be the MAP sensor. The Manifold Absolute Pressure
sensor measures the pressure inside the intake manifold by
measuring the vacuum level. It sends a voltage signal to the
PCM in relation to the pressure inside the manifold which
varies according to engine load. The PCM uses the signal to
adjust air/fuel ratio and spark advance.
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/26/2011
08:30:58
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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something like that makes sense to me. Sometimes I can jump on the freeway and it might act up when I first get on..sometimes not...but I have drove over 60 miles on the freeway and it run perfect and then get off in the city and still run good.
When it's not acting up, the motor is super smooth. The truck has 188 thousand on it, transmission works perfectly and it's a clean truck, just have that intermittent power loss.
I don't really have several hundred dollars for a shop to monkey with it, so trying to fix it myself.
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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11/26/2011
09:36:41
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Message:
Check the vacuum connection at the map sensor. that rubber can crack sometimes.
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Curly
Dodge Dakota
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11/26/2011
12:38:07
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Message:
Depending on mileage the dist. gear & bushing is
something else to check.
Remove cap
Take the rotor and see how far you can rotate it
left to right.
Then grab the rotor and see how far you can move
it from side to side.
A well noted problem with these motors that can
cause problems and never through a code.
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/26/2011
19:37:58
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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I put a new distributor in it when I changed the plugs and wires. when I installed it, I turned the rotor once it slotted in to see if there was any play and there wasn't.
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Ramer69
Dodge Dakota
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11/27/2011
12:31:34
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Junk it, dooky!
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yepp
Dodge Dakota
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11/30/2011
08:07:35
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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i agree 100%
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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11/30/2011
14:51:34
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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If timing chain has not been replaced, change it. Same thing for the distributor bushing (between the cam and the distributor shaft. Both are known wearout parts that can cause this behavior.
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dooky
Dodge Dakota
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11/30/2011
22:43:32
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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I appreciate your input Bob, but to me this is an intermitant sensor type issue...it runs way too good most of the time...I doesn't seem to me that the timing chain would make it run bad and then good?....I might be wrong but that's not my experience over the years...thanks though.
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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12/01/2011
09:31:53
| RE: 3.9 stumbles
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Any fault codes now? Running fine for the first two minutes and then stumbling can be an oxygen sensor, which is ignored by the computer when the engine is cold. Is gas mileage down?
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