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i started having trouble with my truck about a year ago. ive had two mechanics check it out about 5 times total. heres the problem:
the truck shuts off at random times and i cant find a consistency in any of the times. for example:
Sunday: Parked car all nite. Cranked up at 12pm. Runs in park (i let it warm up a little before driving) 1 minute later, it shuts off. It had 3/4 tank of gas, A/C was on, engine wasnt hot, just mild warm.
Sunday nite: Parked for around 4-6 hours. Starts up ok. Shuts off after 30 seconds. Engine was warm. Cooling fan was running ok. A/C was off. 3/4 tank.
Monday: Parked for 6 hours. Cranks up fine. Drive fine. Stoplight, shuts off again after 15 seconds of being stopped. Trouble restarting. .05 mile later, stoplight. Shuts off after 10 seconds. Starts again. Shuts off again. .02 mile later, parked for 1 hour. Go back out to the truck, it runs fine, I go and park it.
Monday nite: Parked for 4 hours. Start, after 5 seconds, it shuts off. Half tank gas. Starts again. Shuts off again. Starts again, I let it warm up, it runs no problem.
Later monday nite: I park it for 20 min. It starts fine. I drive for about 7-8 minutes then it starts jerking. Instead of if cutting off, it stops me in the middle of acceleration but never shuts off. It does this until i park it about 5 min later.
Now heres what the mechanics have said:
It could be bad gas. Ive used Shell, Kangaroo, and BP and it doesnt change the situation any.
Now heres what ive done:
I flushed out the coolant (which had turned to sludge over the years).
I put a new ignition coil on it (per mechanics suggestion)
I had it tuned up and new spark plugs and new oil.
I put new belts on it.
Any ideas or experiences with this problem?
the only other thing i can think of would be poor fuel pressure or crank shaft position sensor
I don't know if a Dakota has one but I had a '72 Dart
w/ a 318 and went though the same deal and it turned
out to be a balist resistor
When it did the shut down deal I was lucky enough to
have a buddy there and he wacked it with a screwdriver
and it was fine and yes I did replace it with no further
issues.
Sure isn't consistant... What type ECU runs this rig? Has anyone inspected the big rubber junction block at the fire wall? Looking for green crud?
What i would do the next time the engine quits is check for spark at either the distributor cap or at the plugs which ever is easier. Of course you will need a helper and may want plug wire pulling plies since you could get zapped.
I am no Dodge tech, but have a 86 van carbed with a 318 engine and it has a firewall mounted trick box, factory sealed ecu. 0 info on whats inside, which caused me to tear the entire engine harness out and test it and every single component on it.
In the looling the distributor shaft was an elipse, not right but not that big of a deal either. That was not the main issue.
I talked with dealer techs, all who told me it couldn't be the ecu, but it was.
Inside that ecu there has to be a bi-metalic spring doing something.. In my case I could go about 8 miles and the engine would quit. In about 30 minutes what ever it was inside that ecu cooled and i could go about another 8 miles.
Everyone told me I was wrong. I got another ecu and that one wouldn't run the van a minute. I took it back, a new re-built, and again anyone i talked with told me I was wrong. I wasn't. The next one i drove 200 miles straight as a test and it has been find since 06 when i installed it. After that I installed a new distributor too.
This van has just under 30,000 miles.... really. And no rust which is a big deal in New Hampshire.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnutella
If it was a fuel pump problem, then the engine wouldn't even run for 30 seconds.
I have seen this before on other vehicles, most recently a 2003 Ranger, where it would randomly die. Eventually it stopped and would not start again, and it did turn out to be the fuel pump. sometimes they can start then stop, before going out completely.
Is it only stalling when at idle??? or when driving down road too? if only at idle i would think maybe its the idle speed control motor going out,
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