can't get dakota over 20mph?

Question

99 dodge dakota 3.9L Changed dist. cap and wires due to missing when it rained. we have checked the firing order, it is correct. Any help would be wonderful!

Answer 1

check and replace the rotor and the coil the coil my be cracked seen this too many times

Answer 2

Amber, if it was running well before hand except for the "missing when raining" thing, and you are "positive" that the wires are not only on properly on the cap, but that all those new parts are actually "good". (If you used cheap parts they are often not good) then I would suspect the coil might be bad. That is common on those models. You can sometimes even hear or see it "arcing" from the body to the frame of the coil on the engine at night with the hood up and watching for the flash of spark. By removing the old coil wire and installing a new one you very well might have actually made the problem worse by changing the resistance of the circuit with new wires. Odd things like this often react different anytime you change anything in the electrical field and those new wires and such might do it. If this problem didn't start suddenly then the catalytic converter could possibly be clogged up as well, or the muffler. Don't forget that working on the wires and distributor it is possible that you knocked off a vacuum line, transmission cable or rod, sensor wire, etc. Those distributors at the back of the engine often present problems like that. Still though with the "rain" problem it could be that the rain was causing the coil to misfire more than the cap and wires, and changing the rest of the system finally has gotten the coil misfiring all the time. My best guess! Good luck with it either way.

Answer 3

Check the linkage. I had and old jeep that the linkage chain(cable in most cars now) stretched and it wasn't moving the throttle enough.

Answer 4

I think you can't get it over 20 mph due to them always stuck on the back of a wrecker....Is yours?

Answer 5

take it out off 1st gear