Dodge Dakota Mystery Problems?

Question

To make a long story short, a couple of weeks ago my '99 dakota started to tweek. It would loose power if accelerated too quickly or driving up hills. Days later, I pulled out of the driveway and 20 seconds later, it lost power again. It feels like its starving for gas or a hole in the exhaust. Because you can feel a "putt putt" and silent backfires when it does it. It went to one mechanic and he couldn't find anything wrong with it. Currently its at another and our bill is at $1k and still they don't know whats wrong. Its had a good tune up, everything has been looked over, its just one giant mystery. Has anbody else had this problem or have any ideas what could possibly be wrong? They are checking the engines computer today, but I have a feeling that won't be it either. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Its a '99 Dodge Dakota Sport, 2- wheel drive, single cab and 77k miles.

Answer 1

i would bet $5 that the catalytic convertor is plugged

Answer 2

Backfires and power loss sounds like a fuel pump to me. I have had several backfire due to spark plug wires getting old, but that should have been taken care of in the tune.

If someone has tried to time it with a timing light, that could be a contributing factor as well. The computer regulates timing after the distributor is "indexed" with a scan tool.

Another problem I have been running into more frequently lately than before is cracked cylinder heads on the 5.2L and 5.9L. I haven't seen it as much on the 3.9L. A compression test may or may not reveal if they are cracked. If the porcelain insulator on any of the spark plug electrodes were cracked in the old plugs, or signs of coolant on the plugs, it may very well be a cracked cylinder head.

Sometimes, all we can do it R&R the heads after we tried many other things and inspect them. Most of thetime I cna see them with my naked eye, but sometimes I have to send them out for magna-fluxing to detect. If they are cracked it will be right through the valve seats that are machined into the heads, which makes it sometimes difficult to detect as cylinder temp can expend or contract smaller cracks.

Another problem I have seen, although not as often any longer, is the pan gasket on the intake manifold blows out and leaks vacuum internally. To check this, remove the PCV from the valve cover and block off both the PCV and the grommet in the valve cover. Next, remove the breather hose from the air cleaner and put your thunb over the hose. It should build pressure, even if a small amount. If you feel vacuum, the gasket is blown and the intake manifold must be removed and the pan gasket on the bottom of the manifold replaced (along with the intake manifold gasket.)

It's ones like this that cause so many of us to either go bald or early gray, LOL.

Answer 3

There is a cable that runs from the interior heater switch to one of the two heater hoses on the right side of the engine toward the firewall. The two hoses actually go inside the firewall to the heater core. ( two black hoses that look like a garden hose) This cable opens and closes the valve on the heater hose that allows hot water to enter the heater core. Sometimes they come off the valve where it hooks into the hose. Sometimes the cable breaks and sometimes they get rusted up and the cable kinks. Check it out. You might have to take it apart, loosen up the cable with a few drops of oil and It wouldn't hurt to oil the valve to make sure everything is moving smoothly. If you can't fix it right now then just locate the valve where it hooks into the heater hose and use a pair of pliers to turn the valve on. You may have to take the cable off the valve to get it to stay open. That should take care of it for you. The more you open the valve the more heated water gets into the heater core, so you might want to open in only about half way or 3/4. Usually it's the valve that goes bad which causes the cable to come off or kink. You can get a new valve at any auto parts store for under $10 Good luck.

Answer 4

All these people have good answers another thing that may be causing your headache "" did on mine""' is the idle air intake valve which is loocated directly behing the throttle body assuming this is the 5.2 liter motor, the valve is held by a couple of torques head bolts and tends to get carbon deposits on it causing it to stick closed and it will cause your engine to run like garbage and actually stall out.

Answer 5

hi there..... have you checked the fuel pump..... it may be on its way to fuel pump heaven... It may have an intermitant fault... when you accelerated it couldnt increase the gas thus... loss of power...
Again when you set off the put put and then back fire.... too little gas it couldnt fire on one cycle and then it had two much gas hence the back fire......
We have a Yukon... my wife complained at me for months because of the same thing... but when i drove the car it didnt do it... then it became a pig to start... and finally wouldnt start... we had the fuel pump changed and bingo... the problem was solved...
I hope this helps
Good luck

Answer 6

i have seen two things that would cause this that the computer would not diagnose on it,and that was a bad converter,and also a bad timing chain and gears in it,the computer wont diagnose those two things really good,and the timing is usually the cause of it,they can check this by lining the marks up,and seeing where the piston is at on it,that has been one of the major causes i have ran across,good luck on it.

Answer 7

replace the filter(s) check the output pressure or replace the fuel pump i got a 89 dekota did the same thing good luck

Answer 8

have you recently changed gas stations? might be bad gas, and an octane booster might fix you up. try the cheap stuff first, before you spend an arm and a leg at the mechanic!

Answer 9

Fuel pump going out.

Answer 10

check engine light on? sounds like bad gas, needs fuel filter, or emissions trouble.