Ok not long ago my 96 dakota, 3.9 V6, start having some problems when starting, like when it has sat for a couple of days it starts no problem and will idle around 600 to 700 rpms, after ran and warmed up it idles at 400 rpms, but the problem comes after its been warmed up, like couple hours after to like a day after its been ran it will try to start and if it does it wont hold an idle and dies, or it wont start, when it wont start i can get it to by pressing the gas all the way down but then it wont idle,i have to keep reving it and after long enough it will idle, i have changed the spark plugs since this started and there was a good bet of carbon on them but they were put in november and it was only ran little over thousand miles, i have changed the MAP and the TPS sensor on it but nothing has helped, the check engine light came one once and it was for the TPS sensor and thats why i changed it, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated thank you

 

Check your IAC (Idle Air Controller) that would my first guess.
Otherwise, I would look towards fuel pump. Which on this model are stuffed in the fuel tank. When was the last time the pump got replaced?or I would look for a vacuum leak. how many miles are on your DAK?
good luck, keep us posted.

 

I will have to look at the IAC, and i will have to check the fuel pump out, mine has between 1965xx miles on it

 

20K, is not bad. or 195K that would be too much.
I think IAC cost about $75, and I think there is a way to test them too.
good luck

 

Okay, I had similar problems that just cropped up one day on the way home from work. The truck started bucking and cutting out.

My truck is a 94 dakota sport with 174,000 miles on it. I checked the usual items and came to the conclusion through troubleshooting that the coil was going bad.

Unfortunately, this caused other problems. The shorted coil had somehow caused damage to the pick up coil in the distributor.

I replaced both and it ran a little better. But, I still could not get the idle to come above 400.

So, I got the manual out and started going through the possibilities.

I took the sensors out of the plenum and checked those out. The IAC was so corroded it fell apart in my hands. Replaced that with a new one and re-ran the testing phase.

Still could not get idle above 400. So, I cleaned the intake plenum, gave the truck a tune-up, plugs, wires, distributor, the works. Still same idle.

When it was warm it would sometimes idle as low as 300. Not good!

Took everything apart that could be dirty and cleaned it. Replaced a faulty MAP sensor, replaced several vacuum hoses, and cleaned and reseated the PCM connection.

Still same thing. Then I replaced the temp sensor and the mass airflow sensor.

Finally, the truck started running at 650 to 700 rpm at idle.

Still not sure if it was a combination of some or all sensors causing this. But, with a little time and perserverence I was able to get the truck to run correctly.