To me anyway. 95 Dakota Sport 5.2L 2WD, no engine codes.

I bought it in April and it had the cold weather idle issue. IAC replacement fixed it up and it's been running great. Yesterday it quit suddenly on my wife and would start again, but die immediately. After sitting a bit, it started and ran ok till she got home. Today, I took it out and it seemed fine until it just quit on me as I was pulling into a parking lot.

At first it would restart immediately, but would die just as fast. I tried starting it with more gas and it quit from 1500rpm. That was it for a while a Helpful dodge owner came buy and check for fuel pump noise for me, and it was running. Also had fuel pressure at the rail. Coil wires are clean. After scratching our heads I was able to start it and drive back home (about 6 miles), holding the idle up at stop signs just in case. I caught the tach drop to 1000 and then jump right back to 1800 at one point in the trip. The engine didn't seem to change pitch when it happened, and there was no perceptible change in speed.

I just tried letting it warm up from idle in the driveway. It sits at about 500, but would intermettantly drop for a sec. accompanied by the engine missing. I then held it at 1400 and it immediately started cycling between 1200 and 1400 back and forth. When it was cold it didn't do this, but it would miss occasionally as I revved the engine. I hate to add that I'm detecting some rotten egg odor which was never present before.

I lowered the rpm to 1000 and here's where it gets wierd. It cycled about 200 rpm again, but I could actually feel the gas pedal moving back and forth. In other words, more pressure on my foot as the rpm dropped, and less as it went back up.

I spent quite a few minutes proving to my self that I wasn't crazy. I do sometimes see the tach twitch fast than the engine could possibly change. I disconnected the battery and cleaned the terminals as they needed it pretty bad anyway, and I wondered if resetting the PCM would make any difference. It didn't. Any idea what this could be?

 

If I remember right a rotten egg smell can be a clogged Catalytic converter. Which could cause your problems. One other possibility is the fuel pump or pressure, did you verify with a fuel gauge that it was the correct pressure? Vacuum leaks is another.

 

I don't have a pressure gauge, and I'm trying to limit my driving until I have an idea what's going on. The exhaust system is not original, and doesn't look that old, but there's a definite smell if I start it with the door open. Not strong, but there.

Now. How does a clogged cat cause the car to not be able to run, and then in 20 min.s or so let it run again? My wife drove 40 min.s on the highway after getting it going again for example. Seems like it would stay clogged? Oh, and I tried rapping the converter and it's solid as a rock. no noises at all.

Forgot to mention that I check the splices under the PDM, and they are all covered in shrink tubing, and look good. Moving the wires around while the car was running didn't make any difference. I also tried swapping the A/C relay with the ASD relay. No difference.

 

Well my wife decided to chance it since she couldn't get a ride to work. She had no trouble, but she said it was running a little rougher than usual.

It was also about 10 degrees cooler then it was when it was giving us trouble, Temps have been going over 90 recently. It's 91 now, so it will be interesting if she gets home without trouble. Think this could be a hint, or just coincidence? Could a bad O2 sensor cause these problems? That would possibly explain what sounds like a rich condition.

I'm unemployed, and we're very short on money, so I have to make my purchases count, which is why I'm trying to get as much help as possible first. I'll be buying a fuel pressure gauge this evening in any case.

 

I had a fuel pump on a Dodge Van that was not running right, and it took a shop 6 hours running the engine to get it to do something, it was the fuel pump. My point is that even if your fuel pressure gauge says its fine, it may not be, you need to see what the pressure is when it does its dieing and sputter thing. Good luck.

Also, Crazy said to look at vacuum leaks, I am thinking I have one of those and I dont think it is from a line, you may want to check beyond lines and check the gaskets somehow.

 

Don't I know it! I've been trying to leave the truck idling for a while, but so far it's behaving it's self! No smell, no trouble. I hate intermittant issues. Did I temporarily "fix" a splice moving the harness, did cleaning the batter terminals help? Who knows. My wife did say that it's running a little rough still, but after all the power was cut to the PCM, so it has to relearn the engine.

I feel like I have a 10 ton weight dangling overhead just waiting to drop.

Thanks for the advice in any case peoples!

 

i hope you get answer my 92 dodge dodge dakota ran fine for about 2 miles cut off at light would not start act like it was flooded. would start if you held to the floor but shut down as soon as you take foot off gas. pull home 3 weeks ago start it cold every day runs for 10 minutes starts sounding like its sucking air through iac really hard shuts down. will start back if you hold pedal to floor shuts down as soon as you take foot off gas pedal. got new throttle gasket clean throttle body new distibuter cap rotor button new fuel filter pump about 6 months old. can sensor be tested i dont want buy 150 in sensors and iac and that not be problem did you find your problem

 

If I remember right, holding the pedal down like that turns off the fuel pump, so it makes sense that would work if the engine is flooding, and why it stops again when you take your foot off. Bad pressure regulator?

It's running fine for now, so I don't know what may be wrong. I have to check tonight if the rpm is still oscillating. I remember that the EGR could cause this on an old chevy s10 I had, but I don't know if that applies here too.

 

I lived in alabama prior to invading the north....... Vapor lock??? Next time it acts stupid, release the pressure on the fuel rail. BE VERY,VERY,VERY CAREFUL>>> I could be wrong but it sounds like the same problem my ex-girlfriend used to have with her truck.

 

+1 to that crazy. The rotten egg smell is because the catalytic converter is overheating and burning up the guts inside the cat. When that happens you have either a very rich fuel mixture or too much raw fuel going down the tailpipe. I had the exact same problem when I bought my truck and I ended up replacing the fuel pump and have had no problems since then. A pump costs roughly $200, which also includes a new filter & fuel pressure regulator assembly.