Making my last efforts to try and solve this problem that has been going on for the past few years. I've searched all over the forums and Google and I have had zero luck. Here's the story:

96 Dakota, 104K miles, v6 Magnum. Idles around 700. After coming to stop (10 sec - 1 minute or so), the RPMs begin to bounce around and then the engine will basically stutter and then stall. The truck doesn't stall after putting in neutral or park. Sometimes when accelerating from a stop, the engine sounds choppy and sputters for a few seconds. I will let off of the pedal and allow the engine to catch up, then everything will continue as normal. The truck drives well on local highways 30-60 mph, but it seems to miss out or jump around while driving on the interstate. On the interstate the RPMs may bounce around (100 or so) and the truck will kind of jerk a bit, but very subtle.

3 mechanics have looked at it and have been unable to solve the problem. No codes come up problematic. We have replaced the IAC, IAT, MAP, TPS, muffler, spark plugs, oil rings, air filters, O2 sensors, trans fluid. We have used Seafoam Trans Tune and we did not have a problem with stalling for several months.

The fact that the trans tune helped has lead us to believe a possible trans problem but we were unsure of what else could be checked. Anyone have any ideas of anything else to check? Thanks in advance!

 

Fuel pump and or filter. I had a car do that exact thing and it was the check valve in the fuel line. Don't know if a 96 has a check valve to keep fuel from draining back but look into that too...bottom line surging and stuttering was fuel related in my case.

 

Along the lines of what robertmee is saying you might put the fuel pressure gauge on with a longer hose and snake it out to sit at the base of the windshield with the hood closed and drive it a bit watching for variations in pressure coincident with sputter. I haven't noticed my tach bounce but it regularly reads 200rpms low. So it might mean something or it might not, I don't think Chrysler spent much on them.

 

It just means it's out of calibration. Is to 200RPM low across the board, or 200RPM low at a specific speed? If the former, pulling/replacing the needle is your only cure, alas.

RwP

 

I'm not hijacking but to answer you Ralph, the RPMs are off by the reading on my MT2500. It does indicate its at 400 or < when it clearly has to be 600> to be idling so smoothly.

 

Mechanic said he has checked the fuel system and everything looked great, although he did not replace anything in there. His words were that a problem there would happen all of the time. Could possibly be a problem that just didn't present at that point in time thought. This truck is always a problem with the hybrid of the old motor and electronics mess they created.

 

I will give that a try. Thanks