I am out of ideas. I joined this Forum in hope that all this experience on this site might have had or heard about this problem and can give me a direction of what to do next. Thanks


92 Dakota 2wd 3.9l V6 MPI


Engine intermittently STALLS when braking . This seems to happen worse when braking in reverse and when the engine is not up to operating temperature.
Sometimes the stalls in reverse seem to temporarily take the engine to very low RPM and stops or the RPMs come back up and the engine comes back to idle.
In addition I hear the tires screech when this happens .


Here is what I have done and replaced:

1. Replaced fuel Filter
2. Replaced fuel Pressure Regulator’
3. Replaced Air Control Valve
4. Replaced MAP sensor
5. Replaced O2 sensor
6. Replaced Throttle Control Sensor (TPS)
7. Replaced Plugs and Wires
8. Replaced Entire Distributor
9. Replaced EGR Valve
10. Drained AT Fluid, Changed AT Filter, and refilled Fluid
11. Measured Fuel pressure on injection rail port (35-40) PSI. Also measured when problem occurred and it stayed between 35 & 40 PSI.

Replacing the distributor was the last thing I did because I discovered that there was a pool of oil in the distributor, I thought for sure this was the problem because ti made sense that maybe during braking the oil splashed on the rotor or distributor plug contacts and caused the stalling. This turned out not to be causing the problem.


Is it possible that this could be some sort of Transmission “lock up” problem that just occurs sometimes?
Do you have any other suggestion or tests I could do?

 

I'd recommend hooking a vacuum gauge up to see what the engine vacuum is, with a cold engine and a warmed-up one. Gauge should be cheap, in the $20 ballpark. Never had this problem with my Dakota, but did with an old Honda. Had multiple vacuum leaks.

 

That is something I really forgot about. I have measured everything else, but I never measured vacuum at hot and cold. I am willing to try anything and $20 is down in the noise compared to all the parts I've bought .
Thanks for the suggestion

 

Vacuum check and I noticed you didn't clean the throttle plate. I'd do both of those before I spend anymore money throwing parts at it.

I thought at first your were going Shakespeare on us. It is just after the Ides of October. Remember what happened to Julius Caesar in March back in 44 B.C.

 

Yea, I noticed that I miss spelled ideas but had trouble trying to find out how to edit the title. I was in a hurry and said to myself, heck just send it. Nobody is going to think I was going Shakespeare. This is a Dodge forum! ( I can't even get the "smilies to work)

 

Does it seem like the transmission is causing the engine to stall? Like the torgue convertor is not allowing the engine to idle where it should?

Mine has a stinky problem where the torque converter acts like a high stall unit and it lugs the engine idle down so far the oil pressure light will come on.

I think my torque converter is going bad, but I'm going to change the fluid first before I do anything drastic, like convert to MT.

Steve

 

I have a vacuum gauge coming tomorrow , so I can do the vacuum test.
I am leaning toward a Locked Converter Problem . In my latest series of tests I had the engine die on me as soon as I put it in reverse. I just started up the engine and it was idling at 800-900RPM and I put it in reverse and it just died. I go it to do this several times. Sometimes when I did this while applying a little gas the tires gave me a short squeal then engine went to very low idle chugging and then died. It sure seem like it was trying to drive the wheels . Am I chasing a rabbit down the hole?

 

Just saw your post after sending my latest one.
Since I have an A500 transmission that is totally electronic except for the OD , I am going to unplug the OD connector and see if this solves the problem. If not at least I will have eliminated the PCM or electrical short that could active the lockup. I guess it still could be a lockup problem but totally mechanical.

 

my last post should have said , totally mechanical except for the OD,

 

My first rule of life, never ever take anything, especially myself, to seriously. I could drone on like the teacher in "Ferris Beullers Day Off" or I can have fun with life. I prefer to enjoy life. Plus it annoys the dickens out of sour people that don't like others having a good time. As for the smilies, I just click on the smilie button then pick a smilie. Are you blocking pop ups?