I need some help, I've got a 2000 durango 4x4 5.9 ltr, it drove fine one day, the next day it stalled & started missing when you tried to rev it up & was hard to start, it would idle but sometimes wanted to shut off, if you push the gas real quick it just misses real bad, I'm able to drive it if I barely push the gas, & keep it under 40 mph took it to a shop they diagnosed it said it had a bad pcm & I had to take it to the dealer, took it to the dealer they said bad pcm (12 unreadable codes) & clogged cat converter & possibly muffler clogged, dealer changed the pcm, went to pick it up ran the same missed real bad, hard start & stalles out when you pushthe gas quick, thedealer told me I needed to get it towed to a muffler shop for a cat & muffler & that they had cut the exhaust right infront of the cat & it ran fine. So Ilimpedit over to a muffler shop had them put on a cat & flowmaster muffler, once that was done same ****, went back to dealer, they said needed to clear the codes should run fine, cleard the checkengine light which was the upstreamO2 sensor, still ran like ****,the service dept was closing sothey told me to change the 02 sensorbought an upsteam02 sensor the one for the air/fuel ratio, put it on same ****. I don't know what to do next, I guess I've got to take it back to them. At first I thought it was the fuel pump but they checked that & said everything passed. Does anyone have any idea on what thiscould be? So far I've bought the PCM for$630,cat & muffler $240, 02 sensor $110 total of $980 and it still runs the same as it didthe day I drove it to the stealership. I'm all out of idea's so if anyone can can help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

360D:
Wow, that is a lot of parts swapping and no improvement. I can understand your frustration.
How old are the cap, rotor, and plugs?? Just a little moisture or othercorrosion in a distributor cap can cause this kind of running problems.

Ihave to admit that my first thought was fuel starvation. Hopefully they put a fuel pressure guage on the rail and verified that the pressure was up to snuff. Strange that all those codes were unreadable!!!!

Another thought. I know our D's can do really weird things when the battery is on its way out. Test the battery and rule that out.

Give these things a go 360D and get back to us.

Don

 

The first thing they did was check the fuel pressure eveything checked out & passed & the first thing I did was put my tester on the battery with with the engine on & off rulled that out. It just rolled over a hundred thousand miles, I bought it with 96K in October checked the spark plugs when I bought it they looked brand new. Also the first shop I took it to did the same thing they said the plugs & wires were new also.

 

hey, new to forum. A few things to check. The IAC on the throttle body, take it off and check it and clean it. Also I know you said the wires are new , but just check and make sure they are not arcing on something. At this point the shops and the dealer just cant be trusted to know what they are talking about. I dont really want to encourage blind parts changing, but there is also the TPS and the DOWNSTREAM O2 sensor. Good luck!

 

Okay... call me stupid but when this works, sue the dealer for your money back on all that other crap.

Get a new battery.

The battery voltage aids the PCM even when everyone thinks the alternator is doing the work. Nope. The wiring isn't set up that way. A bad battery and you will have tremendous drivability issues, especially at low RPMs and start up.

Let me know how great I am when this works and I'll give all the credit to the dozens who have experienced the same issues collectively telling thier stories on the Durango Owners Club.

Again, get a new batttery. You have already spent all that cash, whats a few more bucks if I'm wrong ($5 says I'm not.)

Best of luck.

IndyDurango

 

Even though I already tested the battery I'm willing to try anything at this point. I'll go try that right now I've got a Optima yellow top battery sitting in my closet fully charged, that I was going to use as a dual battery set up on my Jeep. I'll let you know if it works, thanks for the info.

 

I went through alot of crap with my Durango (same specs as yours)trying to fix it myself. Finally took it in to a local shop(since the dealer had no clue). They cleaned the the IAC valve and it runs fine now.

 

I agree Indy. The battery does weird **** in these durangos. I would clean the TB and all associated parts too.

 

Indy:
Thanks for the back up on the battery comment.

360D:
I understand that when you tested the battery it probably did pass, but I have come to learn that unlike the cars of 20 years ago (argh, it scares me to think I am old enough to say that) , todays cars with an average of 5 or more computers do not work well when the battery is even slightly on the fritz.
Gone are the days of simplicity like my first car and hot rod (72 Camaro). The most complex thing there for me was theHolley 1850 carb. If the timing was right, you had spark and fuel it was going to run.

They now have computers controling even the darned dome light. Someday they will bring about the 42 volt electrical systems they have been talking about, it will be a whole new ball game all over again.

Don

 

Ok so my Optima didn't have enough *** to get it started so I gave up on the battery. When I put the new 02 sensor on it backfired through the intake & started smoking, It would still crank but I just thought this was weird. Took it back to the dealer on Sunday. They then said the coil was no good, they changed the coil, cap, rotor & all spark plugs & didn't charge me said it was covered by my warranty.They said it was ready. Went to pick it up, runs way better, no moremissing, revs up fine, runs good, so I take it for a drive, half a mile down the road it stalls, cranks right up runs fine, drive a little further same thing &I notice whenI start to slow downwhen it tries to downshiftis whenit stalls. Took it back to dealer. Today they said a lot of carbonin thethrottlebodie, probably from the backfire b/c I cleaned the throttle bodie when I bought it. They cleaned the IAC sensor& said they wanted to keep it one more day just to make sure it was fixed. Also Inoticed when I start it up it sounds weirdlike it's making a howling noise, soI asked the tech about it,he said he heard the samething he thinks the water pump is about to go, luckily it's covered under warrenty so they might be changing that out tomorrow. I hope to get it back tomorrow. I am glad I got the warranty when I bought it b/c since I've had it (October 06) this is everything that has been replaced, Steering column both shafts, ball joints, control arms, electronic door lock, Ac condenser, PCM, catalytic converter, muffler, coil, plugs, cap & rotor I'm sure I'm forgeting something, seems like a lot of new parts, After all these new parts It should be good for another hundred K! (then there's the tranny) I'll cross my fingers. Thanks for all the suggestions.