So I have been working on my mom's '97 Dakota V6 3.9L Automatic. I am having some issues though. When I turn it on and put it in reverse it shuts off. It does that a few times then I give it some gas and it finally backs up but continues to try and cut out. I drove around town for a while then parked it an cut her off. When I turn it back on and go in reverse it will go with out even having to put my foot on the gas. I am truly stumped on what it could be. Any ideas?

 

Have you checked the obvious things first ? like loose connections or cracked/split vacuum lines ? It could also be a bad or sluggish IAC valve (it`s at the back of the throttle body ) , i just saw a thread here, while looking for something else ,on doing a quick check on one of those , but i dont remember where it was , oh , and welcome to the board !!!

 

Hey there thanks for the suggestions. I did try out the common things and that was the culprit. I cleaned the IAC Valve this morning along with the throttle body and that didnt do the trick either. I noticed when I turned it on this morning before working on it it stumbled when turning it on. Its bugging me that I cant figure this out.

 

I also have a `97 with the 3.9 & auto , went through my share of problems with it but overall i really enjoy my truck ! Have you checked the fuel pressure yet ? I also had an occasional no start ( fire and then stall ) and a stalling problem going into gear (mostly reverse) with mine awhile back but it would always restart and do fine from there on , and after i replaced the IAC valve i dont have those problems anymore . Long story short i found that problem after fixing a " turn key and nothing " problem , which after replacing the trans switch , ign switch , relays , checking and cleaning all the wire connections i could find , it ended up being a bad starter ,,,, after i put the brand new starter on , it would drag after it started the engine , turned out that the new starter was turning the engine faster than it would idle and not let the starter gear retract !!! thats how i found out that the IAC valve was bad , never suspected it before hand , i tried spraying cleaner on it first but that didnt work so i pulled it off the throttle body and found that the plunger was stuck in place , it wouldnt budge either direction !! When i got a new one and put it on , it was an immediate improvement , now when i start it , the engine rpms jump up for a few seconds and then drop down to a steady idle the way it`s supposed to do . so maybe you have the same problem or maybe you dont ,, hard to diagnose with out being there and looking at it

 

Have you tried checking the tranny fluid...

 

Well I got good news and bad news. Good news is the reason it turned stalled out when In reverse was because of a bad crankshaft sensor.

Bad news is when I try I and start it it takes for ever for it to get to an idle. When it idles it idles like its going to go out but it doesn't. When I am at a stop sign it takes a little while for it to get going and when I get to a hill I can have the pedal to the floor and it wont switch gears.

I also noticed when I changed the Spark plugs they where covered in black soot and some had gas on them.

Lastly the Oil Pressure Gauge wont budge it stays at 0 it has been like this for a while but dont know how to fix.

Thanks for any suggestions.