Dang on gremilns
 

Hey, 2002 Dodge Dakota 3.9 133k miles auto trans. thought i had EVAP problem with the codes P0442 and misfire 1,2,3,5,6 replaced every vac hose no more check lights but still have a drivabuilty issue when i first start driving first gear shifts to second and the power band almost shifts into 3rd but looses all power it hesatates and misfires if I stop at a stop light it almost dies. take off and punch it it stumbles and has no power than like lighting a fire cracker it takes off than no more problems until i shut it off and it starts all over again. was told it might be the lower pan gasket on the intake ? anybody have any Ideas. Frist Dakota, I'm no stranger to turning a wrench Ive been building rock crawling jeeps for 20 years but this has me stumped.

Pull the air hat off of the throttle body and open the butterfly.

Shine a light down - if you see a lot of oil then your plenum gasket is bad. Very common problem on the magnums.

O2 sensors may be another area to look out for.

Thank you for the advice sxrsil3nt. I will give those suggestions a try.
Have a great day up north my friend.

Cheers brother!

Good luck with your truck and let us know if you've solved your issue.

If you're also losing oil I'd bet its the plenum gasket. I also suggested O2's since I had a nasty backfire similar to your description and after new plugs, wires, cap and rotor turns out it was the Bank 1 upstream sensor. No codes either.