Ello DF member, new member as of today. Been a frequent reader of the DF since purchasing my 03 Dakota , even before buying it actually :P

Well to the point : 2003 Dodge Dakota V6 3.9L 27,500 miles on it. Bought it as a 2nd time trade in from Family Dodge in Philadelphia PA. Dakota ran like a champ for the first 2 wks or so than outta the blue on evening it just died pulling into parking lot. No warningsno stalling no nothing just died. Wouldnt stay running less I feathered the gas (kept the RPMs up over 1000). Left the Dakota there overnite ,called dealership, told me they couldnt pick it up till the next morning. SO by chance I went by the parkinglot to make sure it was still there or didnt have a fat illegal parking ticket on it. I decide to give it a try firing up - starts right up and stays running. I leave it running for half hr, stays running. Drove it home , went to work called Dodge. Service rep tells me to bring it down that Sat. So I did, all he did was drive it around the area for half hr came back said nothings wrong. I asked why did my almost brand new truck just die like that , rep tells me coulda been clogged injector, clogged fuel filter, low battery. Proceeds to tell me cant do anything since no warning lights went off on the dash. To make long story short - that was 2 months ago hasnt happened since. But now here's where the fun begins ....

Few months (1.5 months or so), Dakota starts to feel sluggish. No pickup. Normally doesnt rev up to over 3000 RPMs unless I have my foot buried in the gas. Now Dakota revs to almost 3000 RPMs just getting to 20 mphs. Takes almost a half a cityblock to reach 25 mph with my fooot half in the gas. No way thats normal! Take Dakota back to dealership, told the same load of crap - clogged injector, might be the airfilter, intake might be leaking. rep even has the ***** to tell me its MY responsiblity to figure out whats wrong! Told me to spray 2+2 around the intake and see if it sucks it in. IF does, then I have an intake leak. Isnt that THEIR job? I DO have a warranty!

So anyway.. I do some research (maily here on DF), came up with a few suggestions to figure out whats wrong. Ran fuel injector cleaner thru the Dakota on fulltank of 89 octane. Dakota ran even worse than it already was till tank went dry. So back to the dealership; warranty guy tells me the only way their service reps can actually DO anything to my Dakota is if any warning lights come on. Says Dodge wont allow the reps to diagnose problems by ear/sight , there has to be an error code issued for them to do anything (under warranty as I understand it)

Now the Dakota is really running pathetically. No pickup whatsoever, trans fells like its missing a gear or not shifting at al. Try getting on I-95 and finding out your truck refuses to stay doing 60ish. By this time Ive had it with Family Dodge, call another Dodge dealership. This one wont even look at the Dakota claiming since its not a NEW Dodge Dakota , they cant look at it. Turns out this one isnt a 5 star Dodge dealership or whatever. Anyway, back to whats wrong with the Dakota..

Im really pulling my hair out there. Dakota is 4 yrs old with less than 30k miles on it. Not even a worktruck.. Daily driver with limited amounts of actual hauling. I havent dragraced it and/or beat it. Spun the tires a few times but thats the slickyear Eagle LS's fault and my right foots.

Im going try changing the pulgs, wires, Sepertine belt maybe run some Sea Foam thru it. Any other ideas to help figure out what the good god is going on with this Dakota?????

Thanks for any help in advance. ANd sorry for the long winded ranting post but as I said, Im at a loss here. Dealership isnt being much of a help and I cant afford to take it to them or my mechanic to hold onto till figure out whats wrong

 

Who is your warranty thru??? Im assuming its an aftermarket warranty? read the papers that came with the warranty and what is and is not covered just to know. Then i would call the company that issues the warranty and let them know the dealership wont look at it. Maybe they can suggest somewhere to take it. I have used my aftermarket warranty and no problems. No trouble codes, they took it in and diagnosed it and fixed it and off i went no troubles. Also i would call and demand to speak to a manager or the owner of the business and explain it to him. Thats very poor buisiness practices if you ask me. BE PERSISTANT!!!

 

Sounds like a tps (Throttle postioning Sensor) this will cause the engine not to stay running and the transmission to feel like its missing a gear.

 

I do believe I have whats left of the factory warranty - 7 yrs 70,000 mile or something like to that tune. I know its no longer a full warranty since its a 2 time trade in / used vechile. I have Limited warranty ; Powertrain ie engine, trans, rearend with a 100 Debuctible. Anything else isnt covered.

Ive already spoken with the mgr of Family Dodge, put me in touch with their warranty person again. Considering filing a Lemon law claim against Family Dodge if this Dakota gets worse. Cause whatever is wrong with it is probably going lead to future problems, more money to fix it which I cant afford.

01dodgedriver - thanks for the tip/info. Dakota stays running just runs really really bad/idles poorly, no pickup atop of the trans feeling like missing shifts. I have the Dodge Dakota manual hanging around here somewhere so I guess I could find where the TPS is if need be. Guess I'll hafta look into perhaps pricing a TPS myself since dealership is giving me the runaround