I just took a (5 1/2 hr) trip up north and i noticed having some issues on hills going over 65. somtimes it would stay at about 2.2k rpm, or when it would shift i would have it floored and it would max out at about 3300 RPM, Very steep hills i would lose speed, semi steep hills i could gain speed still, but very slowly.

This is my first truck so i dont know if this is common in a v6 truck (esp as heavy as the dakotas are)

Is this common? RPM's show up to 7k, why wont it go above 3.3k -3.4k rpm?

Any ideas?

Thanks !

well, most likely a clogged cat will do that. if the truck is stock it should pull higher in the rpm range. did you notice any pinging or back firing?

When I first got my dakota, at 17k, the cats were pretty close to clogged. At about 22k the dealership replaced them under warranty. Of course they kept ordering the wrong parts and it took a week to do the job.

i didnt notice any back fireing, but i also have had an issue now that i think of it where i step on gas (this SOMTIMES happens but not often) and it will barely accelerate, and ill floor it, then all of a sudden it will shoot up to almost 7km rpm and ill have to hurry adn release the gas peddle

if this sounds like a cat, do you have any idea about warrentys? The book that came with it doesnt mention any warrentys on emissions, i have almost 76k miles on, and as i said a 2005 dakota SLT v6

thanks for your help

I have 30k and find that it will somtimes hesitate when I first accelerate, is this possibly the cat? (Sorry I’m not the best with engines, cat is short for?)

its the v6

running the V6

Throttle position sensor? If the ECU / engine / trans doesn't know where the gas pedal is, I'm sure it would act pretty strange. No check engine lights though?