I changed my water pump, T-stat, and serp belt, no failure just PM. I just kinda "winged" it since I've done my share of water pumps over the years. In fact, this was the easiest one I've done, once I figured out the fan clutch had right hand threads.

Anyway, since then It's been stalling intermittently when I come to a stop. We're talking out of 10 stops, it stalls once. I have double checked everything I did, no leaks, never any overheating. Have put about 150 miles on it since and has happened 4 times.

The only thing that comes to mind is a good bit of coolant came out when I pulled the old water pump. The radiator was drained, I guess just some excess in the block. I don't see anything electrical that could have got wet though.

Any ideas?

 

Maybe the IAC, because it work with coolant too.

 

Thats a possibility. It seems like the idle just falls out. The tach will be at 700, blip down to 500, then 700, then 500 and stall.

 

is your belt routed the right way the pump might be turning the wrong way

 

The throttle body does not have coolant running through it. Some vehicles yes, not the Dakota, at least my 05 did not. But I would still check out the IAC, maybe just a coincidence.

 

Correct, our trucks do not have coolant running to the IAC. I would not say that the coolant system is directly responsible for your target idle. However, the ECU uses perceived coolant temp as part of the fuel and ignition delivery....which is what it sounds like you are having.

 

Thanks guys, appreciate all the help. Funny thing is since I posted this thread it hasn't done it again (knock on wood). One thing of notice is my temp needle is riding slightly higher than before. I did go with the stock(195) stat, so not sure why it's higher. The idle seems to be slightly lower than before also.

donkeypunch, what you're saying makes sense. wonder if my new t-stat is causing problems? or maybe the ecu just needs to learn to live with this higher temp?

 

Low idle rpm and occasional stall shouldn't have much to do with the work you did, but it could relate to a very wide gap in the plugs. It doesn't take much to check this and it does happen over time - the high energy going through the plugs will burn away quite a gap before you'll notice it (usually with occasional stalling).

 

Plugs are copper with 18,000 miles on them, they should still be good. Temp needle is now riding in the proper spot, have went 300+ miles without a stall now.

 

18000 miles can be a lot for a set of copper plugs and instead of guessing, it doesn't take that much time to have a look