help with dakota

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74valiant

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i have been looking online and havent found anything, so im asking you guys. i have an 89 dakota 3.9 auto. it drove great till the other day when i pulled up to a light and it started chugging and stalled. since then it has been doing this anytime i come to a stop. it feels like its a manual trans and im not pushing the clutch in when it stalls. if i put it in neutral at a stop, it will stay running, and then ill hit the gas a little and drop it in gear and it will drive. when tryin to get in in gear i have to rev it up a little to get it to not stall, but i cant get it into reverse at all without it stalling.



any ideas???
 
Sounds like the clutch in the lockup converter is not releasing. Unplugging the harness going to the converter fixes this on a GM product.
 
grumpuscreature said:
Sounds like the clutch in the lockup converter is not releasing. Unplugging the harness going to the converter fixes this on a GM product.
Click to expand...
A quick look at my parts book tells me you might want to be careful in unplugging the connector. If it has 3 wires it may also control the overdrive as well. It looks to be on the left hand side close to the valve body. Unplugging this may tell you if the solenoid is bad but I would only use this for diagnosis.
 
i thought it might be the convertor also, but was unsure. thankk for the help guys. any other suggestions would be appreciated.
 
If its an 89 Dakota it has a 3.9 non-magnum and a a-904 tranny probably. Most of the 89s didn't have lockup converters or OD. It also has the old MOPAR throttle body injection setup and thats probably your problem. Especially with an old engine. They get gummed up and the idle control doesn't keep the idle up when its in drive at idle. Try doing a good cleanup of the TB unit and run a couple cans of injector cleaner thru it. Will probably take care of the problem for a while. If the TB is original you should be in Riplys believe it or not since those things usually failed 2-3 times before the warranty was up. I bought 2 89 Dakotas new for my business and other than the injection setup they were great little trucks.

Larry
 
i have a 4 speed push button o.d. tranny with lockup convertor i beleive. the egr is plugged and has been since i bought it. ive read about the 3.9's getting intake leaks and gumming up, so i checked the t.b. and looked into the intake but it appeared to be pretty clean. the carb is original also from what i know but looks good. i just bought a tps sensor because that was the only code showing, but that didnt help. ive had someone else suggest the iac, but havent got that far yet and would prefer to not go buying everything that could be a possibility. it doesnt feel like the engine itself is stalling, more like the trans is putting to much pressure on it at low rpm and it cant handle it. it stalls somewhat violently. by the way, ive already posted on the durango-dakota forums, but there wasnt to much response.
 
Stalls like you are driving a stick-shift car and don't push the clutch in when you come to a stop?????

Converter is not unlocking.
 
Join the DML, Dakota Mailing List, and post your question. I won't say results are guaranteed, but I would be quite surprised if you don't get some response.
C
 
so i ended up replacing the convertor and all is well. have a few noises i need to investigate, but nothing major.


thanks for the help guys.


this forum is one of the best car forums ive been a part of. you guys are always quick to help and i appreciate it!!!
 
FIXED!?! Great!

What board did you join?
 
the durango-dakota forums. they had some sugestions, but nothing very useful.
 
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