I am going to try and describe this as best as possible. I have an 01 Dakota
2wd 3.9While I am on the highway going 50-70mph,I don't notice it in the city,the truck will start to slow down,you can feel it,but it seems the rpms don't change,then a few seconds later you can feel it accelerating again like I hit the gas harder or something,but I don't move my foot.
I am thinking it could be a fuel pump or filter, but has this model got any other strange flaws that might cause this?
Could be as simple as the A/C compressor turning on and off as needed, if so it is normal.
Or could be an oxygen sensor going south, causing overly lean fuel mix for a short time.
Or a number of other things.
Any pattern to the behavior? Only when warming up, then clears itself? Check for trouble codes lately?
I havent had any check engine lights yet. I only notice it on the highway right now,I don't drive far enough between stops in the city to notice it. Its very strange,im sure since it's me it will be something that costs thousands to fix. :( Might be time to consider trading it in.
Throttle position sensor?
Never heard of that lol. Is there anything I can do to clean all the sensors off? Carb cleaner,etc? I know absolutely nothing about any of this stuff.
I'm not too familiar with the 3.9L engine so I don't know which sensors can be cleaned. On most electronic fuel injected vehicles the throttle position sensor tells the computer how far you are pushing the gas pedal down. The computer uses that information and signals from some other sensors to determine how much fuel to give the engine. If the throttle position sensor is sending a flaky signal to the computer it might think you are moving the gas pedal up and down when you are holding it steady.
Not everything that causes temporary poor running logs an error code, and not all error codes light the MIL. There's a whole heirarchy involving severity, duration, number of times it happened that I don't know all the details of. I do know you can learn a lot with an OBDII interface pod like AutoTap or ProScan and a laptop computer. My pod has paid for itself in saved dealer labor cost, and I already had the computer anyway. The local AutoZone and probably a lot of other similar parts places has a more basic code reader that they will plug in for free, might be a good starting point.
Well since my repeated prayers for a lightning strike on my dakota weren't answered,I traded it in on a nice import model, I lost my ass,but still came out ahead.
The AC was bad,on the way home today I stopped at a stop sign,it started sputtering,had 3 huge bangs from the engine compartment like a sledgehammer hitting cast iron,I decided it was time to put it out of its misery.
I hate to abandon American made cars,but until they stop being heaps of crap,I am not spending my hard earned money on them anymore.This from a guy whose father worked for ford for over 30 years and just retired. The Ranger has been a good running vehicle,but of course 2 months after the 3 month warranty expired,it blew an electric window motor and the airbag alarm light came on,calling the dealer and Ford themselves who I had never ever made a claim with on the warranty simply received blow offs, the us automakers simply don't give a shit anymore and I am done with them.
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