I am at my whits end here. My truck wont idle properly and stall at stops. I have researched this to no avail on the internet. I have replaced the fuel pump, both O2 sensors, a gas cap, checked for vaccum leaks, ect. My next steps are the throttle postion sensor and the IAC valve. Can anyone help?
What lead you to replace the O2 sensors and the fuel pump?
Have you checked for any error codes? If so what did you find? (the actual codes like [P1234] When was the last time you replaced the fuel and air filters? How about spark plugs and wires?
Okay, this is a long shot, but who knows?
I had this problem on my car (not a Dodge), so I took it to a shop to have checked out. Prior to the problem I had taken out the instrument cluster to replace a light bulb and just left it out until I’d find the right bulb. Then I got the stalling problem. I didn’t put 2 and 2 together to get 4 (I got something like 3.45984), so it didn’t occur to me that the instrument cluster had anything to do with my new stalling problem. More specifically, I plugged the instrument cluster back in but didn’t bother with the speedo because it’s such a pain to plug and unplug that I didn’t want to mess with it more than once. The shop informed me that the computer reads off of the speedometer (which makes no sense since there’s no “speed” to read when you’re sitting still), so my car would stall because the speedo wasn’t plugged in. One speedo plugged in and some diagnostics dollars later, the car ran fine.
To make a long story short (too late), there are all sorts of stupid – and seemingly insignificant – things that make your vehicle run properly. So make sure everything’s plugged in the way it should be even if you don’t think it needs to be.
Thanks for the replys.
OK so I went to my local auto parts store today and picked up an IAC valve ($77 bucks…ouch) and a TP sensor. I replaced both at the same time because they sit one on top of the other on the throttle body. It seems to have taken care of the problem. I had the truck on the diagnostic computer several times with mechanics and none of the codes it gave were actually specific to a paticular problem but only alluded to one of the systems in volved in the emitions & fuel system. All the mechanic seemed stumped and all the people seemed stumped on the internet so I got a Chiltons manual and started replacing stuff as I came accross new sugestions. And there you go.