1998 Dodge Dakota 3.9L V6,auto, 2WD 150,000 miles… Have an issue that randomly while driving the motor will “rev up”. When I mean random I mean in a 30 mins trip maybe does it the entire trip and on the next 30 min trip does it on for 5 mins and never does it again. The only constant is that it only happens in OD and 80% of the time when a bump is hit in road it will “rev up”. Have changed gas stations to rule gas out.
Before I take it to a local dealer or garage to hook up to the PCM and see if there is an error code need ideas if it is something I can fix. I have been told everything from fuel filter, fuel injection, bad sensor, and the dreaded transmission.
Sorry, but it’s the “dreaded transmission”. You have a clutch that’s supposed to lock the torque converter at speed, creating a hard connection. It sounds like that’s not functioning.
I’m not a tranny guy, so I’ll leave the details to one more knowledgable, but anytime the engine revs without taking the vehicle with it, the hard connection has been lost.
OK I am hoping it is something else but there is a chance it is not. You see I DO get a boost of power when the engine revs up. Only slightly does the engine revs. Example is randomly RPM Jumps from 1800 to 2100 then back down. Also since we finally had a cold day here today it seemed to be worse. I am leaving for a week long vacation in a few weeks and will leave my truck with a repair shop to look over it and see what is the matter. Just gonna try this great site first to see what the issue could be.
Also please note this also…recently had a new water pump and radiator installed since the factory ones went bad. Did find a small leak near the overflow hose of the radiator and a loose bolt but this was repaired quickly.
I see that this post is about 3 weeks old and you probably have done something by mow, but my bet is that is is just downshifting. The torque converter clutch should just release but Dodge has a bad habit of downshifting to 3rd gear instead, thus the engine revs up and you get a burst of power.