Bought this 99 durango 4x4 with the 5.2l motor. It currently has 113k miles on it. When we test drove it, it had a sputter or almost like a miss. After it warmed up it ran fine. On our 74 mile trip home things changed. Every time I left a stop it seemed like the engine was cutting out. After about 20 mile we pulled over and let it sit for a bit. When we went to leave it ran awesome. Not a problem. I stopped to get gas 30 miles later and as we were leaving the gas station it seemed to cut out again, and did so a couple times the rest of the trip. The previous owner had a stack of records from the day he bought it. He has stuck alot of money chasing this issue. New cap and rotor, distributor, plugs, wires, pcm, tb sensor, crank sensor, iac, ect. His records showed he has had it towed on many occasions which resulted in parts thrown at it. Is there any one that can give me suggestions?
Thanks Eric

I would test fuel pressure.

Edit: No stored codes?

I tried the the key on/off trick and it didnt work. Im going to see if I can borrow a code reader tomorrow. When we left it had no check engine light on. About half way home the engine light came on.

I can see if I can check fuel pressure but if its intermittent it would only show up when its having issues right?

Definitely find out what the code is. Many parts stores will read codes for free.

See what the code is and go from there, but it may still be worthwhile to check fuel pressure. It might not show anything until the problem is happening, like you said, but if it were just a little bit low, that might show up as an intermittent problem.

Could be the intake belly pan, mine finally sucked in and caused all kinds of havoc. Easy enough to check too.

fuel filter---fuel pump...

Does it seem like it's running rich when it sputters? I have found the wiring at the temperature sensor, down by the thermostat housing, cracked and peeling away. When this shorts the two wires together the computor thinks the engine temp is like 40 degrees below 0. This causes a very rich condition that gets progressively worse. Also if the thermostat is sticking open the adaptive memory throws more fuel at it because it's too cold for too long. Over time this also creates an overly rich condition.

I followed him home after he bought it, there is no black smoke or any other indication the truck has issues until it slows down dramatically. When you drive it, it feels like it is continually shutting down and restarting, or has a dead miss. Might mess up for a couple miles then runs great, before it messes up again. Might run great for 2 miles or 30 miles. Doesn't seem to be any consistent circumstances or any forewarning. There have been a lot of parts thrown at this thing in the last 20,000 miles. Fortunately he is not into it too deep. Gene

List of replaced parts/service from previous owner

1.trans filter, gasket, fluid
2.battery
3.dist cap, rotor, wiper arm
4.wire harness to pcn, right fog lamp
5.a/c compressor work
6.wire harness from pdc to fuel pump
7.pdc control center assy and wire harness
8.idol air control motor, striker assy for hood, two regulators and window switch, tb cleaning, t-stat, gasket and coolant
9.fuel pump assy, module fu(?) central timer module
10.battery
11.plugs, wires, cap, rotor, anti lock brake sensor, wheel speed sensor, gear case cover, drive pinion seal, left and right back wheel cyl, right rear window reg, intake man gask
12. muffler, tailpipe, and clamp
13 throttle pos sensor
14.spark plugs, cleaned combustion chamber, ignition second cable, dist cap and rotor
15. battery, alignment serv, inner tie rods left and right

Each number represents what was all done on each visit. No particular order. Total of $14,734! all done at dealerships.

The prev owner has chased this problem for atleast 50k miles. If it was water wouldnt it work itself out by now? Also they replaced the fuel pump so I imagine they would have cleaned the tank out?

We went to check the code and my uncle accidently cleared the code. Im going to have to drive it but first need plates and insurance.

My uncle told me he had a friend that had a durango that was doing the same thing and it ended up being the coil. Dont think that has been replaced yet lol

Two things come to mind......those vehicles had EGR issues, and rough run/hesitation was a symptom....and a worn intermediate gear/distributor shaft bushing in the block will cause random misfire.
I mean....what the heck!!!...with the list of stuff thrown at the vehicle, might as well try those.

Eliminate the intake, its a 30 second check.

block off the PCV port and see if the breather is pulling a vacuum.

It starts up with no problem. I plan on changing the coil tomorrow. I will also check the plenum gasket while Im at it. Thanks for the replies so far.

Let us know what the code is when you can get it, Eric.

sure will just have to wait for it to go off again lol. I should be getting plates and insurance on it tomorrow and will drive it then. Unfortunately I wont drive it much till next week. Going on a mini vacation thursday.

Dont rule out the O2s.We had a Jeep and Dodge truck that would pretty much do the same.Even in open loop they did it.O2s never threw a code but with a scanner while driving you could watch them whack out.Yeah they arent supposed to affect anything in open loop but they did.Find someone with a scanner and watch the live data.Rocky

I got plates and insurance on it today. I put a new coil on because it was cheap and easy. Drove it for about 15 miles and the check engine light came back on. The code is po132 which is the bank 1 o2 sensor. I might replace the catalytic converter along with the sensor just to rule it out. Plus it looks like most of the exhaust is fairly new except the cat.

Eric, if you have a can of oven cleaner handy you can take out both O2's and try cleaning them first before replacing. Over time they get carbon/soot on them and a good cleaning will make them good as new. We're talking milivolts here and a little carbon on them is enough to give the wrong voltage.

It's preventative maintenance I've done on mine and it works. It's worth a try and can save you a few bucks and a trip to the parts store.

Hey thanks for the tip!

I was able to spend some time on the durango today. We first pulled out a couple spark plugs. They were all gaped to a different size between .05 and .055. They should be at .04 So we pulled all of them out and replaced them with new plugs that were the right gap (some of the old spark plugs didnt match as if they were never replaced). Also pulled the wires off and counting the coil wire 5 out of 9 wires had burn through! We replaced the cap which also had burn marks and rotor. I reset the o2 sensor code and drove it for a little bit. It ran a lot better and didnt throw off any codes. So im keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm going to suggest you investigate the intake plenum gasket. They are notorious on those trucks. However your description sounds a little different than mine. But my key takeaway from your issue is the sputtering. Mine would do that and die. I spent a year or two and even had the pros look at it several times. After much research on my own and help here we found it was the plenum gasket. Hughes even sells a really nice permanent fix for this problem.however I just went with the standard gasket and it works just fine, but on second thought I wish I would have sprung for the extra money for long term peace of mind.

When we did the tune up I did look at the plenum, looks new and was completely dry. The problem did come back and we replaced the o2 sensor in it today. We were just going to clean the old one but had issues getting it out and ended up rounding it off. I drove it for about 15 miles and no issue yet. Hoping to drive it more in the near future.

3, 11 and 14 all did cap, rotor, wires, plugs. I'd be naming the dealer that did those "repairs"!
You sure won't get any satisfaction talking to them since the last owner was the customer, but that kind of stuff should be outed!

Update- put another 30 miles on before a check engine light came on. It didnt sputter or anything. This time it read for the second 02 censor. When we pulled it out the threads were all screwed up. We found a weld bebe on the o2 sensor bung. Ground that out. Installed the new sensor. I have about 180 miles on it now an no issues yet. This weekend we are taking about a 500mi trip so we will see. One thing I noticed is when it is in 1st gear it doesnt seem to shift till about 3000 rpm and when it does it shifts out of second right away. We followed the procedure on checking the kickdown to the trans and it was good. We did have slop on the throttle but also followed the procedure for that. Didnt seem to help. Are the trans on these like the 727 and maybe we can adjust the bands? or any other ideas would be awesome.

wow $15,000.half way there for a new durango.for a miss,wow

Wow, that is close to a $1000 hand off each trip to the dealer

First of all, you have to remember that large amount of cash spent was over 13 years and 130,000 + miles and accounts for everything except fuel over the time period. I have had more then one Mopar I would have been thrilled to have spent only a grand for a year of repairs, and I wasn't paying anyone labor on those cars & trucks.
That said, I was a little surprised by the amount of money each trip to the dealer added up to, because I have never owned a new, or even new to me, car that needed a lot of attention, few of mine ever saw the inside of a dealership. Our PT made a dealership trip once, but it was covered by the factory warranty, so other then the authorized oil change, my out of pocket was non-existent.

As I grow older and do less work on my stuff, I understand just how much most people are at the mercy of whomever they trust to work on their cars. It has become an understanding that an unexpected trip to the auto repair place will now cost a minimum of $300 and probably closer to $500 for each adventure. If its a major repair, you need to consider getting a different car! The good old days are long gone. Unless you have kept up with the technology, you will have to pay someone that has, learn yourself, or be without the use of your ride. Once someone else has to open that hood, you have to feed your hard earned cash to the black hole under the hood before they will close it and give you back your car/truck. Your only hope is that they fixed the problem the 1st time. Gene