In an effort to boost the MPG on my Dakota, decided to put plugs and plug wires on it this morning.

Found this little gem when I pulled the cap off.......





Now, mind you, it started fine and seem to run fine. No obvious miss or real roughness.

Put all my parts on, WOW!!! What a difference! It was almost buttery smooth and I now had a traction problem taking off from a dead stop (roads are damp, wasn't doggin' it).

Got home, turned it off. Cleaned up my work area, went to leave again, and, its running worse than poo......stalling, running REAL rough. Huh? When I parked it, it was fine. Doing nothing but letting it sit and restarting it, it runs terrible. Its bad enough I can't drive it.

I've double checked my work. Double checked the cap, can't find any issues.

I'm at a loss. Ideas?

After typing that post, I went out, re-rechecked my work, still found nothing wrong, fired it up, and it was buttery smooth again.

Drove it 2 miles with no issues, still smooth.

Maybe computer was adjusting to new parts?

I had a similar problem when I changed the battery on my Ram. After a couple of minutes running it smoothed out and ran fine. Did you disconnect the battery?

Just got back from a 30 mile round trip. Truck ran flawlessly.......as long as it was moving. If I stopped briefly for a stop sign, it would dead miss once. If I stopped for a lengthy light, it would dead miss up to 5 times.

By 'dead miss' I mean a miss that you couldn't help but notice, not one of those soft ones where you're not sure if it did it or not.

And of course, its raining steadily now, so, I can't look at it anymore today.

Did you replace the Distributor Cap or just the rotor..????

Rickster

Cap too. There was a pretty good gouge from where the rotor hit....



Marked each wire, and pulled cap off with wires in place. Installed new cap and followed wiring order from old cap.

Checked, rechecked, and checked again that I didn't bust or pull loose a vacuum line that runs across the back of the engine.

I'm lost.

I would replace that cap and rotor with good parts from Napa

Rickster

Go get one of these and drive around with it displayed in the windshield. The truck will know you mean business and straighten up.

No NAPA's close, went with BWD brand. The cheap Chinese caps were smooth inside, no ribs. The BWD cap has ribs inside and looked/felt like the better piece.

I used Autolite plugs and wires. The truck had Champions in it, but, I've ALWAYS had problems with Champions, never had an issue with Autolites. Plug wires, basically the same deal as the cap. Didn't want the cheap chinese junk, but, didn't see the need to fork over $$$ for something like MSD wires, especially for a 150K 3.9 V6.

Make SURE the cap is fully secured with BOTH screws fully engaged. DAMHIK

Robert

Don't know if you disconnected the battery or not but I would still check for a loose ground or clean all the ground cables that connect to the engine and firewall just my

I bet whoever screwed up the cap/rotor job before you twisted the distributor to get it to run, now it needs twisted back to the correct position.

Pull the cap, twist the crank till it is at TDC and check to see if the rotor is pointing at the "1" on the cam plate (if 180 or so out turn the engine one revolution) then if it is off twist the distributor to line up the "1" and the tip of the rotor.

It is more accurate with a scanner but this will get it close enough to run correctly.

Yes, screws for cap are tight, and I made sure no wires were pinched and the mounting service was clean. I carefully blew out all the plastic bits the original cap left behind (didn't use full pressure on the air hose).

When the weather breaks, I'll check timing.

I'm kinda at the mercy of the weather, and of course they say its supposed to rain all week.

Thanks guys.

my 92 dakota does the crappy run after shutdown,been doin it for years,started about the same time as the fuel started getting changed for emissions,its really bad in warm weather
by the way my dist isnt moveable.there is a slot it the shaft that the hold down fits into and holds it in one place,also a bad crank sensor will make it run bad after a warm shutdown,ive heard of people slotting the holes in the crank sensor to advance the timing some,i never tried it

Correct. The drive ability problem is not from the fuel timing being messed up it is from the wrong plug getting fire.

take a good look at a 92 dist,on the housing there is a cut back spot where the hold down fits into,with a different style or modified hold down it can be made to turn,look up a picture on rock auto,you can see the recessed place on the body of the housing

You said it was raining?? Spray the cap and wires with WD-40 and see if makes a difference. Could be a crappy cap even though its new. Or a plug wire not seated right. Just a guess though.

The last set of Autolites I put in a vehicle (a '79 Jeep CJ7) I was not happy with, it had a miss until I reinstalled the old plugs. If they didn't look fouled I'd try putting the old plugs back in it just to eliminate the plugs as a cause.