Dodge Durango Forum II Archive

Intermittent sputter, hesitation, cough, etc.

There's some very knowledgeable D owners here, so I hope I don't sound too lost. I have a '98 D 5.9L 4x4 automatic with 61K miles. At 60K miles, I changed the plugs, wires, and thermostat(along with other things that probably aren't part of the problem). I planned on swapping the cap and rotor as well, hower I'm still waiting to receive those from carparts.com(Accel's on backorder?). I did pop open the cap and roter to inspect, and they looked "normal" with slight residue on the contacts, but I wire-brushed them clean and put di-electric grease. Ever since the changes a few weeks ago, I noticed a slight hesitation that doesn't happen all the time, however when it does happen it's when I'm accelerating at 50-60mph. It feels like the car is unresponsive for a split second, even if my foot is applying constant pressure on the gas. I guess it really feels as if you are stepping on the gas, and pull your foot off the gas your car feels a little like it's floating until you put your foot back on the gas, however it happens when my foot is applying constant pressure.

Just this morning it was a little more extreme, and the red "check guages" light turned on for a few seconds then turned off when the car finally responded. None of the guages read anything out of normal.

The car idles smoothly, especially after putting in the changes mentioned above, and it doesn't have the hesitation all of the time when accelerating, only maybe once a day. Anyone ever have anything like this happen after doing any of the routine maintenance? Could it be the cap and/or rotor being worn out? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thu May 31