unbalanced engine

because of the firing order the crankshaft is not in rhythm as engine fires so they balance it with torque converter and harmonic balancer to bring it in tune.

If the converter and harmonic balancer are acting up, would this create an issue sitting at traffic lights wanting to stall and rough acceleration? Has only happened twice in two months.

No, if the flywheel or harmonic balancer were the problem it would be constant. It sounds like you have a misfire problem, have you changed the spark plugs recently?

Here is a guide to help you

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-tune-up-a-car-engine


Let me know what you find.

Best, Ken

Hi Ken. Today, the truck ran great until I got Into stop and go traffic. The rpm's dropped down to probably 600. Had to put into neutral. It did not want to accelerate when back in drive. I do believe i heard popping (possibly misfiring of plugs). Ran bad. I pulled in to a gas station and allowed it to idle for ten minutes. Ran great after that. When the Dodge dealer ran the engine analysis in April, they did not seem to believe that the plugs needed to be replaced. I took them at their word. There were no trouble codes either. I gave up years ago working on engines. I would not be surprised if the link you sent to me is the problem. The fact that it would not accelerate and had popping sounds, I would imagine it is a firing issue.

Thanks again

Tom

It could be the fuel pump pressure issue as well, please check this link for more information

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

Let me know what you find

Best, Ken

you can easily check the harmonic balancer, draw a chalk line across it and the pulleys then start engine and give it a quick rev if chalk line moves on balancer the rubber has broken and weight is just moving on you

Ken, I found out yesterday that my Dakota has a problem code P0172 "system too rich on bank one". As I think I understand, that is the side that has the number one cylinder in firing order. To me, it makes sense. Correct me if I am wrong, but not enough o2 is mixing with fuel, not enough torque is being produced on the downstroke of the Pistons, this would equate to sluggish / non responsive acceleration, if I have the sensor replaced which is down on the bottom left side of the block, have all vacuum hoses checked and have mass airflow sensor cleaned.......do I have a good chance at this fixing my issue?

check your fuel pressure with a gauge if it's to rich on onebank then good chance whole bank is running poorly causing your problem. quit trying to overanalyze.
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator