Help!!! engine problems

I just purchased a 05 Dakota with a 4.7 v8 auto trans and 4x4 with 88k miles.what I'm having a problem with is when I come to a stop the engine tries to die.it happens immediately after I stop pretty much the same time when the vehicles weight shifts. I have figured out the quicker the stop the closer the engine comes to dying. If I stop real slow like there's a cop behind me the engine might drop 100 rpms. But if I stop hard the engine has died a couple times. I have no idea what this could be I'm not a mechanic so I cant diagnose the problem. But I can pretty much replace any part once I know what the problem is. The only other thing ive noticed which could cause it I'm not sure. Is either my battery or alternator needs to be replaced. I know this because if my headlights are on and I put on my blinked the lights on my instrument cluster dim everytime the signal flashes. Please help me. Any possible solutions would be much appreciated. I would take it to a shop but I honestly cant afford to pay for a diagnostic right now.

These sound like 2 different issues to me, but I may be wrong as you never know. Here's what I would try though...

1) Stalling at stops = common for plugged fuel filters to do this. Try changing the fuel filter, a basic tuneup item that often gets overlooked.

2) Dash lights dim with blinker = I'd check both front and rear blinker bulbs and their pigtail sockets to make sure it is a solid connection and not shorting out partially and make sure the bulbs are good. There may be a flasher or fuse/relay to check also for these.

3) Lastly, purely for informational purposes and good to know, get a gauge on the battery, make sure it has 11 to 12 volts, when vehicle is off. With vehicle running, gauge should read @13.5 to 14.2 volts. If these readings are low, then the first would be a bad battery and the second would be a bad alternator. These two things will leave you stranded if faulty so better to know the condition. Good luck.

Thank you 82Stang!. I will definitely replace the fuel filter. I'm not sure if this will help the problem make more sense, but when coming to a stop i put it into neutral and the engine was steady at 750 rms, so im thinking it might be something wrong with the transmission. And as for the electrical issue, i wemt and got the battery tested, he said the volts were fine, but the amps were way too low, im not sure it that would be a bad battery or bad alternator. Again, any help is much appriciated

Thank you 82Stang!. I will definitely replace the fuel filter. I'm not sure if this will help the problem make more sense, but when coming to a stop i put it into neutral and the engine was steady at 750 rms, so im thinking it might be something wrong with the transmission. And as for the electrical issue, i wemt and got the battery tested, he said the volts were fine, but the amps were way too low, im not sure it that would be a bad battery or bad alternator. Again, any help is much appriciatedWell, being it's rather in the newer range, 2005, maybe there is a downshift issue with the trans. Could be simply a dirty fluid condition not allowing it to shift easily. Trans services are relatively cheap to do and worth it. Po=eople who don't service th tranny, end up paying much more later. These cars are almost all electronically motivated so try a free scan for codes at most parts stores. If there are codes, it would help greatly.

The battery, low amps is not good. You'll need a battery, but don't want to replace that before finding out if the Alternator is good or not. The parts store might have a gauge to check that with. But anyone with any mechanics should be able to tell you this in a snap. Hooked up with vehicle running, you'll know right away if it is charging enough, 14+ volts. If lower than say 13, it's bad. Those are estimates, gauge will tell exactly. There is an old school trick, but not sure if it is ok to do on these newer vehicles, so for a FYI, I'll tell you how they used to check alternators in the old days. With the vehicle running, disconnect the neg battery cable from the battery. If the vehicle stalls, alt is bad. If not, alt is good and it was just a bad battery. It might very well be just a bad battery, but always better to verify. So take that with a grain of salt, some say it isn't good to do with newer vehicles, I don't know. But figured you'd like to know that anyway.

I actually have a code reader.I didn't think to use it since the check engine light didn't come on. Two codes. P0700 which from what I found means any fault with transmission??? And p0876 which is trans fluid sensors/switch I think. It almost seems similar to when the speed sensor went bad on my old f350 but instead of not being able to decide which gear to be in its more like the Dakota doesn't want to change gears its shifting late.

For the battery. When the engines not idleing. So when I'm actually going around a turn the gauge cluster doesn't fade. So since there's obviously something wrong with the battery or alternator this seems like its s bad battery and its drawing more power at an idle than the alternator can put out so its causing less power to go to the lights? Does that sound right? I am going to disconnect the battery when its running when I have a chance this weekend.

Again I really appreciate the help. I don't have the money for a mechanic and need to do the repairs myself I just have no clue how to diagnose this problem.

So while driving around this morning, my truck seemed fine, and about 5 miles from my house it started to act even worse. At stops instead of dying, it was idling around 1500 and I had to hold the brake down pretty hard, and I didnt really even need to press the gas to get moving. when I got home and put it in park, it was idling around 2100, this is confusing the heck out of me. Out of frustration, I called a dodge dealerships service department, he said that it sounds like the transmission speed sensor. does this sound like it could be the problem? The place I bought it from is going to pay to have it diagnosed thankfully, I'm just curious of other imput because I dont really trust the dealership anymore, and its their shop.

P0700 just means the transmission has a problem.

P0876....Transmission Fluid Pressure Sensor/Switch "D" Circuit Range/Performance.

It is typical to have high idles and hard/long shifts with this bad sensor, which I believe is located inside the tranny pan and means a fluid change will be necessary.

The dealer is usually the highest priced. Re: trans speed sensor, maybe. Code above says trans switch though, so you'll want to be sure of what to replace before doing so. Parts changing gets expensive. I think you are close to getting it resolved though.

Well after two trips to the shop, I have some answers for my truck, and still some questions. The high idle, and the problems that came from that was cause by the idle control valve getting stuck, and I guess the mechanic took it apart and cleaned everything and were good there, no more high idle. Now as for the dying at stops the mechanic said he couldnt find any reason for that, and that when I dropped the truck off there were no error codes which is complete bs because when I dropped it off the codes for the transmission and a new code saying the fuel mixture is too lean had gone off before I left it there, and I made sure not to clear them. So I'm assuming they just want to try and make me think that everything is fine. For now, it seems to be ok, it's drivable at least. Thank you for the advice :thumbsup: