I have a 2000 dodge dakota r/t thats been having an odd problem. i recently had the engine completely rebuilt. new distributor and sensors, new coil, new fuel pump, injectors cleaned, and as far as i can tell mechanically correct with the exception of a crack in my exhaust. the issue im having is that when i start the truck cold, while im in park it starts fine. it idles a little rough but nothing that would seem like a problem. here is the strange part... when i put it into reverse it idles terribly and stalls or nearly stalls unless i put it back into park. even neutral causes rough idling but not as bad. when i can manage to finally back up and put into drive, which also idles badly initially, and drive off, the bad idling goes away and stays away for the rest of the day. now the really odd part is that if i go above 2000 rpm it seems or do any excessive load on the engine, the engine hiccups and the rpm jumps up and down uncontrollably and makes driving above 60 mph pretty much a safety hazard. the engine sounds fine, it just sounds like its being prevented from accelerating, almost like its being governed to stop at a certain rpm and not go beyond it. this happens at cold start too by the way. either way, it doesnt make sense since i had fuel issues repaired and the coil is fine even when codes pop up saying the coil is bad which its not. i also get codes about the distributor sensor which has been replaced as well as a crank sensor problem that was also replaced when the engine was rebuilt. im not sure if this could be an O2 sensor since it might be due to sealant from the new engine burning off but it may be unlikely. i also notice that while the truck is off that the reading lamp is dim and flickers a bit, which makes me think more towards the direction of an electrical problem. what could this be caused from? its getting worse it seems, im lucky now if i can back out of my parking spot long enough to drive it off and use my truck for the rest of the day by keeping it in a reasonable rpm zone. my mechanics are beginning to feel stumped on this issue. please help if you can...
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