I have a 1994 dodge ram mormon mover, B350 with the 5.9L engine. It recently died while driving. There was no warning signs whatsoever, just a sudden loss of power and no restart. The engine cranks well but has no spark. There is no spark at the coil yet the coils conductivity tested good. Battery voltage is good 11.9 or so. All fuses tested good, although I feel like there should be another fuse box aside from the one in the glove box. The ASD and Fuel pump relays both have power to the coils, and they both click with the key turned. There is no check engine light with the key in the run position which worries me that the ECM/PCM has failed. Any insight, tests I can run, or any help whatsoever is greatly appreciated.

 

Hello Church, My 92 did the same thing recently & I found a broken wire on the Crankshaft Position Sensor. Everything checked out fine except no spark coming out of the coil. Hope this helps.
Jim

 

With no CEL when you first turn the key on, it's a burned out bulb, the PCM is bad, or the ASD relay isn't making contact. The ASD relay can click like you've reported, but that doesn't mean power is getting through the contacts.

I think the 94s were the last year for the glove compartment fuses and fusible links located under the hood up around the power brake booster. After that the fuses were moved to a compartment next to the driver's door, plus an additional fuse box under the hood.

 

Would the ASD relay disable the vehicle while running? Or would it just not start that next time because mine quit while in motion. Just sudden lack of power and no restart. It's probably not a very expensive part to replace anyways, I'll give it a shot and reply with my findings.

Also to what James mentioned, I tried to find continuity through the crankshaft position sensor, it's a 3 wire sensor and I'm not sure which if any 2 of the three would have continuity through one another but I checked them with an ohm meter and none of the 3 pairs metered any less than infinite resistance. Maybe I'm not checking it correctly or perhaps that's my problem...

I'm trying my best to not just throw a bunch of parts at it and hope for a fix.

One more thing... Is an ASD relay called anything else? Perhaps an Ignition or Ignition Feed relay?

 

Actually up through the 97 year vans have the glove box fuses. 98 was the first year for the driver's door compartment fuses. And my 97 has the PDC by the radiator. 94 had fuse links, 95 started the PDC with some fuse links, 96 had all Maxi fuses instead of fuse links in the PDC (Power Distribution Center).

Source: Mitchell on Demand 5.8 wiring diagrams.

 

Calling it an ASD relay should be good enough for any halfwit parts counter person. ASD stands for Auto Shut Down relay.

 

So I tried a new asd relay and still no go. I still get no check engine light. I'm gonna have it towed to work and see if the DRB can get an any response from the pcm.

Unless anyone has any other ideas, things I can try?!?!?!

 

Pulled the PCM harness, found good grounds at pins 11 and 12, 12V at pin 3 but 0V at pin 9 which is the ignition feed. I didn't have time today to trace the wire back all the way but it does work it's way into a large bundle that has been chafing against the battery tray. Tomorrow I open that up and try to find my culprit. Keep ya posted!

 

Good job - let us know what you find.

 

Hello Church, I'm a newbie; my first posting. I suspect that Mr. Engle is correct, about the CPS (crank position sensor) I bought a 93 that wouldn't start after the previous owner installed a transmission. He apparently let the harness of the CPS get caught between the bell housing and block when fitting the trans. It pinched the wires and actually cut one wire (of the three wires) through. If the computer does not get a signal from the CPS it will crank but won't deliver spark nor power to the fuel injectors. I would inspect the connector and wires at the CPS carefully. Also, not positively sure, but believe the same condition will occure if the Cam Position Sensor is faulty.