First off let me say Dodge Forum has saved my butt at least 10 times in the last 4 years, y’all are great. I did read through many of these threads before making a post.

I was driving my 1994 Dakota (4x4 5.2 w/ auto trans) through the heaviest rains we’ve had in years, 3 hours from home on my way back from work on a Friday night, middle of nowhere in the mountains - my truck stops running. Cranks but won’t start. Then started up after a few tries and drove for 15 more minutes before shutting down again and not restarting - no spark.

$800 tow home, that hurt.

A month or so before this happened I did a compression test and every cylinder was between 170-175psi. That same day I replaced the distributor cap&rotor, ignition pickup coil, spark plugs&wires, some cracked vacuum lines and maybe a few other things in preparation for smog. Passed CA smog.

After the breakdown I read through a few threads on here and found 3 possible culprits:

1) Crank position sensor
2) Ignition coil
3) The “notorious power splice”

replaced crank sensor, replaced coil, re-did the power splice (which looked extremely guilty- corroded as hell)

No luck, still no spark at ignition coil. Part of me wants to buy another crank sensor or at least test the brand new one but I don’t know if it’s a Hall style crank sensor (apparently if I use a multimeter on a hall style sensor it’ll fry it??)

Help me out guys, I just wants to keep truck running for my son to enjoy one day (maybe in 15 years it’ll be a classic)

 

No spark does imply crank sensor. If it isn't a genuine mopar sensor, I would get one, and install it.

I THINK you can test the crank sensor with a meter, just set it to resistance, and move it close to/away from something metal...... I think. Either that, or pic up one of the cheap and easy oscilloscopes that now seem to be every where.... (still a couple hundred bucks though....)

 

Mopar site only sells parts for vehicles 2001 or newer… guess I’ll have to trust eBay or Amazon? Maybe I’ll check rockauto. Anything is probably better than what oreilly sold me.

Thanks

 

4-1/2 years and about 13,000 miles ago I replaced my crankshaft sensor on my '93, 5.2L. If I were to have a second chance I would have put in OEM now that I know how sensitive those things can be. That said, I put in a BWD brand sensor from Advanced Auto Parts and it hasn't given me a lick of trouble. Lucky? Dunno. But it works fine so far. Don't know if Advanced still sells BWD brand but perhaps Amazon does if not. I believe BWD is a Borg Warner part. Pretty reputable company. I'd stay away from WeMakeDung brand or any Chinese crap if you can help it. I might have the part# if you really want it but I'll have to dig for it. I think I kept the box (and the old sensor that turned out not to be the problem and now serves as a backup).

 

So the Mopar official site doesn’t carry old parts but I forgot about Moparpartsgiant.com - ordered another new crank sensor should be here in a few days. We’ll see if it’s genuine Mopar material.

Hey bronze- I gotta ask, what was the real problem with your ‘93 kota? Lol something tells me I might be in the same boat.


Wish me luck!

 

Luck!

The micro processor was wigging out in the OBD1. I'd get random occurrences when truck would either die while driving or wouldn't start at odd times. No crank, no start. Wait awhile and it would fire up eventually. During these random failures, I was replacing all kinda stuff (including the crank sensor). The OBD1 was the last thing I changed and that solved the problem (and created others). In retrospect, I feared replacing the OBD1 far more than I should have. OBD1s in the Dakotas are plug n play and not really that expensive. But I can only speak for myself HillBilly. Your problem may not be the same as mine. But I assure you, I sympathize with you.

 

Mopar crank sensor came - finally. Still not working.

is it possible that the sensor isn’t getting a reading due to there being too much oil/gunk in the bell housing? It’s pretty caked in there.

 

Do you get power at initial key on at the coil? Does the fuel pump prime?

 

Fuel pump is working - not very loud when priming but it definitely still pumps! Won’t start (or even attempt to start) with starting fluid.

No power at coil.

 

See if you have power at the coil while cranking. My guess would be "no".