1996 Dakota 5.2, 4wwd, A/T...... Engine quit, like turning a switch off. Dodge dealer ran scans and said cam pos. sensor was bad. Wanted $400 to replace $30 sensor. I trailered the truck home. Replaced cam pos. sensor, crank pos. sensor, ign. coil. Still no start. Replaced PCM. Still no start. Voltage to PCM, 12 volts +. Grounds good. No CEL or Gen light. Cant check codes without CEL. Have read threads here and checked factory splices that cause most trouble. I'm lost. Have another PCM on the way from a different rebuilder. If that does not work guess I will have to borrow or rent a scanner. I think the CEL and gen light problem is a clue but don't know where to turn. Have disconnected and cleaned all grounds. Blue wire to the PCM has 12+volts with key on so I would guess the ign. sw. is good. Anything obvious that I'm missing? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Although it is not recomended at this point I would spray a little start fluid and see if you are getting fuel. A little will make it run for a few seconds and tell you if it is ignition or fuel. DODGE DEALER??? JOKE,lol. They had 89 for ten days & finally called me and had it running for about ten min, enough to get it home. All they found wrong was I had timing 2 degrees advanced?????? It had same problem so I started it at home and when it died hit it with a little start fluid, it ran. All Along I was on electrical and part of it was fuel. Also paid small shop to run scan 35 bucks nothing found till tech checked harness at CPU, and found floating ground. Had to replace CPU, couldnt rethread nut in base, and he replaced bolt in harness. Poof all working great now. Even got O/D back Cruise Control all of it now works. My belief, Dodge will care if we buy a truck from them.

 

I agree..check for fuel first and go from there..and stay away from the dealer!...if its not new, its nothing to them!

 

Top

let them have one of our trucks and watch, in a week one of their techs will be driven it, miraculous knowledge occours when its one of theirs.

 

i know there are alott of techs like that out there but i can assure you that out of 1000 there are a few good ones. i've been lucky enough to work alongside of them. it sucks i know but it comes down to greed. shop owners and dealers (dealers especially) want to keep the cash themselves. we charge almost $100 an hour here and i keep $17 of it. im a 26 year old ase certified tech with diesel training. it's hard to make it. i rarely make it to 40 hours a week because of honesty. but i know and they know that when it pulls into my stall if the cust wants to spend the cash to fix it that it will be fixed. funny thing is that im in a dodge dealer and work on more fords than dodges

 

Check your grounds, such as voltage coming out of the PCM, alternator ground, etc. I doubt it'd be fuel since it didn't sputter before it cut off. Just in case, listen for fuel pump hum when you turn key to ACC. Also swap around your relays, to make sure the ASD relay didn't go bad. The fact that you aren't getting PCM or Gen lights makes it sound like an electrical issue (grounds, relays, etc.) Definitely check your PCM ground (two black wires bolted in at back of passenger head).

Does it crank w/o starting, or do you not hear anything at all?

 

How about the pick-up coil in the distribitor? easy fix and what your discribing sounds like a pick-up coil symptom. Just an idea.

 

Im sorry if I sounded crass. I appreciate your honesty and understand the concept. HVAC Tech here, get a lot like this in my work. We have 89 cause it was built same month/year as Son who is no longer with us. Its a special truck for that reason. Truck was a mess. Possibly they could not find real problem or judged not worth it.

 

Agree/disagree. If CPU is trash it can stop many signals. If + or_ battery connections are defective it can drop feed to fuel pump relay in a heartbeat, no sputter no nothing, poof your down, just like loosing ignition, or failed ASD.

 

I didnt mean to sound harsh either...I too was an ASE certified tech for almost 15 years...I worked in a fleet environment and got paid hourly though, which was great cause I could do my job to the best of my ability and not wory about the time being spent to do it right. When that shop closed down, it was too hard for me to make it on flat rate when you had to "rush" to make any money and alot of times things can be overlooked. This prompted me to change careers. Now I only work on my own stuff and maby a side job here and there. I do still enjoy working on vehicles though..only at my own pace.