here is my story
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ark-start.html

put the computer or the truck and wasnt able to get any codes, nor can i get any with the key dance, it is getting power and ground so i beleive that is fine

my question is: do i have a crank position sensor?

ive gotten conflicting in formation,ive read online that it dakota didnt have them till late 91 to early 92, then i heard mine does, autozones's website says it is: Under hood, center, rear engine area, mounted in distributor; advanced auto says: The crankshaft Position sensor is located on the right hand side of the valve cover right below the valve breather tube.

i cant seem to find it at all, havent taken the distributor off( have taken the cap, rotor, and pickup coil off).

my truck was built in 1-91 according to the sticker in the door jamb.

I miss driving my dakota, HELP ME PLEASE!!!

 

Yes it should have a crank sensor since it is a fuel injected motor. Since your not getting any check engine light on my guess is your PCM is not getting power from the ignition switch to tell the PCM to turn on.

 

NO a 91 will NOT have a crank sensor that was the end of the "LA" block which did not have the mounting boss cast in like the Magnum engines did.

 

see this is my predicament, one person says yes the other says no, i cannot see one, so if there is one i ant see it or have no idea where it is, i have heard on the bell house of the transmission and under the distribution cap and on the back of the engine and under the breather tube. So if there is one where would it be and what would be the best way to see it (top of the truck, crawl underneath, jack it up etc..), i miss my dakota and dont have the money to take it to a shop with the labor rate here $65 a hour and who know what else they will find that they will fix and charge me for, so i would rather fix it myself, if not i would like to sell it, would hate to scrap her but if it comes to that( hopefully it doesnt because i love my truck.)

 

and if you didnt notice before it was built in january of '91 so idk if that makes a difference or not

 

Go by this answer, I guess I'm wrong I am not to familiar with the LA engines. Also you can always look up on www.napaonline.com or www.autozone.com and see if one is listed.

 

I think you're mostly dealing with people confusing terms , we drive a weird transition year Dak.
The LA engines didn't have a dedicated crank sensor like the Magnums, the Cam Position sensor in the distributor does double duty...
I'm still wondering about power issues with your ECM, especially since this popped up during/after wiring work.

 

here is some background info, i am 18, mechanicly inclined and a fast learner, in march of 2011 i got a tech support job and had to use one of my parents vehicles (we had 3 at the time) to get back and forth to work and that was a 2000 caravan and never had any MAJOR problems with it, i quite work in september for school and filed taxes for the 2011 year and used that money to buy my truck, even then i had to borrow $100 to pay for the truck ($400 is what i paid for it) and then another $100 for registration, then the truck sat for about a month and a half, i had to find new tires for it, and did brake and fuel lines, and built the flat bed that is on her. so the dakota was MY FIRST vehicle that i can say i own. my parents are paying my insurance for me so they only have 2 vehicle of their own on the road and i just graduated so my truck has been laid up for a few weeks with me practically not being able to go anywheres because i dont have a vehicle so i wanna get it fixed so that i can get back to work not to mention i hate seeing it just sitting there when i know it has so much going for it if it would only run.

hope you dont take this as a sob story but just what i am going through and why i need/want my truck fixed.

so if there is no crank sensor should i look at the ECM or the ignition switch to ECM wiring?

 

Yes, you need to determine if the ECM is getting any voltage signal to 'wake up', without the 'key on' signal it'll do nothing and you can crank the engine over until the battery is dead without accomplishing a thing, sound familiar?
Sheets 15,16, and 65 in the 1990 wiring PDF may be either helpful or muddy the waters
I like my peeling Dakota a lot, I'll be checking back with the forum a little more regularly to see how this goes...

 

well did some tracing of wires today, in the auto shutdown relay pins 85 and 86 are supposed to have continuity and they dont and here is what i traced from the ECM connector back and what i found:

Map Sensor (1): continuity
coolant sensor(2): continuity
Direct battery(3): continuity
sensor return(4)(map, coolant, pickup coil): continuity
Signal ground(5)(ignition coil -) : no continuity
8 volt input(7): continuity
Ignition feed(9): continuity
power ground(11,12): continuity
Ignition coil driver(19): continuity
alternator field driver(20): no continuity to the 42pin connector
Auto shut down-battery sup(8): continuity
closed throttle switch(28): no continuity to 42 pin connector

i really didnt know what to trace so i started at pin 1 on the 60 pin ECM connector and if i was able to follow the wire to where i could access it i check for continuity

this was all done with the key in the on position and the battery was at about 10v, which i would think would matter since i was only checking for continuity

but i hope this helps some of you guys help me, IDK what to do so im just tracing wires and hoping for the best