My 93 dakota turns over, but won't start. I looked at some of the other posts here, and I think I found the problem. There's a relay box (a little one) by the washer resevoir that had a fuse that was basically melted on one end (15). I changed it, but it still won't start. Is it the relay, or what? Any help would be great. By the way my mechanical ability is modest at best. Again thanks.

 

First things first:
The box that fuse was in is called the Power Distribution Center.
When you take the cover off, if you look on the bottom of the cover, it will tell you what each fuse is, what its amperage is supposed to be, and what each relay is used for.
What fuse was it that was burned out?

 

Thanks for asking. However, I think that I described it incorrectly. The 15 amp fuse that I am talking about is in a smaller box located near the the larger box that you are talking about. I looked at the the larger box which is closer to the battery, and found that all of the larger fuses that had 40 on them looked fine. I even exchanged the fuel pump (relay?) with the air cond. relay to see if that helped and no luck.
The little box with the 15 amp fuse that was melted and the slot that it was in was also melted is in between the bigger box and the washer resevoir. Besides the 15, there is also another fuse which was fine and a black (relay?) but nothing said what they were for.

 

Check for spark first. That will help nail things down. There is an ASD relay that can cause the same symptoms if it fails. Same thing happened to my 92 earlier this year. It is the same relay as tha A/C clutch so you can swap them as well to help troubleshoot.

You could have a bad coil or a burned out cap/rotor. I had a burned out cap/rotor on my car last year that also had the exact same symptoms.

There is also a splice on the wiring harness underneath the PDC you were looking in earlier. It is a common problem on these trucks - the splice can go bad which prevents it from starting as well.

If you have spark then the ASD relay is working fine. You might have a bad fuel pump, severely clogged fuel filter or fouled plugs.

If you have no spark then my guess is ASD relay or the splice as those are the most common problems.

 

^^ What he said.
I have heard as well the splice (that feeds the automatic shutdown relay [ASD] and fuel pump) sometimes goes bad.
To make sure the relays are getting juice, you can test the battery input to them. (Picture)
When you turn the key to the "ON" (but not start) position, you can usually hear the fuel pump kick on (but only for a second or two just to pressurise the system). If you hear this, clearly the pump is getting juice, so the relay, battery feed, and all connected wiring is working.
Test for spark. If its not getting spark, but the fuel pump is getting juice, switch the relays. If it gets spark than (and you don't hear the fuel pump kick on) the relay was bad.
Post back with the results.

 

THANKS A LOT! The problem was the splice under the fuse/relay box. I started to peel and cut the tape away from the bundle of wires and notice a greenish powder. There they were four wires barely touching. Stripped them, soddered them and taped it all up. Total cost NOTHING. I sure hope that I can help someone else like you all helped me. Money's tight, so God bless.

 

Good to hear it was something that simple!
BTW, thanks for actualy posting back... people have a habit of asking for help, and never posting the results back...

 

HTH! Glad you got it running.

 

Note for future readers. My ASD went bad a year ago. A quick way to test is to swap the starter relay with the relay you think might be bad (fuel or auto shutdown) then try to start truck. If it wont turn over that relay is bad.

 

Thanks for this tip. It saved me from going crazy. I could'nt figure out why My 95 Dakota was'nt getting spark. I had a bad ASD relay about 2 1/2 years ago and bought a new one from a Dodge dealership. I did'nt think it would have gone bad so soon. So when my truck would'nt turn over when I swapped the relays, it saved me alot of headache.