Hey everyone, I've been checking out this great forum for information since I have had my truck, and it has been a great resource.

A few weeks ago I noticed the problem whenever it had rained, no spark and no fuel pump. I got on here and found the issue of the notorious under fuse box splice corroding. I found the very red wire that goes from a 3:1 and corrodes. Mine was green with a single thread of wire connected. A bit of solder, heat shrink tubing, and some electrical tape and everything was great. Started her up and drove like a champ.

So, here I am about a week later and no spark. This time the fuel pump is kicking on and priming, so I am suspecting another problem. If you would recommend I check fuel pressure, I have a gauge but have never used it yet. I guess this could be a good first use for it.

1. I want to check my Crank sensor, so far I have only read to check resistance. It is a 3 wire plug as I understand it, so what pins do I test resistance through? Can someone give me a more detailed test pattern?

2. The other thing I would like to test is the Coil, I have only ever tested one other coil and it was a pack style that I could just test resistance between the different plugs. (Much like the 4cyl neons I believe) Is there some similar test for our Dakota coil?

Thanks in advance for your help, and please let me know if there are any other things you would recommend checking out. I will post a follow up as I make progress.

 

Do you have any check engine light codes?
The service manual shows how to test the sensors and the coil. You can download it in the FAQ in this section. Just a few posts above this one.

 

Thanks for the fast response, I got a copy of the Service manual and see how to test these. I'll give that a go this evening and see what I discover. I do not have a CEL, I have an OBD-II reader, but I think on these 95's its OBD-I, I don't know anything about the scanners for OBD-I.

Will post results tonight, any other input is still greatly appreciated.

 

Probably the coil.

 

For OBD-I you can use the key turning sequence to pull up codes. Offhand though, I am not sure where I have it written down. I am sure someone here knows it.

 

On-off-on-off-on will flash the check engine light for codes for OBD 1.

 

Thanks for the Info about OBDI, I will try the key sequence and let you know what I get.

As for the no spark, I tested coil, secondary resistance was a little bit high, like 14Kohms, so IDK. Primary resistance was fine around 1ohm

Cam Pos Sensor and Crank pos sensors were fine. I plug everything back in and it starts up. I'm glad it started on up, but feel like I didn't really accomplish anything either.

Irony. I am a little bit suspect to there having been some corrosion in the wires. While it was started up I went around under the hood and used the back of a screwdriver to kind of 'tap' on the connectors. I was not able to get it to stall or give any signs of a problem though. I'll see how it is after next rain.

Let me know what you guys think of the coil secondary resistance, it was a little higher then the service manual said it should have been, but I don't get the impression its bad if its running.

Thanks for all the help, Ulysses.

 

Edit - made my own thread