No power to auto shutdown relay
 

Hi All, this is my first post. I have had this vehicle for 2 winters and want to sell it this summer but here is my issue.

95 Dakota SLT, 3.9 V6, automatic transmission, about 120K miles.

Was running fine and one day about a month or so ago I went to start it and it would grind but not start. With a mechanic friend we narrowed it down to no 12 volts at pin 30 of the auto shutdown relay.

I can put a jumper wire on the spade for pin 30, plug the relay back in and go to the positive terminal of the battery with the other end of the jumper and the truck fires right up and seems to run fine. (I didn't drive it that way just started it and let it idle awhile).

I checked for broken wires, bad fusible links, blown fuses and found nothing.

Any ideas what it might be ?

If I can't find anything I will run 12 volts to the wire feeding pin 30 and put a fusible link in that wire but I really would rather find out what is wrong and fix it properly.

TIA

Pin 30 of the ASD, on my 1988 at least, is fed from the ignition switch; that's fed by one of the fusible links (on my 1988, again, there's the splice with 5 fusibles; one goes to a second splice with a white or grey one also, that was the one that feeds my ASD.)

I just went through that due to my Part Throttle Unlock Relay coming apart blowing that fusible link.

OTOH, that also powered my starter relay ... so I kind of doubt, if your truck cranks, it's the fusible link itself. I'd sure check the ignition switch though ...

RwP

Thank you for your reply. My mechanic friend suspected the ing. switch early on. He said that they were known to be a problem area. I ordered one from Rock Auto this AM, worth throwing less than $25 at and giving it a shot. Thanks again.

Did that fix the problem?
 

Did that fix the problem? Just asking, cause I got a similar situation. Every sensor signal is just fine, motor cranks, ASR is not pulled to active ground by PCM.

If every sensor signal is just fine, next thing is to see if the ASD relay is bad; if it's not being pulled to ground, check wiring to PCM.

I'd triple check the crank position sensor on a Magnum, or the distributor pickup on a LA; both are used to tell the PCM that you're cranking or running, so if either signal fails, you won't get ASD.

Before replacing the ECU, though, disconnect the negative battery cable at the battery; remove and reinstall the connector(s) three or four times on the PCM; reconnect the negative battery cable; and see how that helps (idea is that wiping the contacts will reduce oxidation and help polish it off the connectors.)

RwP