Hey guys. I'm surprised I didn't stumble onto this place earlier!!

I have a 93 Dakota, 250k+ miles, v6, 5-sp, 4x4.

my problem started just over a week ago when I tried to leave for work, the truck made it about 50 feet and stalled like I turned the key off. I knew I was WAY low on gas (guage doesn't work) so I put some fuel in and it fired right up. Went to the gas station, put a few gallons in and then it wouldn't restart. [:@]

I had to sit for a minute and it finally started. It stalled once on my short trip to work again, but restarted after a couple seconds of sitting. That night, I figured out that if I left it with the key on for a little bit, eventually the check engine and shift light would light up and I'd hear the fuel pump prime. Right then, the truck would start, run for a little while then stall like I turned the key off again. Then, it wouldn't restart, no fuel pump priming, no spark from the coil. When it would run the voltage guage on the dash read really high, near 17-18 volts.

on my wait to the airport, it ran perfectly, voltage guage read normally. I went out of town for a week and now it won't start at all. I've started looking at wiring from the chiltons book, but what's wierd is the wiring on my truck resembles a 92, not a 93. is that impossible??

any ideas where I should look? I'm looking at wiring, but the diagram vs. what the multimeter tells me is confusing the crap out of me, and I NEED the truck tomorrow night!!!

Thanks guys!

 

Try looking at the wiring near the Automatic Shutdown Relay. Some trucks have problem with the battery feed to them corroding.

 

I tore open the wiring harness near the fuse box under the hood and found the 4 way red/white splice was completely corroded. everything on the bottom of the box is perfectly clean, so hopefully i'll be able to fix this up in a few minutes tonight.

I'll report back.

 

soldering up those wired did it!! this forum rocks, it's all the info I've been looking for on my dakota.