A friend of mine has a 91 dakota that will turn over but wont start. It has fuel but is getting no spark. The crank pos sensor, coil, distrubter have all been changed with no luck. Is there an auto shutdown relay on one of these that could be causing this problem. It is a 3.9l v6.

 

Are you getting spark at the coil? If yes, then coil wire is bad. If no, then trace wiring backwards. Not sure on the ASR, but believe so.

 

Yes, there is an ASD.
You can get a troubleshooting guide by downloading the following file: http://www.jameskowalski.com/Dodge/1...iagnostics.pdf(PDF, 19.6MB) *Be advised, this is specifically for 1996 and some 1997 models, the basic steps are the same, but the pin outs, such as those on the engine computer, will not be the same*

Specifically, see the test starting on page 782 (test NS-1A).
I will stress to do the steps in order and do not skip steps. For instance, when I had the problem with my truck not starting, I was dumb and didn't pull up this test. I wasn't getting spark. I was getting voltage to the coil, but for some reason wasn't getting spark from the coil. The resistance values on the coil were within limits. I decided to replace the coil, and the battery, anyways. Put the new coil in, same result: no start, no spark from coil.
Finally decided to see if the distributor rotor was spinning. No go. Took off the distributor and shaft, nothing looked bad. Manually turned the engine over, didn't see the distributor drive gear spinning: the timing chain has broken. I spend $120 on a battery and coil that didn't solve my problem because I jumped the gun.

*I still wonder why, even though the coil was getting voltage, and the coil was good, why I wasn't getting spark off the coil*

 

Just a shot in the dark, but theno sparkcould have been triggered through the computer due to a bad signal from a position sensor (CAPS, TPS, etc..)