1988 Dakota, V6 4x4.
Truck was sitting for about 7 years in my neighbor's yard. He gave me the truck and I've been fixing it up for the last few weeks.

Brakes first:
Replaced every single metal brake line. Both wheel cylinders, springs, shoes, drums, rotors, pads, and rubber lines. I bypassed the Height sensing proportioning valve. After bleeding the brakes several times, pedal still feels soft and doesn't hold pressure, but no leaks anywhere. Also, the rears lock up during panic braking from 25 MPH.
Is the height sensing proportioning valve that important to regular stopping without at load? Or is the front proportioning valve bad?

Starting issue:
After sitting for over 7 years, the truck fired right up with some new gas and a new battery. Replaced the plugs about a week ago and it ran fine after that. Truck ran fine until yesterday. I go to fire it up, and nothing. Checked all the fuel lines I replaced, cleaned the injectors, checked the pump. Now fuel was finally getting to the Throttle body, but still was firing up.

Pulled a plug, no spark. Checked all the fuses, all them checked out fine. Pulled the coil, it tested within range for both primary and secondary. Tried to spark the coil wire, nothing. Tested the resistance of the coil wire, really high. Replaced it with a spare wire laying around.

Tested it, still no spark. Replaced the coil with a old chevy coil, and still no spark. Tested the voltage to the coil, its getting 8-9 volts, which from what I read should be enough to get a spark. Backtracked and cleaned every connection I could think of. Still no difference.
I'm thinking it might be the Hall effect pick up switch, but anyone know a test for it?

Any other ideas? Did I over look something? Am I forgetting something? I thought it might be the ECM, but the CEL doesn't stay on after the bulb check. I was hoping to have this truck ready to take with me to college when I leave in 5 days. That ain't looking like a great deadline right now. Any help is appreciated.
Thank You

 

Brakes: If everything's been gone thru to no avail, it's probably the proportioning valve
No start/No spark: very likely that it's the auto shut down relay and/or circuit that's messed up. I believe the '87's will allow you to run the OBD codes like the later 1st gens. Turn the key fore and aft 3-5 times without turning engine and they'll blink on the dash, 1 blink equals 1 and 2= 2 etc. every code is a double digit, they're separated by a breif pause, 55 is end. Ley us know what you find

 

Brakes - no real ideas....
No Start - I'd do a full tune-up. Most everything on a 12 volt system is made to run on about 10 volts minimum, but it won't be at it's optimum performance.
Go for: Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, pcv valve, air filter, breather filter, all of the filters that you can think of!

 

Checked for stored codes.
12- something with the memory
and 33- A/C cutout relay cuircuit. (There's no A/C in the truck, so whatever)

So does code 12 mean bad ECM?

 

12 is normal, just means the battery has been disconnected.

 

And did you check the ASD relay? And also try jiggling the plugs that connect to the PCM.

 

Replaced the ASD relay today. Plugs on the ECM have been pulled, cleaned, and re-installed. Also replaced the hall-effect switch today.
Tested all the wires that run the coil. I have continuity for all the wires. There's 12.4 volts going to the ASD relay, but only 5.4 getting to the coil. And when the engine turned over, voltage drops to 3.5.

 

On the brake issue....yes that propotioning valve can cause ALL kinds of trouble. I just fixed mine actually. (Oh yes, and see if you can fix before buying...those aren't cheap.) The seal on mine had popped out slightly over time and was leaking brake fluid all over my frame rail. I pulled it off and checked it...all the screws on it were loose, probably be cause of age and wear. I loosened them futher and the seal slid right back in place, then tightend the screws back up really good. Bled the brakes directly from that valve too, and they have never worked better. Check up on that...if it is leaking or the seal is loose, it can really cause problems.
Also, did you check your master cylinder? That might be going bad...
On the voltage issue, I can't really offer any advice beyond what you have done...

 

So I'm at college with no truck.
Since I left, two wires on the top half of the clear plug on the ECM looked broken/melted. They were fixed, but the plug was destoryed. Hardwired them directly to the ECM and still nothing.
I'm really thinking ECM went bad but I can't find an old Dakota in any junk yard I call. Anyone have a parts Dakota lying around with these parts(ECM and clear plug)?