I have a 90 Dakota 3.9 v6, it has 123,000 miles on it. My problem is some days it runs fine, runs good in fact. Other days I will be driving and all of a sudden it will just lose power and die. I will be pressing the gas driving and when it loses power, the engine is running but pressing on the gas does nothing. Eventually it will die. It will also do this while sitting at a light idling on occasion. Sometimes it will turn right over and go. Other times I will have sit to there roughly 5-10 minutes before it will restart. When it won't restart it seems like it wants to, it just seems like it isn't getting either fuel or spark.

It keeps giving me error codes 11,12,33,34. The 12,33,34 seem irrelevant because the battery has been unhooked and I don't have AC or speed control. It will give the 12,33 without even driving it, and the 11 after it won't restart. Would the code 11 have anything to do with it dieing while driving or only when it won't restart? I am at a loss, thought maybe the fuel pump is going, or ASR might be causing it too. Problem is I don't have the money to just start replacing this and that hoping it fixes it. So I figured I'd come get the opinions of some online experts. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

well the 11 indicates either the timing chain skipped, the crank, or the cam sensor signal was lost. All three of those could kill it like that. I personally had a similar problem w/ my crank sensor. I thought it was the sensor so i replaced it, turned out to be the wiring. It had melted through and that was causing the signal to drop out occasionally. So when it wasn't giving a signal the engine would stall (as after the signal is lost the fuel system is stopped) and then it wouldn't start. If you poke around the internet there might be some articles on how to test it. I'm pretty sure you'll need an ohm meter. Otherwise a local parts store might be able to to tell you.

 

I have a test sheet for the crank sensor I can scan and email if you want. I am of the same opinion but since I am having same kinds of problem and cant seem to find the cause I expect my opinion aint worth the pixels its written on.

I am taking mine to mechanic for diagnosis tomorrow and will advise what they come up with.

 

Thank you both for your replies. Any ideas are appreciated. Thank you.

 

When is the last time the fuel filter was changed. Your year has one along the frame under the drivers side.

 

Fuel filter was changed recently.....first thing we tried.

 

Please read my post from the other day!
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-dakota-tech/175726-no-spark-no-fuel.html

 

Might change the pickup plate in the distributor

 

Tuna, I was going to try just that. Have read about that famous splice before. However, believe it or not. When I went to do this......seems my truck has no power distribution box. Looked near the battery where it is supposed to be no box....looked around for something looking like the box elsewhere and nothing to be found. Thought I was losing my mind, so I had my father-in-law look for it too. He didn't see one either.

Is this possible? Am I just missing it somewhere? If I actually don't have one. Where would I find this splice?

 

Problem solved. Apparently it was the pick-up coil causing the problem. Changed it 4 days ago and so far no more problems. Got lucky, only 30 dollars and the first thing I tried. Thanks for all your suggestions.

If anybody else has this problem. I found on another site a way to check the pick-up coil. With the truck running and warm, tap on the bottom of the distributor. If the truck dies, you need a new pick-up coil. I tried this twice and both times the truck died.