Hello I am new here but came to see if there were any gurus that could help. I own a 1989 DAKOTA SPORT CONVERTIBLE, recently the oil filter got punctured some how causing oil to go all over the engine compartment. I was able to fill her back up enough to get home. When I got home I realized I had over filled her, so I drained the oil to the normal levle. Then while driving the truck just would die and I would have to wait diffrent amounts of time before she would sart during that time she would turn over just fine and it had spark from what I know but the injectors would not give me fuel untill some time period was up. I had let the truck sit and had the battery disconnected to charge it but when I recconected it the check engine light code was gone, I havent been able to get a reading since. If I disconnect the computer for about five min the truck usually starts fine but will die again randomly with no check engine light.....what do I do??????

 

Have you checked antifreeze for oil or oil for antifreeze? Could be an oil soaked electrical connection as well. I had same type of issue and it was overheating even thougfh I didnt think it was, mine ended up being the fan clutch.

Once you have had a problem like that all you can do is start at the bottom and eliminate possibilities. Vacuum, overheating, oil pressure sending unit, O2 sensor, wire short. All these things can cause your problem.

Good Luck

 

Thanx for the help, i have been at this for a while all connectors have been cleaned, fuel pump replaced, and i checked fluid levles and fluids, everything checks out. Aperrantly from reading on i see some other people have had this issue. Mine for some reason isnt the same. Well i did establish that the coil wasnt putting out any spark so i checked the wiries, everything looked good back to the "smec" then after having that disconnected and recconected the truck managed to start. I got the check engine light so i ran the diagnostics......i am not sure how to read it so here it goes:......one flash...pause.....two flashes...pause...two flashes...pause...two flashes...pause...5 flashes...pause...5 flashes. And i know the five flashes mean the end of test. Can anybody help? Thanx for all the help so far. (oh and its a 3.9l v-6 with two fuel injectors on top of what looks like a carburator)

 

ive got the same truck, had it since new and it eats batteries. just before the battery wont take a charge i get electrical problems, do you have another battery to swap out just to check. mines in for a tranny job right now, its gonna cost a bundle but there isnt another truck out there i like better than the old convertible dodge

 

thats awsome that you had yours since it was new, and I cant agree more, what wouldnt you like about having a truck and a convertible in one. I got a new battery when this started happening, the battery has been fine the front end however developed a lot of free play over the years and it cost me $900 to replace and they also fixed some recall thing. I pulled the o2 sensor fuiguring sice it burns oil it might be it, It looked good so I cleaned it off and put it back evr since shes started up but I havent driven her in fear. I am going to contuinue to see if she will start and then I will drive her, oh and the check engine light went away!!. for your problem I heard that the wire bundle on the left hand side just under the windshield wiper fluid thing tends to corrode easily and grounds out or makes no connection you might want to check that area real good that might be your battery problem. thanx for the help guys!!!

 

if your looking for convertible specific parts, ever want to sell, or part out the truck as we are always looking for the convertible specific parts go here, its a slow but helpful forum
http://pub13.bravenet.com/forum/1111027943/show/325844
for all the regular maintanence and regular parts questions this dodge forum is better with the day to day mechanical problems.

 

if i am reading your code description correctly you have a code twelve which i believe means that the battery has been disconnected, the second set is 22 which is the coolant temp sensor circuit and 55 being the end of the codes and the thing that looks like a carburetor is called a throttle body

 

 

Mine is a 93 so possibly you dont have a crank sensor or it is located different. One issue I had was overheating and it would shut me down. Ended up replacing fan clutch after all the other stuff didnt work.

 

sure enough I dont have a crank sensor well I did some more trouble shooting its deffinetly a sensor some where that is intermittent. I just have no I dea which one because when the truck is working they are all working and when its they still are getting power I just dont know how to tell if they are sending a signal.