Hey everyone, I'm new to these forums but his sure looks like the place for some first gen Dakota help.

I just recieved a 91 Dakota 3.9 v6 it used to be used at my dads business as a truck to run and get parts with but eventually it got degraded to a garbage truck. It used to randomly not start. One day it fire right up hour later no go. This went on for a while but eventually it became a hAssle so they parked and used an old box truck instead. It's been In the parking lot for two monthsand I couldn't stand lookin at the poor thing and asked my dad for it he said sure just get it out the parking lot. So here I am asking for some help on this old thing. When I try to start it cranks and cranks and tries to start but it sounds now likes it misfiring and backfiring it didn't before it used to just run or not but when it did it was smooth the check engine light is on. I think it might be the distributor since it has fuel and spark but I'm not sure. Any ideas because I don't really know. Oh yeah it has a cArb. But is has efi so I'm a little confused on that too again any help appreciated

 

Welcome to the forum!!

Well first off, it cant have a carb and efi! The '91 Dakotas were throttle body injected, so while that throttle body might look like a carb, its not.

If you know for a fact the fuel pump is good and the fuel pressure is normal, then first thing you should check is the ASD (auto shutdown relay). If that is good (both getting and putting out close to 12 volts) then check the coil, distributor, plugs, and wires. If you can't find anything wrong with them, then check the Crankshaft position sensor. That should give you a good start. If one of those turns out to be the problem, let us know which!

 

the fuel pump is running and there seems to be a good amount of fuel in the throttle body. the asd is good. so are the wires and coil. the plugs looked really old and fouled. i'll replace those. what should i be looking for in the distributor should i take it out of the truck? the cap looks new. also where in the world is the crankshaft position sensor? thanks for the reply

 

If the cap looks new and the rotor is making good contact, there is probably nothing wrong with the distributor. You should probably replace the plugs, but I doubt they are causing it not to fire at all. If you get new plugs, use Autolite 3923s. They are cheap and run good in our engines. The autoparts store will NOT have them in their computer as a plug that goes in our trucks, so you'll have to ask for them specifically.

The crankshaft position sensor is located at the back of the engine and sticks down into the transmission bellhousing on the passenger side. What it does is reads notches in the flexplate or flywheel (depending if its auto or manual). Each notch is the point where a cylinder is ready for spark. When the computer gets the reading it ungrounds the ignition coil, which is then grounded by a spark plug through the distributor. If the computer doesn't get an input from the crankshaft position sensor it not release the ground on the coil, which means no spark.

 

ok ill make sure about those plugs thanks. and i'm going to go look at the cps now. um as i recall some of my fathers employees had turned the distributor or something along those lines has that messed up the timing? Also, does anyone have the codes to tell me what the flashing check engine light means when i turn the key on off 3 times?

 

well i went over everything you said and it all looked good except for the plugs. However, i remembered people messing with the timing trying to get it to start so i took out the distributor cleaned the rusted rotors good. i cranked the engine till cylinder 1 was at tdc and put the distributor back in and got it all lined up. then i put in the new plugs, hooked up the jumper cables, prayed for the best, and turned the key and what do you know the old thing fired to life it runs rough at first but after a couple mins it was good and even the check engine light is off. Thanks for all the help and now i'm on the road to restoring this old 91 dakota as you can see it could use some tlc and the interior is trashed.

 

Im just wondering but are you sure thats a 91 because that looks like a 92 or newer and if it is that would mean it has a magnum engine which has MPI unless they changed the front end body style in 90 or 91 but i thought it was 92 with the new use of the magnums

 

They changed the body in '91.

 

yes its a 91 thats when the body style was changed. and although i wish it had a magnum sadly it does not.