Hi all,

As the title states, I'm new to this message board (though I've been reading through the FAQs and posts for several months now). I bought a lightly used 1995 Dakota recently. I have essentially zero experience working on vehicles, so I allowed a mechanic I've worked with previously to do a bunch of basic maintenance things on the truck before I started using it. A tune-up with new wires and plugs, new distributor and rotor, new belts and hoses, flush/fill radiator. etc. I wanted to try to make the truck as reliable as possible within a small budget. All of this work was done but the mechanic noted something really odd about how the truck starts...

The engine will turn over without catching the first time the driver attempts to start the truck. But if I turn the key all the way back to "off" and then attempt to re-start the truck again it will start up. The mechanic (who has good but not all-encompassing credibility) said he investigated the problem but was unable to pinpoint a cause. After reading about the infamous splice problem on this message board, I suggested he check that first. He later informed me that the previous owner had apparently already gone through the effort of re-doing the splice. Plus, once the engine starts up it runs fine, not cutting out on me so far. Oh, another issue is that my gas gauge doesn't work properly, waving cheerfully at me as I drive around. I've read that this is another well-known issue with the first-gen's, but I wasn't sure if there was still some connection between the gas gauge problem and the difficulty starting the first time the start motor is engaged.

Am I just not giving the fuel pump enough time to push gas to the engine? Is there a ground somewhere that I should check to make sure the problem isn't electrical?

Anyone's thoughts on the matter are greatly appreciated.

KSC in MD

 

Lots of possibles. You may want to first check the fuel pressure.

 

either way, I think you should post up some pics of your new truck hah. Anything is better with pics

 

I let the mechanic I used talk me into letting him repaint the truck for me, since the original white paint was coming off in sheets on the roof and hood, and some surface rust had just started to appear. The job he did was definitely amateur-ish, but likely still better than I would have achieved given I have never painted anything since maybe elementary school. I'll try to post a couple of photos, but the truck still obviously looks like a plain-jane gov't service vehicle, which is what it was in its previous life.

I'm sure the mechanic said at one time that he wanted to do a fuel-pressure check to try to track down the issue. I'll have to ask again, but I'm highly certain that he told me that wasn't the problem. It is very consistent - it won't start the first time I try to start the engine, turning over and over. But when I turn the key all the way off and then try to start it again it will start up then. Sometimes immediately and sometimes it sort of struggles to life. From my reading here, I thought there is no regular fuel filter to check for being plugged. Is there something else I should check?

Thanks for the responses!

KSC in MD

 

There is a fuel filter on the drivers side frame rail under the door that you could replace, but I dont think thats your issue

Honestly it almost sounds to me like the truck had a anti theft system in it and its malfunctioning, or was programmed to do that. I would check under the steering wheel for any large electrical box thats been spliced into the harness, or anything strange looking. Thats where I would start anyway.