OK First post from me here. I recently purchased a 94 Dakota that wasn't working, the PO had drove it home for lunch shut it off and it never ran again. It was moved from place to place and after a year and a half they finally decided to just get rid of it. I picked it up for a few hundred bucks and just want to get it running. I am getting no spark and can not hear the fuel pump kick in when the key is turned on. I went throught the FAQs and see where the ASD relay is a common problem for the symptoms described. I did the testing described in the FAQs but I am still unsure of the results.
With my key off I am only getting .017v on terminal 30.
With the key in the on position I am getting 11.97v at terminal 86.
With the key still in the on position I am getting 11.97v at terminal 85 and when I turn the key to start the engine turns and voltage drops to 9.99v.
My battery voltage is at a steady 12.2 (not the greatest but it came with the truck). Electrical stuff is not my area even on my motorcycles. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
Charlie

 

All i can say is Welcome to the site, and wait for someone to post up once some one who knows a good amount about this checks it out

 

Check the faq for information on the infamous splice underneath the power distribution center.

 

Ok. Terminal 30 is your constant hot. You should, at all times, be reading battery voltage.
So, either you have (1) a blown fuse, or (2) that splice.

Since I'm sure you've already checked the fuses, your problem is probably that infamous splice. It is located somewhere in the wire bundle near the PDC (black box). I don't know where, since my truck doesn't have this problem, but people I guess have said it wasn't hard to find.

 

I guess I don't know what the heck I'm looking for as a 'splice'. I see the wire bundle coming out of the PDC but as I follow it back I don't see anything I recognize as a splice in the wires. I see wires coming out to be connected to other things but everything else seems to be continuous wire. I even took apart the PDC thinking a splice might be in there, not!
Sorry for being so ignorant and if I'm not making myself clear please let me know, but I really do appreciate the help you all are giving me.
Charlie

 

The splice will be located under the PDC which looks like a black box on the drivers side fender in the engine compartment. It is held in by four screws I believe. Carefully lift that up so you don't disconnect anything and you will see a thick bundle of wires wrapped in cloth tape. (at least mine was cloth) It's a 94 so the tape if cloth should fall right off the wires when you mess with it. You really can't miss the splice. The one your looking for has three red wires soldered together coming from the front of the truck and it would have been soldered to another single red wire heading towards the firewall. You will be able to tell that it used to be together because you'll see the corrosion on both ends. This picture may help

 

Found it, It certianly looks like the problem. I don't have any idea how any current could pass through there, let alone 12+volts.
For the record my PDC was held on with two bolts.
I really think they were paid by the yard for applying the cloth tape around that wiring loom!
Thanks for the help
Charlie

 

Glad to hear you found it. What I did to fix mine was solder a female spade connector to the 3wire side and the male to the single wire and used dielectric grease as I plugged them together. Then I used vinyl tape to finish it up. I know it goes without saying but, please make sure the battery is disconnected before you work on the splice. There's allot of amperes flowing through there.

 

I just used two butt connectors and a short piece of wire (had to snip back far enough to remove the corrosion on all of the wires & I had the butt connectors on hand). Lo and behold it is alive!!
Now I just have to go back and re-adjust the timing because I know the PO spun the distributor thinking the timing was way off.
Thanks again especially for the pic. It helped a lot more than just the description.
Charlie