I recently bought another 96 Dakota with the 5,2. I had a miss that only presented itself occasionally. When it happened it would sputter a little and pop through the exaust. If I gave it gas it would sputter and pop a couple times and then run fine for awhile/ I put in plugs, wires cap and button. Cleaned throttle and used dry gas. All this helped but it still happens at times. The manual I have has directions for retreiving codes and says the initial signal should be 88. I don`t get this at all. After going through the reads 3-4 times I get the following. A 43 (ignition coil) 5 consecutive times. Then a 21 ( O2 sensor) twice. Then I get the 55, end of code signal. Will these codes be correct even if I don`t get the 88 to start with??

 

Update; Changed the coil and ran about 10 miles. The check engine light is out and ran code again. I got a 12 ( memory stand-by power lost). Maybe where battery was unhooked? The mis is very slight and still get a pop from exaust (very slight sound). Coming up my drive with pedal barely pressed I get the pop and miss together that is constant. Also seemed like when the tranny (Auto) went from 2nd to drive I heard it too. No noticeable miss at high speed.

 

88 should never come up. You probably miss read it. We have the REAL service manual for 96 and it does not say anything about 88. And we have a list of the codes and correct instructions in the FAQ in this section. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ml#post1472415

Check all plugs, wires, dist, rotor and fuel injectors.

Code 43 is Multiple/ single cylinder misfire NOT Ignition coil.

 

Thanks for the info. After changing the coil out I don`t have a check engine light on. The low speed miss is there still. It is more pronounced with my foot barely resting on the pedal but not really noticeable at higher speeds. I`ll print a copy of those codes. The ones I had were in a Haynes 87-96 repair manual.