Okay so today i bought a 1992 Dodge Dakota 2wd, extended cab, 5.2 V8 w/ auto tranny...paid $1000. Runs and shifts perfect, or it did when I was test driving.

An hour after I bought it though, started acting up.

The engine randomly cuts out when driving. Not a loss of electrical power, it just randomly dies. No warning signs at all no sputter or weird sounds or anything just running then not running. When this happens if I stop for a couple minutes and it will fire right back up. The longer I leave it sit, the longer it will run before dieing. The other symptom of note, is that when Im sitting for a minute after it dies, the ignition cannot be on or she wont restart. I have to sit for at least a couple minutes with the ignition OFF only.

My friend has a 3.9 Dak, one by one I swapped over his MAP, TPS, and IACV in an effort to determine the problem, but no effect. It would start run for a little bit, then die. Im pretty sure its not the ignition coil, either.

When it is running though, runs perfect. Idle is smooth, lots of power, no misses...the engine itself is in awesome shape.

Please tell me whats going on im very frustrated that I bought it today and already its acting up, and I need to have it running so I can get to work. My Eagle Talon is currently down and probably will be for a while, which is why I bought this Dak...

 

Take a look at this.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ml#post1678925

 

Yeah I was reading about that earlier. Before I created this account.

Well my multimeter doesn't work anymore, so I can't do the continuity checks. But I started it after sitting for a couple hours and wiggled the hell out of the wiring harness that runs under the relay/fuse box and it didn't die so...does that mean anything?

 

sounds like a non venting fuel cap...

 

what do you mean? Its the fuel filler cap causing this? It fires right up and runs until it reaches a certain temperature then you have to let it cool off before it will start again. Longer I let it cool off, the longer it will run before dying again.

The fuel cap could cause that? Really?

(note that this is not me questioning your knowledge or anything its just that I am not a noob when it comes to working on cars in general and have never heard of a fuel cap causing problems)

 

i'm not entirely sure but i heard that is what happens to lawnmowers. they'll run for awhile then die out because the tank becomes a vacuum. could do the same with a car.

 

It has been known to happen on cars. Mostly throws a code to the CEL. But the thing is he said it just quits, the gas cap thing would be like fuel starvation, there would be chugging.
Since its a heat based issue, look for things that when heated, will "seperate", then when cool, "reconnect".

 

Had the same problem with mine, replaced practically everything. Turned out to be the crank sensor, was fixed in 10 minutes, there's an air tube the manual says is in the way (usually seized by now) it will slide right in without removing it.

 

Yeah I was actually thinking that might be it.

You had the exact same symptoms, running fine until it got to a certain temp, then would not start again until it cooled off a little? Where is the CS on this thing and how hard it is to replace?

 

crank position sensor is located on the back of the engine, kinda behind the egr valve. there's an air tube there that the book says has to be removed, do not remove sensor will slide right in. hope it fixes you