Ok the story. I bought it over a year ago for $500. Its in great shape of a 89 se 3.9 4x4, very little rust, lots of new parts and well I love my truck.

It died on me in may and has been sitting beside my garage since. I finally pushed it into the garage on saturday.
I already looked for the spice on the asd it was ok so was the relay, changed the wires, plugs, cap, rotor, and the half pick up.
She turns but does not start so it has to be the timing chain or real bad timing.
I know very little on any domestics hell I'll I ever owned before was a Subarus (still have 2 daily drivers) I've bought the clinton book and have done a lot of research here and learned a lot. thanks guys

So I finally started to tearing it down to do the timing chain and I stopped and though ok if I'm doing this I might as well do...................I'm still making the list and its not nice. I have some parts but not close to what I need.
big ticket ones.
New rad $100-300
Rear diff $1000 for a used one? someones on crack

So in total I'm looking a $1500-3000 in parts in total (from when I bought it) to keep it running for a truck that moves 5000Km a year or less . hell I could of bought a late 90s full size for this.

Not really looking for help (only if you want too) just wanted to rant for a bit

 

You should be able to find a rear axle for less than $200 if you look around. Check craigslist for people parting out dakotas.

As for the timing chain, what makes you think its bad? Was it making a lot of noise, like slapping? Right before it died, was the truck running bad like the chain skipped a tooth? I find it hard to believe that the timing chain is your problem. It could have been and still could be a bad computer, a bad crankshaft position sensor... too many possibilites to list. So either you're leaving out a lot of information about your problem, or you made an assumption about the problem and started tearing into the truck without any real diagnosis.

 

ok before it died it was running hot, back firering, stalling and stop running when driving.
I was thinking it was the computer but its $150 for one.

Also I was just out side and wanted to ask with the key turned on should I have power to the coil? I put the multi up to it and got nothing.....

 

Yes, you should have power going into the coil with the key on.

 

I bought a rad from a junkyard for $39, and then they gave me $10 back when I brought the old rad back to them for core refund. No sense at all in buying a new one unless you are looking for performance.

I might stand alone on this opinion, but I have always noticed a huge disparity between the utility value of a good truck and the "actual" worth. Just because an 89 4x4 dakota is worth next to nothing on kbb.com doesnt mean that it isn't worth thousands of dollars more in the amount of work it can do, the 4x4 fun it can give you, and the reliability of knowing that if one of those subarus ever craps out, you have a truck to tow it home with. Also, sentimental value.

Not that subarus crap out of course, those things are awesome. Just saying, if you shop right you can get back on the road with minimal investment and have an awesome truck to hang onto. My dad sold his 3.9 dakota with 440k miles on it running strong, mine has 170k and can't be beat. I say fix and keep.

 

thought so. Is it powered by the computer?
now I'm thinking the cpu is the problem

I haven't taken to much apart so far. I'm down to the water pump now it needs to be fixed anyways since it leaking.

I've been looking at local wreckers and they are very limited on 1st gens. I found one with 5 but its 150 miles away

 

Make sure you hear the fuel pump kicking on (sounds like a hum) when you cycle on.

 

^ it turns on and I get fuel to the injector

 

Ok - with an ohmmeter check your ign coil (pull it off first). Not sure on the exact resistance, sorry.

Also check the voltage on the connector to the bottom of the coil.

Same thing with the crankshaft position sensor - check the voltage going in, and resistance on the sensor. These sensors go out (according to the manual) if you have an oil leak/coolant leak clogging into it.

Check that your ground coming out of the computer is good (two large wires that hook up to the back of your passenger head). Your symptoms are pointing to a failed computer, but you do want to diagnose before dropping the cash on a new one and have it still not start.

If it were bad timing, you'd still be getting voltage at your coil and a spark from the main wire coming off the coil (while cranking).

Check the wiring diagram at the back of your clinton book - trace from where it leaves the ASD relay, checking the voltage at each point.

 

so I followed wires from the asd with a test light and this is what I got from the relay

ign off
30 power
85,86,87 ground

ign on
30 power
85 nothing but the fuel pump kicks on but no ground or power
86 power
87 ground

but doesn't 87 power the coil, pump and goes to the cpu. but why is the fuel pump working?
starting to think I have a bad electrical issue some where.....

If I didn't have a hernia right now I would be smashing it to scrap