ok guys this truck is driveing me crazy,,lol,,it's a 93 4x4 extenda cab ,3.9 mag,157,000 miles ,,i got this truck in oct,,it wasn't running ,,and i picked it up pretty cheap,,the guy i got it from didn't know about the infamous wire splice problem so i took a chance thinking that was the issue ,,turned out it was ,,main red wire by the fuse block was corroded in half ,,cleaned and repaired that and also cleaned all the other splices and the truck ran fine ,,but the weather haden't turned cold yet ,,the preivious owner had replaced the timeing chain before the wire issue and he said the truck was running fine untill the day it just quit on him when he was leaving his driveway,,

he had replaced the coil ,the ignition switch,the fuesable link at the starter,,the crank sensor,,the pickup in the distributor,,,and the computer,,before he got fed up with it not starting and thats where i came in,,like i said i fixed the wire issue and the truck ran great ,,ok winter came along with cold temps ,,in between i changed the tranny filter and the fluid and changed the air cleaner ,,well when the temps went below freezing i noticed the truck would run but really crappy till the temp guage came up enough for the heater to start blowing heat (also had to clean the heater realy because it had corrosion on the terminals),,now it will start right up but if you try to drive it before the temp comes up it misses,,spits spudders and jsut runs bad TILL,,it warms up ..then it runs like it should run smooth ,,no missing ,,no stumbling ,,nothing ,,no codes in the comp except 55,,and of course a 12 because i changed the battery..

i have another 93 dak 4x4 same body same engine that runs like a top ,,it has some front end problems but runs and drives perfect ,,so i deceided to swap some parts out and see if i could find what was wrong with the truck i'm driveing ,,heres what i've replaced on the truck ,,new plugs ,,wires ,,dis cap ,,rotor,tps,ais,map sensor ,,coil,,temp sensor in the intake,,battery,,fuel cap and checked and replaced any bad vacume lines ,,even swapped the throttle body between the two trucks ,,all the parts i swapped run fine on the donor truck and the swapped parts run fine on the truck i'm driveing ,,once it warms up!! yesterday i swapped the computers and still the same thing ,,,,i also checked the distributor for excessive play in the shaft it seems good ,,also checked fuel pressure and it's right where it should be both at start and running,,the only part i haven't changed is the egr valve and the sensor for the egr valve ,,i checked it for vacume and it has vacume to the egr valve ,,so what the hell is going on ? i guess it just isn't a morning person ,,lol,,any other suggestions? any body might have ???and why only cold??if it ran bad all thie time i could proably figure it out but this is crazy...i thought possibly timeing but this truck is the factory preset from what i've been told????

sorry for the long post but i wanted everybody to know what i did and didn't do,,

 

Is the TPS you installed black on the outside and did you look inside the throttle body to see if it was clean? A dirty TPS will act up in cold weather. I also would suggest checking your fuel injector wires to see if the contacts are still good.

Electrical? I'm curious to know too.

 

Possibly the Coolant Temperature sensor. There are 2 one 1 wire for the gauge, one 2 wire for the computer. Replace the computer one, $10 or so.
www.autozone.com

 

thanks guys ,,i did replace the temp sensor for the computer ,,but might look at the wires for that ,,the injectors wires look good ,,but will look at them again,,on the tps ,,when i changed the throttle body i left the tps ,the map and ais sensors in place from the donor truck..still the same ,, and the throttle body runs fine on the donor truck,,i'd think the injector wire would give me problems all the time ,,not just when it's cold,,wouldn't they??? ,,i haven't replaced the thermostat yet ..could that be giveing me issues?? the temp guage seems to be working properly though ..it will go almost to 1/2 then drop back to around 1/3 on the guage and stay there ,,it's gotta be something in the open loop ,,at least thats the info i'm getting from my reading ,,it appeares that once the o2 sensors are heated and the motor temp is up to operating range it runs great,,..i think my ex cursed it..she wasn't an early morning person either..lol..lol..

 

appears all the parts swapping you did validates most components are good. Is the shutter wheel in the dist body loose?
did you check or /move/change the dist body?
the FSM mentions that a diagnostic tool is used to set timing for ignition and injection if the position is changed. i have tried to set this with voltmeter etc, and it works, but we have similar cold weather probs to what you describe.

 

What kind of plugs are your running, my dakota r/t runs the same way on expensive plugs but I put in the cheapest autolites 3923 and it runs great even in 10 below weather. Just a thought.

 

thanks for the imput,,when i got this truck it was running a autolites platinum plug,,i always liked champion plugs in chrysler products so i put champs in it,,the problems started with the autolites in it ,,when i pulled them the insulators were clean as the day they were new ,,i pulled the champs out awhile ago to check them for any unusual signs and they were white as the day i installed them,,i still have the autolites,,maybe i'll swap them again and see if it changes anything,,
thanks again
crazy