I bought a dakota from a friend of mine and it has been sitting for a couple years. He says it ran and drove when it was parked but the tranny (auto) was acting up and it idled goofy. I dont know much about Dakotas I am a cummins guy, but I am headed to school this fall and my truck wont be home every weekend like I will be. I figured if I got it going it could be a beater for bombin around in when I am home and carrying fence stuff.

I am assuming your basics will be needed, battery, fresh gas, clean lines and carb (or are these injected). Fress oil once it fires.

Like I said I know very little on these, not 100% sure on the year yet, waiting for the title, its got a V8 not sure what size these had, 5.2L?

I will post up more questions and info when I get it. I am going to pick it up tonight and hopefully they have the title now . If I can't get er' running I think I can get my 100 bucks back parting it out.

 

Got it home, its a 1992 and I was right 5.2L and EFI. Charging a battery to throw in it right now, when we tried to jump it the cables started smoking so I think the battery may be shorted internally.

 

Got a battery in it, everything electrical seems to work except it wont turn over. It makes a very slight clicking sound, I am guessing it is the relay in fuse box. There is no clunk like a solenoid engaging, and no starter obviously.

 

Got it to turn over, cable to the starter seem bad because it cranks hooking a battery charger direct to the starter, but I just figured out it is in lack of a coil and distributer.

 

Be careful using an old battery with these trucks. You won't believe the problems you'll have if the battery isn't good. My battery went bad, and without any warning signs (like dimming lights, difficult starts, and such) my truck would idle goofy, and die on me when coming to a stop. The idle was low, like 300 rpm's. Replaced my battery, and everything was fine. If your still having problem with your idle, when you get it running I'd check the IAC too. Good luck! Oh and any vehicle you can get for 100 bucks is a good deal! You can get 400 bucks just in scrap around here.

 

Ya my 96 360 has had idle issues and cleaning the IAC fixes it everytime. Going to pick up a coil today, and I found the rest of the distributer. I put in a newish battery so hopefully its the cable, I want to get it taken off this afternoon and have a new one made.

 

picked up a coil and I am still lacking spark, all the wires goin in and out of the coil are good, do these have a computerized ignition?

 

all magnum engines (1992 and newer) have electronic fuel injection. If you have no spark, check the shrader valve on the fuel rail (driver's side of engine towards the rear) and see if you have fuel pressure. If you have no fuel and no spark, chances are you have either a bad crank sensor or a bad ASD relay.

Before you get deep into trying to get this thing started, you need to make sure that the fuel is OK and not stale, if not, you could cause more harm than good. Also, the oil needs to be changed, coolant, check every rubber component and make sure it's not dry rotted. You were having problems starting it up before, replace your battery cables. The voltage drop that results from corroded/deterioated cables will cause bigger problems in the long run.

 

A wiff if the tank says the gas is good, which supirses me since my snowmobile stunk after one summer of sitting. There is no varnish smell like our sleds get if we forget to treat them. I would like to drain the tank though, whats the easiest way to do this? Do I need to drop it out?

 

How do I go about locating the crank sensor and is there anyway to test it to see if its good or are new ones cheap enough to try a new one.