My 94 Dakota 5.2 4x4 just died in the middle of the street the other day. After a few minutes it restarted and I was able to drive it for 15 or 20 minutes then it died again and would not restart. Had it towed. The next day after checking electrical connections, fuses and swapping out the fuel pump relay with a spare it started. I let it run at an idle for 15 or 20 minutes and it ran OK. Today I decided to drive it to do some errands. I drove it for about 20 miles and it died again and would not restart. I could let it set for a few minutes with the ignition on and it would restart but would not run. The morning after the 1st incident, I was going to bleed off the fuel pressure and remove the fuel line to see if I had fuel flow and there was no fuel pressure to bleed off. Any thoughts?

 

It is possible your pump is dead or no power to it. Check your fuel pump relay and fuse to see if it has power. Next check for power at the fuel pump connector. If it does have power and you don't have fuel pressure then replace the pump.

 

Thanks for your response. I checked for power at the relay box and all relays and fuses had power. I couldn't locate a fuse for the fuel pump in the fuse panel, but I did check all the fuses with a test lamp to make sure they had power on both sides of them. I swapped the fuel pump relay out with the AC relay the other day when this happened and it started again and ran for the 20 or so miles without any issues. It doesn't seem to me the pump would be bad and then run for twenty miles.
This happened suddenly and the engine running with the fuel pump not running would account for there not being any fuel pressure at the bleed valve. I will check the electrical again. I know there is a grounding problem that has been there for years because the fuel gauge hasn't worked for a long time.
I just went out and started the truck. It started right up and I let it set and run for more than an hour without any issues. I am thinking electrical problem here, but I am not sure where else to look. Suggestions????

 

Just to clarify, are you saying the truck has been running fine since you replaced the fuel pump relay (with the A/C relay)? If that's the case, it sounds like the problem was your relay. Does the A/C still work ok? If it continues to run ok, maybe switch the relays back to see if the problem returns. That would confirm the diagnosis.

 

either a crank sensor or distributor pickup plate or coil shorting out and not working when it gets "hot" then cools down and works again common problem, may or may not show a code (coil will not throw a code!) have had this issue more than once over the years when I worked in the shop as well as on my own truck