I found a guy in town who's parting ways with a truck (94 Dodge Dakota Sport 3.9 V6 - 206,000miles) that was given to him a year ago. He's broke as heck and has no job. The ECM has gone out on the truck (shorted for some reason) and he'll literally take anything I give him for the vehicle. My friend (amateur mechanic) took a good look at the vehicle and said it was in pretty good shape. It spins but doesnt crank/fire. Obviously cuz the ECM doesnt work. The oil looks good, tranny fluid is pretty pink and the brakes are stiff. Tires in great shape and the body is solid. I purchased the part from O'Reily's for 150 bux as I planned to give the guy 200bux "as is" for his truck and get my buddy to install the new programmed ECM.

I'm only buying an older truck to drive it to and from the lakes and rivers in Tallahassee. 30 miles tops/2x a month. Im towing a 14ft Aluminum Jon with a lightweight Magic Tilt trailer.

My questions are:

Should I risk buying the truck without knowing what caused the ECM to short?
-Mayb whatever shorted that ECM could have also damaged other computer components

I hear Dodge Trucks aint worth a cowpie and that I should stay far away from them, especially around 94-97. Frequent problems with the fuel pump and transmission. Whats your opinion on the quality of these vehicles?

Should I go for it or just wait around and see if I can find anything else?

Your answers are greatly, greatly appreciated.

 

I'd say go for it. I mean 350 sounds like a reasonable gamble for a possible good running truck, Only bad thing is without the ecm it's not like you could tell if something else is wrong with it right now. Worst case scenario you can sit on it and part it out and will make more than that off it as long as the body and frame are good. If it's always been a florida truck like mines it should be good.

Is it rwd or 4wd. Auto or manual?

How long can you go without a small towing truck if you waited and what would be the most you would spend.

If I had a place to store an extra vehicle I'd take that drive to come get it (I'm down here in Orlando)

 

GO FOR IT!

 

How do we know the PCM is shot? Did somebody do the "three key turns to run" thing to retrieve any codes? See if it'll talk to you.

And yeah, Dakotas had issues. All trucks have issues. We know how to deal with them.

 

$350 I'd bite. Worst case, it doesn't work and you can with ease get more money out of it.
Heck you could probably get that at least in just taking it to the crusher for scrap.

Also being you're in florida.. I'd call up the local PD and request a dog come sniff the vehicle. It could have been used as a drug transporter and fried ECU is just an excuse to offload it quickly for cheap.