OK all you Dakota experts here is a new one to me maybe one of you can explain it.
I was (am) having issues with my Dakota (1996 SLT 5.2L 4x4 power windows , power locks, NO Remote and no alarm)start up after complete rust removal and repaint. Rebuilt the engine reinstalled it fired it up and drove it just fine. Then got to work on the body afer many hours (months,years) I finally finished up and put it all back together, went to start it , yup you guessed it no way Jose' ok after working the forums here trying many solutions and asking lots of people I got theis last answer.
Disconnect the battery.....wait at least an hour....then with the key in the lock, but not turned on.....Using another key lock and then unlock each of the doors with the key then go ahead and start it up.....The idea is that the pcm set an "alarm" code because I had disconnected and removed the doors.
Anyway I never heard of that before, will be trying it today but thought I would post this and see if any of you Dodge boys (or girls) had heard of it before.

 

Heres the follow up:
I tried this yesterday before I tried anything else and sure as hell the engine fired up.
Now I didnt try to start it after I ran a hardwire ground to various points in the engine compartment as most of the threads talk about checking all the ground connections but hey it may just be a trick for someone out there to try if all else fails.

 

Never had this problem when I changed my rusted out doors last year. Battery was left connected the whole time too..

 

I am kin of interested in hearing from any dodge mechanic who can confirm or deny this whole thing, frankly I was amazed ....but maybe it was just the running of the new ground wire around the engine compartment that actually fixed the problem, dont know but thought I would post it as a possibility. Just a question.....do you have electric locks on your dakota?

 

Yup, power everything

 

on the new vehicle you have to roll the windows up and down 3 times to unlock the pcm

 

Mine, you have to run around it three times, counter-clockwise, naked, to clear codes.

 

Ok Shadow and Vhinze I thought it was hokey but I did want to know if there was any truth in it. I figured it must have been the ground wire I ran but it's also nice to dispel the fairy tales. Hope you guys had a good laugh I can also chuckle at my own mis fortunes and faux pas, not being a gear head all my life this is my first restore ever. I have pictures if anyone wants to see them

 

I'd be interested in seeing them. The pics that is. I'm gunna be tearing into my Dakota in the next year or so and attempting to build a 7-8 second truck for the track.

As for the PCM unlock thing, I don't doubt that on these new things, they have one, but I'm pretty sure these trucks are too old for something like that. You likely had a bad ground, and as you stated, running the new ground solved your problem. But this method is definitely intriguing and something to try if all else fails. Maybe you could PM Master Tech and see if he'd chime in on the subject