1995 Dakota 3.9L mpfi v6 auto club
Story time!
On what was a wonderful Christmas night, my girlfriend and I were going to her place from my family's Christmas dinner. I was driving her '95 dakota when suddenly the engine sputters and then shuts off. Cutting the story short here I tried to start it (obviously in park) and no cigar. We were literally 200 feet from her driveway. Incidently, that's where my 2002 Chevy prism (basically a corolla) sat. With her no fuel gauge in her truck, we assume it ran out of gas. So we took my car and put 2 gallons in it, no start.
After looking at fuses and swapping relays I decided to accept that it wasn't going to start. Being the redneck I am, I took the ratchet strap that previously held her battery down and towed her heavy a** truck with my little prism. Surprisingly, we made it to the driveway. It was truly a Christmas miracle.

I am no stranger to a no start condition. The starter does engage and the serpentine belt cranks at this point.

I used an inline spark test and tested the coil to the distributor and the spark plug in the middle on the driver side (I don't know the cylinder #'s) both lit up while cranking.

So I moved quickly to fuel (I should have tested spark on all cylinders but I was hoping to find something not working) Took the gas cap off and can hear the fuel pump whirling as the key is turned on. Using a test light, I checked a fuel injector harness while cranking, and the light flashes.

I didn't do a compression test and I left my fuel pressure tester at home.

I will eventually do all the tests when I get a chance. I'm pretty new to dodge but not to cars.

Is there anything else I should be aware of that's specific to this vehicle? I'm not one of those that replaces half the engine components before I get it figured out.

 

check the 'sticky' FAQ -Common problems at the beginning of the first gen dakota threads. There's a short piece on what to look at if the truck won't start.
Good Luck

 

Yeah a short piece that doesn't relate to me, I have spark and fuel. Thanks for replying though, I thought it was a ghost forum.

I think it's the timing chain though its seems odd that it would cause a no start condition. I popped the distributor cap and look at it spin while cranking and I seen it hesitate a couple times while cranking.

To further my suspicion, I watched a YouTube video of a 3.9L with a rattling timing chain and it sounds just like the rattling her truck made. It's always made that noise since she bought it a year ago.

Anyway, how do you remove the piece that's behind the water pump? Is that the timing cover? Do I see black rtv instead of a gasket?? Anybody???

 

do you have or get a Chilton manual would be my only suggestion. should get you thru the process. you seen pretty savvy so you should have no problems. i would guess, like you, is timing chain issue. try manual turn the crank back and forth and check the play at the rotor. if the crank moves like 1/2 inch of turn and the rotor does not then there is a timing issue.

 

Great idea about the crank, I wouldn't have thought of that. A Chilton manual sounds wonderful but alas I'm stuck with a crappy Haynes manual. That book is so general I could have used a manual for a different vehicle. Also it seems I learn better by just doing.

I pulled the timing cover yesterday and what I saw was horrid. The cam gear was bald on one side and I pulled the chain off without removing the gears. I've got a new timing kit and it's already installed, I'm on my way. Thanks for the reply!