Hey guys; my vintage 1991 dakota 3.9L has a remote starter button bc the ignition switch was too far gone to fix. Normally, i turn on the key and hit the button and it fires right up. Nowadays, it's hit and miss. After weeks of periodically starting it to let it run a minute, today i started it three times and on the first attempt, it started up perfectly, the second time, as it was turning over, it acted like maybe it wasn't getting fuel, like it was about to die but then it fired up and i gunned it a few times then turned the switch off. On the third attempt, it would turn over but refused to start and when i turned off the key off This time, i hear this Strange Sounding 'Click Click Cick Click Click'. Next i turned the key on and off to see if it would flash a code but the engine light was not on at all.

I'm thinking it's gotta be a bad ground somewhere? What's that clicking noise..a relay? Any ideas would be nice. Thanks!

 

Ummm ...

Ignition switch is dying; car starts acting like it's losing electrical to the rest of the system; I dunno, maybe a bad ignition switch?

RwP

 

Your guess is better than mine i'm sure so i'll change it out. thanks buddy

 

replacing the ignition switch in the 1st place would have actually been easier than wiring in a remote switch.

 

Lol; yep. i bought the truck this way and i don't know for sure why they did the remote starter thing. i've 'assumed' it was due to a faulty switch but idk for sure. Tearing apart that steering column is daunting for me so i got a guy coming to look at it for me.

Will keep you guys apprised; thanks a lot for the input.

 

Ummm...

Depending on which column you have, there may not be that much "tearing apart" to do.

Some of them have the switch at the bottom of the column connected with the upper ignition lock tumbler via rod; some have the switch surrounding the tumbler.

Even those that surround? It's remove the shrouding ( a few screws ) then replace the switch; no tearing down.

(Tearing down ... look up how to replace the turn signal switch on a tilt 1988 sometimes. And I've got that to do this month before I can get it to pass inspection.)

RwP

 

you're right; mine 'seems' to be located down low. i can see the big connector under the dash..no tilt. waiting on my buddy to come help me out....just now, it started right up but still not getting an engine light and the 'maintenance required' light is on.

btw; here in ms, they've done away with safety inspections

 

What i don't get is why, just now, it started right up but other times it won't :/ aargh

 

MAINT REQUIRED is due to it being so many miles (I forget offhand how many) since the EGR Maint Required counter has been reset.

What I'd do, if I were you, is pull that blue "fine piece of solutions" and toss it, since it takes a DRB or a higher end scan tool for the later MR timers.

(I'm lucky, a reset button and I'm golden on my 1988.)

As to the intermittent part - one of the failure modes is that the housing starts to separate, so it doesn't quite properly switch the power all the time.

Now, that might not fix the problem; but I'm a firm proponent of "Part A is broken, Part A can cause Symptom B, Fix Part A and THEN we can see what else may be the problem!" If you know your tires are total crap and have holes down to the threads, I'd replace tires before worrying about a bad U-joint causing vibration at 75MPH. (Not you, but we had that several months back ... I think on a different forum.)

RwP

 

Your logic makes too mush sense. i too have been guilty of passing over the tires to get to the u joint. In my case, i was going to have the front end repaired when all along it was a bubble on the tread side of a tire
Telling me about the ign switch housing separation being possible reason for intermittent start helped my head; thanks. My old neck ain't what it used to be so i'm waiting on one of two guys to get freed up and come change that for me. I'm drivin my '94 for now; it's running great Thanks again!