Hello folks. Im contacting you from the UK.
My Son has a Mk1 5.2 Dakota which he's in love with. Its been basicly fine for the 18 months he has owened it.
The only sign of trouble had been a mid cycle warm up issue that was probably going to be a temp sensor. It only did this on a few occations and its something I was going to get around to now the warmer and drier weather is nearly here.
Alas we now have a big problem.
It broke down on his way home from me, after a quick look it appeared to have lost its left hand cylinders? We had a spark, but a rough noise too which i was uncertain of.
It got dark, i did'nt have enough tools and on a sunday night with work the next day, we had to recover it to his house.
American cars are a little thin on the ground in the UK and parts, while rock auto can supply pretty well, I thought I would ask my brother and sisters on the other side of the pond if this is something you have had experience of, before I dive in with my somewhat aging skill base and try and work out what has happened.

Thank you in advance

 

Sakes!!!! What did the French do??? How did they lose the Left Bank???


(Most people here have NO idea what I'm talking about but I'll bet YOU do. )



What year and how many miles on the engine in his truck? There were two year with regular engines and then the Magnum came out. They are all similar and I'm having trouble thinking of something that would cause ONE bank to fail. All three engines have the timing chain working the cam from the crank. If the timing chain jumped or broke, it would stop the entire engine. The same with an ignition failure. If you have a fuel injected engine, there MIGHT be something affecting the injectors but a lot of the earlier injected engines had TBI rather than multiple injectors.

 

I think the French may have been looking the wrong way…

Thank you for your response.
It is a 1993 magnum engine and its multipoint.
Frustrating problem but I will work it out. I’ll be sure to post the findings when we are sorted.

 

Pull the plugs on that side, see what they look like.

 

I bought a Dakota with the 3.9 new back in '93. The only thing I can think of is if a connection on the injector system for the left back came loose or was damaged. Since I don't know if you have a left or right hand drive vehicle I'm assuming you mean the left bank as you face the engine from the front of the truck. Somewhere in the vast pile of stuff I call the garage, I have my old factory service manual when I bought mine back in '93.

I sold my '93 15 or 20 years ago so I don't have one to look at but I'd trace the wiring for the injectors and see if any wire is chaffed. Also look for rodent damage or droppings. If you find droppings, you might want to get a cat. Those little cheese thieves can cause a lot of odd damage.

 

Thank you for the advice.. I will set too it when I return from the land they call France!!

 

Don't forget to pay your speeding fines. You ARE going to France, right?

 

Haha… more fines in the uk tbh.
I flew here for a race and then I get a lift to the circuit so no fines for me!!

 

I've got most of the series of Top Gear along with 3 seasons of World Tour. Jeremy Clarkson always goes on about speeding fines in France but I think part of that is he is such a sweet and cuddly individual () and not because he has a heavy foot on the throttle. I always marvel at what UK drivers have to deal with and then say we drive on the wrong side of the road. Here in the U.S., at least where I live, we don't have regular M.O.T. inspections.

 

We have some of the most wonderful roads but they are few and far between. We are plagued with horrendous potholes which will destroy wheels and tyres and the tax system is applying more and more pressure. BUT cars older than 40 years I think no longer need an mot so it’s not all bad