It dies no matter what I do whether its try to drive it or let it sit and idle. Mostly all I have done with it lately is let it sit and idle. I have tried to move it but that normally results in me getting it where I wanted by keeping the starter turning and moving it that way. Not good I know...but sometimes where it sits, it is in the way. But normally when I give it the gas pedal or work the throttle linkage, it seems to like smother itself out, when I release the throttle it tries to recover but typically just starts to spit and sputter and eventually die. Once in awhile it will recover, but not always. It is indeed undrivable by any means. Since it won't even run long enough to get it out of my driveway. I can hear like this high pitched hissing noise when it is trying recover which upon closer inspection I found to be the iac moving into the throttle body allowing less air through making said noise.

I have also been thinking about replacing the speed sensor....just for the hell of it...I have replaced almost everything else...might as well make them all new.

 

Hahaha... when I started reading the sentence, I was like "Why would de do that?" but than I got to, "just for the hell of it...I have replaced almost everything else...might as well make them all new."

 

Well I was out in the pool staring at the truck yet again. My lil girl walks up to it and pats its door and makes noises at it and gives it a kiss (shes gonna be two this weekend). She always loved to go for rides in the truck. I wish it would run for more then my own reasons.

So I got out of the pool and went into the garage and started performing inventory on parts I have left over from other projects. Mainly my turbo dodge days. I have sitting in my garage a 2.2l turbo engine that I have rebuilt. Everything is new. Stock but new. I also have a t-II setup but I would have to get creative with intercooler placement. I have a computer there but I need to check what all is needed as far as a harness goes. I think some things in the truck are the same. I have a shelby 2 piece intake manifold and the throttle body to go on it. A header with a turbo still bolted on. And some assorted other parts n pieces. I am thinking that if I do not get this 3.9l running soon, I am going to make a swap. I had thought about it before but never too seriously, and I brushed it off like oh it runs fine now why mess with it. But with its current record of almost two months not on the road.....its begining to bother me. It came with a 4 banger it might as well have one again. But one with a lil more oooomph.

If I rip this 3.9 out I will be more then happy to sell it.......I dont think anything internal is wrong with it. But it is making me angry at times and sometimes I actually loose sleep over it.

 

Well last night I woke up in the middle of the night and had a hunch to go try n turn the old truck over. When I flipped the key to the on position right before I hit start I listened to the fuel pump......

It made this odd noise I have never heard a fuel pump make before. So this weekend I am dropping the tank. Neither mechanic I had look at said it may be the fuel pump....actually they both told me its not. But I know that they shouldnt sound like the noise I heard last night. I will let yas know how I make out.

 

When you replace the fuel pump, that would be a great time to make sure all the gas lines are in good condition as well.

 

I replaced all of them except for the ones I couldn't get too that easily above the fuel tank. I will replace them too. while I have the bed off. Also I am gonna swap the shocks while I have a clear shot at the bolts in the cross member there on the frame. They are kind of a bugger to get at with the bed on.

 

Well I have the bed off the truck. The pump is fine. It was just getting low on gas. Took gas cans and filled the tank about half way this morning. Still does it. But.......I made a more accurate fuel pressure guage (I was using an old h.v.a.c. guage set that isnt very accurate but I thought would give me a ballpark number) with parts I scarfed up before I left work yesterday.

When the truck starts to act up, the fuel pressure goes up above 40. The book says after I read the right section that it should be between 36 to 45 psi. So I guess that its in order.

 

Go to Napaonline.com, and use Napa P/N 219657. It came up for a 1992 Dakota. $50.
Fuel pressure regulator should be in tank, at least it is in my truck. (Of course, on my truck, the pressure regulator is integrated with the fuel pump, and cannot be replaced seperatly, a nic $300 unit [:@] Hope mine doesn't go out!)
BTW, in my manual, it says the pressure regulator output should be 49.2 +/- 5 PSI.

Wow. That's correct, and nice 'n rich!

Hope you can find the cause of this headache.

 

Which book do you have? My Haynes manual says that it should be between 35psi to 45psi to be in check. But your book says 49+/- 5psi, On the 96 and up trucks it calls for 44 to 54 psi. I am beginning to wonder how accurate this book is. I mean I get it for all the specs and mainly the wiring diagrams but now n then they come in handy for other things.

My trucks got a 94 engine in it. I was testing pressure at the test port on the fuel rail. It seems to stay right around 40psi. According to this book, my fuel system is fine after I read all the print. The pump was making a funny noise but after I put some gas in the tank the noise went away. I did however pull the pump assembly out anyways and fixed my fuel guage problem. The lil tabs that slide up and down the scale on the sending unit weren't making contact. So at least my gas guage is fixed and I got my new shocks on the rear.

 

I've got the factory service manual for 1996.