Truck died the other night going down the interstate. It's a 1991 Dakota with the 3.9L TBI. It has NO SPARK at all. Not sure if it's the pick up coil, ignition coil, or possibly something different. I have power to the ignition coil with key on for a second. NO SPARK beyond anywhere. When cranked over it doesn't change anything and no fuel is delivered out the TBI either during this. Went out the next morning to check for the problem and the battery was dead, and when I went to charge it, it then had a shorted/bad cell. The battery was just fine the night before after I had it towed back home. Battery is brand new, only about a month old. Is there an easy way to determin if it's the pick up coil, ignition coil, or something different? The places around here are unable to check the two different coils to see if they are bad or not. I don't want to end up replacing parts that are still good if I dont have too. Any sugjestions on how to go about this would be great. The sooner reply the better as my wife is expecting our new baby in 7 days with being induced, or sooner if it naturally wants to come sooner, so I need this vehicle up an running ASAP if not sooner. You can e-mail also at gbart@maqs.net

Thanks in advance!!

 

you said no spark and no fuel delivery. That sounds like the magnetic pick-up inside the distributor. Some people call it a hall effect.

 

You might also want to check the auto shutdown relay/circuit and there is a splice (mentioned in the FAQs that is known to good bad (not sure if this applies to your model year, but checking all the wiring and connections might be a good start).
Regards,
Greg

 

odds are its your pick-up coil or hall effect