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1990 Dakota will not start when warm

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Old 10-20-2009, 02:12 AM
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Exclamation 1990 Dakota will not start when warm

Its a 3.9 6cyl Auto 2wd. It will fire right up when cold but after warming up you can shut it off and if you try to restart without letting it cool for 30 min or so it will just crank and wont start. It appears that no fuel is coming out of the injectors in the throttle body.

Here is a list of the parts that have been replaced.
Fuel pump (twice)
Ignition switch
hall sensor in distributor
coil
cap/rotor/wires/plugs
varous cracked vacuum lines
fuel filter
oxygen sensor
electric motor on throttle body (IAC motor?)
engine ground wires
fuel injector cleaner added multiple times


This thing has been in the shop multiple times and noone can seem to figure this out. Also the fuel gauge stopped working after the first new fuel pump and has either swung around wildly or not worked at all ever since.

HELP!!!!!!!!
 
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Old 10-20-2009, 02:18 AM
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Welcome to DodgeForum!!

Well, the computer controls the fuel injectors, so if there is fuel getting to them, and the pump is working correctly, it must be a computer issue. If the problem is temperature dependant, the first place I'd start is replacing the coolant temperature sensor. If the '90 model is like my '95, there should be two of them near the thermostat on the intake manifold, the one you'll want to replace is the one with 2 wires coming out. The one with 1 wire coming out is for the gauge.
 
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Old 10-20-2009, 02:21 AM
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Old 10-20-2009, 07:47 PM
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i dont know if you are a loyal customer to a particular gas station or not, but try running your tank to almost empty and try feeling up a wilco hess or somewhere different than you typically do. I had a similar problem about 2 months back, decided to see if it was the gas i was putting in and switched stations, and i havent had any problems since. It's a thought.
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 12:24 AM
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Originally Posted by jwwatts89
i dont know if you are a loyal customer to a particular gas station or not, but try running your tank to almost empty and try feeling up a wilco hess or somewhere different than you typically do. I had a similar problem about 2 months back, decided to see if it was the gas i was putting in and switched stations, and i havent had any problems since. It's a thought.

i have tryed that and still doesn't work right. i'm about at the end of my string with the truck.
 
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Old 12-26-2009, 03:24 AM
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call me crazy but try replacing the oxygen sensor ......i did it to mine 3 weeks ago and it quit doing its little charade of turning off in the middle of traffic when it warmed up. i was ready to blow up the truck but so far im happy because it quit doing that after i changed the sensor
 
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Old 12-26-2009, 03:30 AM
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Old thread dude. Besides, read post#1... the OP did replace the o2.
 
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Old 12-29-2009, 08:59 PM
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Yeah. def an old post!

Anyways the Dakota has gone to the scrapyard. Too much body rot and other things that were broken to make it worth dumping any more money into.

My wife was sad to see it go but is very happy with the 1998 Durango she got to replace it!
 
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Old 12-29-2009, 09:02 PM
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Well that sucks. I hate hearing about these trucks hitting the junkyard, but hey, hopefully it will keep somebody else's alive for a while. Hope you enjoy the Durango!
 
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Old 12-30-2009, 06:49 AM
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It had enough new parts on it to keep several other trucks on the road! Other than the no start issue it was in perfect mechanical shape but the body looked like ragged swiss cheese and the frame was quickly following suit.
 

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