The 95 Dakota 318 swap into my 93 4x4 went well, Everything bolted up, I am down to one little bug to work out, The 95 318 wiring harness to transmission connector has (5) pins, The 93 transmission connector has (4) pins. The 95 V8 came from a Dakota that has electronic speedometer , My 93 has a speedometer cable. I want to cut the 95 (5) pin connector off and splice in my old 93 original connector . All the wire colors match except for the extra orange wire from the 95. I am thinking it was for the 95 electronic speedometer ,which I have no use for with my 93 and its speedometer cable. It drives great now with two connectors unhooked, but I have no converter lockup or overdrive. Only 1st, 2nd, and Drive. Will leaving the orange wire out hurt anything? I want to do the splice tomorrow....Could anything bad happen?

 

Well that doesn't look like the speed sensor harness, so forget what I told you via PM.

It may be the overdrive harness, but not all the colors match up with the wiring diagrams! Same number of pins though.

We have the 1995 FSM available for free download on the faq page. It has the complete wiring diagram.

To be honest, you would be better off taking your original body harness and putting it back in, and taking the v8 engine harness and plugging it in if it will fit. The two harnesses disconnect not far from the PCM.

 

the cable driven speedos have 4 wires on them, but when they get to that first sensor it jumps down to 2 wires. I just cut the 2 extra wires off and went on my way.

 

Will cutting the two wires make my overdrive and converter lockup work?

 

That's hard to say! You can always try but leave enough wire to put it back if it doesn't work!

One question though... What engine and transmission was in your truck before you started the swap and what transmission is in there now?

 

My 93 Dakota 4x4 had a 3.9 V-6 and an A-500 transmission before I started the swap, I swapped in a 95 Dakota 5.2 V-8 and left the original A-500 transmission in place. When I pulled the 5.2 V8 out of the donor truck I left everything on it( wiring harness,computer,distributer and plug wires,and the throttlebody.) When I pulled the 3.9 V6 out of my truck I unplugged harness on the engine and left the wiring harness that runs across the back firewall in place. The V8 engine harness plugged in great to the original firewall harness. Everything bolted up great and the connectors matched except for the one 5 pin engine to transmission connector. The original A-500 transmission connector has 4 pins. It shifts great in 1st-2nd-and Drive, But my converter lockup and overdrive do not work. (they worked great before the swap) I think the computer just needs the signal to ingage the lockup and overdrive, I think I will just splice in my original 4 pin connector and leave out the orange wire since it is the only odd color. hopefully the next time I post I will have goodnews....thanks so much for the positive input....I need all the help I can get......lol

 

Ok, thats what I thought you did... just making sure.

You do realize that the 42rh won't last very long behind that 5.2? It just doesn't have the torque handling necessary to live behind the 5.2. Obviously, it will work for a while, but you should either start looking for an 46rh (a518) or consider rebuilding your 42rh with performance clutches and a shift kit.

As for the connector... its definately worth a try splicing your old connector onto the new harness. But like I said before, leave enough wire to undo it if it doesn't work!

 

I am happy to say the connector splice worked, I cut off the 5 pin connector and spliced in my original 4 pin and my overdrive works great, and the converter lockup works too, I left the odd orange wire out ,matched the colors ( 2 wires were for speed sensor, 2 wires went to top of transfer case, ......anyway thanks for all the advice! The 318 has so much more power and torque.....and sounds awesome!

 

Cool! I'm glad you got it. I scanned this wiring of the 93 speed sensor earlier, but didn't get to post it up. I will post it incase it will help someone else down the line.

By the way post up pics and videos of your swap.