Wow, I wish I would've known about these forums a long time ago! I'm new here and have a situation with my Dakota (4.7L); hoping someone might be able to chime in. First it was the driver's window, then lost the transmission (sooo glad I had the Ext. Warranty!), and now starting issues...

My Dakota tends to start well after sitting for a few hours, or overnight, but will not fire up after immediate shut down. Sometimes, when turning it over, it "chugs and sputters" to life, leading me to think it might be the fuel pump/filter. Electrical power is not an issue; the starter cranks just fine. Once running, the truck runs just fine.

It's my understanding that the FP/FF assembly is in the fuel tank. I'm not too good with working on cars; how difficult is it to pull the tank and get to the fuel filter/pump for replacement?

Also, the check engine light IS on. Will a diagnostic device indicate a FP/FF problem? From reading these forums, it sounds like it could also be an O2 sensor problem, but I'm guessing that would definitely show on the diagnostic.

Heading to Auto Zone now to have them read it; will check back later.

Thanks in advance!

 

The first thing you should do is have that CEL checked out. Advance Auto Parts, or Autozone will scan it for free. If they only give you a Pxxxx code you can look up there^^^^ at the sticky to see what it is. If it something in the fuel tank, it is MUCH easier to remove the bed of the truck, (6 bolts i think) and then just unhook the filler tube and set it aside. Then you dont even have to unbolt the fuel tank.

If yours is an 01 the key trick may work for you too, its in the sticky ^^^

Good luck

 

Alrighty, I had the CEL scanned and it came up as a P0455, which was a evap leak (one small, one large leak).

I knew my gas cap was old with horrible seals and kept forgetting to replace it, so I bought a new one and drove it home (never shut it down at the store). Once at home I shut it down and restarted a few times with zero problems.

I used my Google-Fu and read that the hoses underneath the truck coming off the vapor canister have a tendency to go bad. I jacked the truck up and inspected the hoses as far as I could go, and did notice that one hose has a handful of small cracks right at the attachment point to the VC. I pulled the Battery connectors to clear the light; gonna give it a few drives to see if it comes back on.

Thanks for the help, and the suggestion of pulling the bed! Never, ever would've thought about that.

 

yup, same code i got, and it's not the gas cap that I can tell. prolly gonan do vap lines tho.

 

I had the same problem on my 3.9.

And btw for future reference you can check the code your self. Just turn the key on (not start just to the on postition) then off then on then off then on then off one last time. 3 times total and a code will come up in the trip od. Then just look up the code.

 

Awesome, thank you for that!