Ok I have 1999 Dakota Sport 2WD and blew the 3.9L motor a few weeks back and haven't found a suitable engine donor from a Dakota. My Question is can I use a 5.2L from a 1995 Ram 1500 4WD as long as I swap out the ECU and harness? obviously the Dakota is OBDII and the donor I'm not sure about. I can get the whole donor truck very cheap and would have acess to the harness and ECU and any other parts I may need. Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

not sure but i think the oil pans might be different because of different front suspension. i know its different in the 5.2 jeeps so ya might wanna look into that.

 

it will work. Your gonna wanna buy a PCM, and the wiring harness from from a 99 Dak 5.2, or splice two injectors onto your v6 harness. The harness and PCM from the ram will give you all sorts of little problems.

 

So a ram ECU wont play nice on a kota? How different can they be? Not that I wanna have issues with that bit lol

 

For sure, pinout locations are different. You would be lucky if you could get a pcm out of a dakota a diferent year that yours and it works.

I did my 3.9-5.2 swap in my 2000, and a PCM from a 98 Dak, 99 Dak, 99 Durango, nor a 00 Durango would work. I didnt eliminate my problems until i got one out of a 2000 dakota.

Do yourself a favor and dont go through the headache that I did!

If your serious about the swap. Anyparts you need http://www.car-part.com is a good place to get stuff. Thats where I got mine.

Good luck

 

Good to know! So Ill have be carful bput what I get for parts lol

 

Thanks for the info. Now for another question. If I decide to drop a 5.9L in there what do I use for a ECU? 5.9L are not to common for the 99 year.

 

a 5.2 PCM will run a 5.9 motor as long as its for your year of truck with similar options (AC, ABS, etc). Try that website up there^^ youll be surprised at what you can locate for a good price.

 

I just bought my 2001 dodge dakota that originally had a 3.9 and the guy swapped a 5.2 into and converted it to manual. I guess he did all the wiring for it and everything runs good. Here's the problem: nothing in the cabin works, the blower for the a/c works but it's not cold and it's charged and none of the gauges work. I hooked up the original 3.9 ecu and all the gauges work and a/c works, so I know he did the wiring right, at least i think he did, but what ecu do I need to get in order for everything in the cabin to start running like it should?

 

I don't see a 2001 5.2 MT ECU (i dont think they came in that year of trucks). However, it does exist for a 99 model.