So here's the deal, I was driving it and suddenly the engine just died on me. Not my power, just the engine. Tried to start it back up and it would seem to start then die immediately. I was able to get it started a little while later and get it home. I started it next day and ran for about 5min then turned off. After that it would NOT start back up. It cranks like crazy but nothing is happening. I can hear the fuel pump whirl up when key is on, and I am getting spark to the plugs. I also checked the 3 wire splice under the fuse box and it has already been sealed with heatshrink wrap with goo. I doubt that's the problem. I tested the voltage to the camshaft position sensor and it runs between 2-5, which I think is normal. Voltage to my coil shows 12v at the constant side and .1v at the pulsing side. I think this is good but please let me know if it's not. I want to try to jump the autoshutdown relay but am not sure how. I also think it's fine since I have spark. Anyone know what could be wrong with it? Thanks in advance!

Bob

 

Also does anyone know where to check fuel pressure at the rail on a 97? I honestly CANNOT find where to plug in on the rail, it's getting rediculous... Also I am able to get it started now if I give it some gas, but I have to keep giving it gas or it will die. Not sure if this helps at all :/ My guess is that since I can keep it started by gassing it that it's not a fuel problem. It has spark etc etc. I'm wondering if it's something electrical with idle, or maybe something in the distributor. If a wire went bad it would run right? Even if it was running poorly it should still run?

 

I'm not sure on your 97 and I don't know what engine you have but my 2001 3.9 has a test port Schrader valve on the fuel rail on the driver's side of the throttle body, just above the valve cover on that side. It has a big black cap just like a tire air valve cap. The best way to test the fuel pressure is to get a cheap fuel pressure gauge and hook it to that valve. Check the Haynes book or maybe some one here will know the right specs for your fuel pressure.

Jimmy

 

Sounds to me like the fuel pump is dieing.
Gatta do a fuel pressure check.
What engine?

 

Well it's a 5.2 V8 and I know where the valve SHOULD be lol, but it's just not there. There is no valve on my fuel rail at all. The book shows it in another location but it's not there either. I really don't know how to check the fuel pressure if I can't hook anything up to it. Any ideas?

 

Well, if you have no valve, then you have to remove one end of the fuel line and install a coupler. The coupler should come with the fuel pressure tester. It's a T shaped coupler.

 

I just installed a 3" lift on my 97 Dakota, V8. Now it will idle (roughly) indefinitely, but dies instantly when I put it in gear. Also, the fuel gauge now reads 0 and the DTE displays "OC", but I know that there is at least a half-tank of gas.

I switched out the fuel pump relay, which fixed the problem for about four seconds.

Any suggestions?

 

Fuel pressure test.

 

Well my problem is solved. I still ended up buying a crank sensor and a tps sensor when I really didn't need to. For anyone that doesn't know it, a 97 dodge dakota V8 maxes out at 3.78v when you are testing the tps. It doesn't go higher like a lot of vehicles to don't make the mistake of changing it like I did. I did learn a lot however. What I ended up doing was to pull out the IAC which is the Idle air control valve and I cleaned it up. There was a lot of carbon on it and inside the throttle body so my buddy sprayed the crap out of it. Also make sure when you clean the IAC that you don't move it too much and you just clean it with a rag or something, apparently if you move it too much you can break it. (I was fortunate not to do that) When I cleaned it all up and put it back together, it was running like a dream. Had I known what it was the cost would have been $0 + cost of carb cleaner. From what I understand it is a common issue with dodge dakota throttle bodies. Good luck to anyone else working on this. I will post pictures soon provided this thread doesn't get locked right away. Thanks guys!

 

@ EODOPS, If your truck is like mine you don't have a schraeder valve on your fuel rail and there really isn't a good place to cut into it for the T-connector. I came up with a fix but I haven't found the part I need yet. Basically if you had a small piece of fuel line connector that was male/male, you could just plug that in and use a standard fuel pressure tester. However, like I said I haven't found one yet. Hope this helps!