I have recently began troubleshooting a 1998 Dakota that will not start. After following the testing in my shop manual I have found that the starter relay in the PDC (coil ground terminal 85) is not properly grounded. My manual states to 'repair the open park/neutral position switch sense circuit ground'. Out of the 2000 pages of the manual I can not seem to figure out where this should be grounded at, or the best way to fix it. This Dakota is a 5 speed manual.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Basically, it's saying that the neutral safety switch is not allowing the starter relay to ground (and thus engage the starter). So either the neutral safety switch is bad, or one of it's wires has come loose.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Does my model even have the switch?
My manual seems to state that the switch is only present on the automatic models. It states that it should be grounded all of the time on the non-automatics because the switch is not present. Is this incorrect? Every section in the book that discusses it always begins with 'if you vehicle is an automatic'.

 

A 5-speed Dakota will not have a neutral safety switch. It has a switch on the clutch that won't allow the truck to start unless the clutch is pressed in (disengaged). The clutch switch probably works the same way as a neutral safety switch, and sends a ground to terminal 85 on the starter relay. The switch should be down on the steering column or lower firewall. Maybe it shows the location in the clutch or manual transmission section of your service manual.

Jimmy

 

Ok so I guess the ground is not my problem. I have figured out that my repair manual has a misprint and has the terminals in the PDC labeled incorrectly. I have a constant ground as I am supposed to. The relay still does not work though. I checked the terminal that is connected to the ignition and when the key is turned to the starting position it sends .9V to the terminal. It seems like it should be sending more power, and possible the lack of power is why the relay is not energizing and sending power the solenoid.
Would that seem accurate? Could that some how be related to the clutch switch or the ignition, or would it be some type of wiring in between? If I don't have the clutch depressed the terminal does not receive the .9V.

EDIT: After some online research it appears that the relay would take a minimum of 6V to energize. This would explain why the truck is not starting. Anyone have any idea what would be causing only 1V to go to the relay when starting?

 

I am only guessing here, I have a 2001 Dakota which is wired completely different from a 98. But this is what I think, maybe it can help you. I apologize ahead of time if I am wrong on this:

At the ignition switch wire harness, the starter wire should be blue with a yellow stripe. It should have 12 volts on it when the key is in the start position, you don't need the clutch pedal to be depressed to check the starter wire voltage at the ignition switch.

On the clutch pedal there should be a switch that has one wire that should have voltage on it with the ignition in the run position. I wouldn't be surprised if that wire were not also blue/red. There should be another wire that will pass that voltage only when the clutch is fully depressed. The voltage should go from there out to terminal 86 of the starter relay at the PDC. To check that switch you will need to press in the clutch and turn the key to start.

At the starter relay, terminal 85 is ground for the starter relay, terminal 86 should be at least 12 volts when the key is in the start position and the clutch is fully depressed. This will energize the coil of the relay and allow battery 12 volts to be connected between terminals 87 and 30 on the relay. All the relay is doing is switching the heavy 25 or 30 amp current from the positive post of the battery to the positive terminal on the starter. For some reason you do not have 12 volts at terminal 86 on the starter relay so the truck won't start.

Relays only need about .3 amps to .5 of an amp of current to energize the coil and complete whatever circuit they are part of, but that low amperage still needs to be at least 12 volts. At the starter relay in the PDC, terminal 85 should have ground on it all the time and terminal 86 should have at least 12 volts when the clutch is pressed in and the key is turned to start. If there is only .9 volts present at the cavity in the PDC for terminal 86 of the starter relay, either the clutch switch is bad, the ignition switch is bad or there is a break in the wiring somewhere between the back of the ignition switch and the cavity for terminal 86 at the starter relay.

This sounds like you need to test both the ignition switch and the clutch switch to isolate the problem. I would guess the clutch switch might be OK because the .9 volts is not present at the relay cavity when the clutch is not depressed. I think either the clutch switch is bad and not allowing enough voltage to pass to the starter relay, or you have a bad ignition switch that is not sending 12 volts to the clutch switch.

Jimmy