Hello all.


New to the forum as we are new owners of a Dakota. Just bought the daughter a 2002 Quad Cab Dakota. She's a junior in high school and needed a truck to get around and then hopefully take to college.


Any way, about a week ago the truck died at an intersection about a half mile from the house. It would start back up right away, but would not idle. We were able to get the truck home. When the truck was warm it would idle just fine, but in the morning or evening you had to catch the gas pedal after it started and hold it at about 1000 rpm for a minute before it would idle by itself. I figured it was a bad TPS, so it was replaced. The problem did not go away. I was reading that you are supposed to "reset" the PCM by disconnecting the battery. So, this morning we did that. Now the truck starts and then dies right away. Even when pumping the gas pedal after initial start.


Next, after more reading, was replacing of the Idle Air Control Valve. Still hasn't changed anything.


Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I call for a tow and mechanic.


Truck info:
2002 Quad Cab
4.7 V8
Auto trans
145000 miles
Gibson exhaust - this is the only mod I have discovered so far.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Check for codes. You do not need a scanner with your Dakota.

With the truck OFF, turn the key to RUN (don't start the truck), then to OFF, back to RUN, then OFF, and this time LEAVE IT in RUN.

Any codes will display in the odometer window. It will say P DONE when finished.

You might consider cleaning the throttle body and the idle air control valve. They do get very dirty and it's fairly easy to clean. It does need to be removed to clean it thoroughly.

 

the only code that comes up is P1686 with no CEL. I think that code has something to do with the replacement keys we have. The head of the key is much thinner than a factory key. I believe they are not chipped.


As for the Idle Air Control, I replaced it with a brand new one. Still wont run.

 

The other thing to consider is the battery itself. If it's even a little weak the truck will die unless you hold down the gas. Dakota's are very sensitive to low voltage.

Have it load tested.

 

The battery is fine. Its new. The truck will start and run for 3-4 seconds then wont run. It seems as though the sensors for start up are working fine but when the run side takes over its shuts off. the only thing that was done that stopped it from running was the battery was disconnected. When I hooked the battery back up is when things went really wrong.

 

Can you check the fuel pressure? You can rent/borrow a gauge at most parts stores. It should be 49 or so psi.

 

There is your answer. The truck is going into immobilizer mode. Whoever hacked the truck to drive with a black key when the gray key immobilizer is alive, didn't hack it right, or the hack failed.

 

Magnethead, Didn't even think about that. I have two different problems going on. The first, not idling is probably going to be the IAC. However, when I disconnected the battery to reset the PCM, it put the truck in Immobilizer mode, causing the second problem. I don't have a chipped key. Do you know how I can fix this problem? I can't start the truck to take it anywhere.

 

whoever hacked it to run before or the dealership may be the only ones with that answer. The D/S can reprogram the SKIM and CTM with new gray keys, i think my spare gray key was a touch over $100.

 

The security light should be flashing when it shuts down, if the SKIM is working at all.

You do need a DRB (dealer) to reprogram the SKIM. There's also a security code that the dealer will need to obtain.