My '97 Dakota with the 3.9 automatic won't start. I turn the key and the radio and accessories come on normally. Turn it to start and nothing happens. The battery is only a week old and has a full charge so that isn't it. I've bench tested the starter, replaced a rather iffy positive cable to the starter, new negative cable but that was a different issue, and I've bench tester the one month old starter. The solenoid wire does NOT get a signal when I turn the key. I suspect my ignition switch is bad. There have been issues with it not starting but they would clear up. Now, no start. I'm pretty sure it's my key switch, but before I replace it, is there something else that can imitate the problem? The key turns easy so I suspect the lock cylinder isn't the problem but the switch inside the column itself. I'm going to hot wire the starter to make sure that isn't the problem but the testing so far says it's good.

Sound like the switch?

 

Try starting in neutral. The ignition switch just trips a relay, so, test and see if you are getting voltage to the relay first. I believe the control circuit then goes thru the prn switch on the trans, before it goes to ground.

 

Before I hot wired the starter, I tried bypassing the Neutral safety switch. No joy. Although I don't know if I jumped the correct wires. When I hot wired the starter, the old gal fired right up. I had found several issues while I was going over the wiring and corrected a bunch so it actually started better than before. I also swapped the relays around to see if the starter relay might have problems. The starter and a/c relays were swapped and the a/c is blowing cold and it was before so it's npt the relay.

I can easily make a bypass starter switch but I want it to work as the factory intended.

 

See if you are getting power at pin 86 in the relay cavity with the ignition in "Start".

 

With my dyslexia, figuring out which is 89 will be problematic. I'll just pull the relay and test each slot one by one. Tomorrow is the GF's sisters 25th anniversary so I have had plans made for me. I'll see what I can figure out Monday between rain storms. I may replace the neutral switch anyway as it was pretty rusty and nasty.

On the other hand, I wish my Ram 1500 had as cold an a/c system as this has.How long it will hold a charge is to be seen as it already had dye in it previously.

 

I spent almost 700 bucks trying to get my a/c working... it still doesn't. My mistake for taking it to a shop that had no idea what they were doing.

 

I got my training around 1972 or so. The R-134 is a breeze to service compared to the old R-12. At first, I couldn't get it to run the compressor to charge the system, even jumping the safety switch on the receiver/dryer. I went to check for power at the compressor in case it had failed. That's when I realized that when I replaced the valve cover gaskets to stop a major leak when I tuned the engine up, I forgot to plug the plug back in.30 seconds to plug it in and the compressor fired right up.

I need to replace the heater core but I'll be replacing the cooling coil and blower resistor while while I'm in there so if the cooling coil is leaking, I'll pull the dash sooner than I planned.

I think when I replaced the compressor, dryer and orifice tube on an Escalade I had, along with blocking off the rear a/c, it ran around $275 or so. R-134 was a lot cheaper then but still, I think my cost was around $310 or so. I have my own vacuum pump so I do my own a/c work.

No, I won't work on your truck. I have enough of my own to do.

 

Oh well. You are a bit of a drive from here anyway.

I used to do all of my own work. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to do so.......

 

I'm not sur which pin is which, however, testing with a volt meter I have one terminal on the power supply side of the relay with 12 volts. On the usage side one terminal has power when I turn the key and not otherwise. I suspect my safety switch is bad. It's pretty nasty looking and if it isn't bad now, it may be soon.

 

Replaced the safety switch today. It fell apart and puked about a pint of transmission fluid when I pulled it. Put the new one in and it fired right up.