Great advice, thank you! I will have to try that this evening, I had family over last night so I wasn't able to work on it.

 

[/QUOTE]


Allow me to give you the correct event at the correct ASD pin#'s. Pin 85 is coil ground(pulsed)from the PCM. There should be no voltage here at key on or start. If there is voltage you can probe ASD pin 85 wire(dark blue/yellow i believe double check 1995 diagram) back at the PCM for resistance. What do you get? ASD pin 86 (fuse 9)is the coil battery supply or the voltage side of the coil. With key on there will be voltage but for less then 3sec. At start/crank there will be voltage. Do you have power and at what volts? ASD pin 86 wire (light green/black)should be tested at the PCM for correct voltage/same voltage as the ASD pin 86. ASD pin 30 is the only pin to have voltage with key off. This is all checked with the ASD relay installed.

 

Allow me to give you the correct event at the correct ASD pin#'s. Pin 85 is coil ground(pulsed)from the PCM. There should be no voltage here at key on or start. If there is voltage you can probe ASD pin 85 wire(dark blue/yellow i believe double check 1995 diagram) back at the PCM for resistance. What do you get? ASD pin 86 (fuse 9)is the coil battery supply or the voltage side of the coil. With key on there will be voltage but for less then 3sec. At start/crank there will be voltage. Do you have power and at what volts? ASD pin 86 wire (light green/black)should be tested at the PCM for correct voltage/same voltage as the ASD pin 86. ASD pin 30 is the only pin to have voltage with key off. This is all checked with the ASD relay installed.[/quote]

I haven't checked power on the ASD relay...suppose I can this evening as well. Thanks

 

Allow me to give you the correct event at the correct ASD pin#'s. Pin 85 is coil ground(pulsed)from the PCM. There should be no voltage here at key on or start. If there is voltage you can probe ASD pin 85 wire(dark blue/yellow i believe double check 1995 diagram) back at the PCM for resistance. What do you get? ASD pin 86 (fuse 9)is the coil battery supply or the voltage side of the coil. With key on there will be voltage but for less then 3sec. At start/crank there will be voltage. Do you have power and at what volts? ASD pin 86 wire (light green/black)should be tested at the PCM for correct voltage/same voltage as the ASD pin 86. ASD pin 30 is the only pin to have voltage with key off. This is all checked with the ASD relay installed.[/quote]


We are not talking about the ASD. We are talking about the engine starter relay. He has a problem doing a normal key start. He was jumping the relay in order to start. Then he wired in a push button switch in order to engage the starter for engine start.

This has nothing to do with the ASD. The truck runs, he just can't do a normal key start. The problem is the engine starter relay circuit.

 

Does it just click when you try to use the key? Mine was making a clicking noise like the battery was going dead.

 

I think your problem is in the above area. The pin 86 appears to be working correctly. With ignition off and in run, no power. When you turn to start it does have power. That is correct.

Having voltage at pin 85 is not correct. This should be the ground for the circuit. It appears the wire is connected to a power source somewhere. May be related to the frayed wire. I would trace this wire. It should go to the NSS connector. The NSS would then ground it in the park and neutral position.

Disconnect the wiring at the NSS. Then check for power at pin 85. If you still have power then trace back from the connector to the relay. You might disconnect the wiring that you did and check for power again. If the power is gone that is the problem.

When you find that it has no power, connect the wire to a good ground. Then do a continuity test from pin 85 to ground. You should have continuity.

If you do have continuity to ground, insert the relay and try to start the engine. It should start.

Good luck. Let me know the results.[/quote]


Ok, Think we (you) have this nailed...pulled the connector off of the NSS. Tested the middle slot(bk/wt wire) and it had power on start position, pulled the relay out and no power to it. So I connected the black white wire to the neg batt terminal and put the relay back in....;-) the key turned the motor over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a new NSS connector on order..should be here by Monday. So I guess my question now is, wheres the short? Is it the actual NSS switch or what?? I traced/pulled the wire from the NSS all the way up to the splice where the bk/wt wire splits and one side goes to the PCM and the other heads to a connector on the fire wall then to the PDC and to socket 85 on the relay. I am guessing because there is power flowing to the NSS connector that the problem would be the switch?

Tapped out for the night...appreciate your help, I have a new NSS switch sitting on my counter ready to go in.

Second edit: i couldnt stand the suspense of knowing whether or not it was the NSS...went back out put the new on in..spliced the connector back together ....WOOMP THERE IT IS!! 2 years later and it was a part that I have already replaced.

 

Glad you got it fixed. Now you can move on to the other gremlins.

 

Load test your battery. Clean you battery connections at battery, ground and starter. Should be clean and tight.

Auto shops can load test the battery, free.

If all checks ok, then you may have a bad solenoid/starter. The solenoid contacts wear with time and then cannot make a good contact. So you hear a click.

Remove starter and have auto electrical shop test it, also free. If it is a Denso starter, keep it and have it rebuilt. It may just need new solenoid contacts.

Do the cheap stuff first.

 

I was wondering if it was doing the same thing mine WAS doing. I haven't had any problems with it for two weeks since I replaced some sensors, coil etc for a shifting issue with the transmission as chronicled in this thread. Not sure which did the trick or if it's just another coincidence.
But in case it does start acting up again and if you'll discover the cause I would like to know.
BTW I came across another thread in the Dakota forum with a similar problem.

 

Damn it! It's doing it again... If I read this correctly the "pins" you all are talking about are under the dash? Looked under the dash again and found a rat nest of wires and what appeared to be a rectangular shaped black box in amongst the wires. It does / did have an alarm system but I never used it and am unsure if it came with the vehicle or was put in by the previous owner.

Update.
The past few days it would never start on the first try and only "click" when I turned the ignition. I just took the bottom cover off the steering column and tried to trace wires around and found a hidden button. I tried starting the truck again and it fired up three times in a row.
I'm still tracing wires but have just pulled a "Viper" alarm box out. Gonna attempt to re-solder and heat shrink the original wires together on the steering column. I'm now certain the alarm was not installed by a professional.
Wished I had thought about sooner. However I installed an alarm system on a 94 Toyota 4x4 years ago. That system had an ignition kill switch in it too but it would still let the starter and motor turn but not fire up.
I hope this will fix my problem for good this time.

Update.
After removing the the alarm box and reconnecting the wires the truck "clicked" a couple times before it would start. After going to town and back it started the first time each time. There must still be a short or something some where in it.
There were two wires I could not figure out. They appeared to be factory wires and come through the fire wall from what looks like a relay mounted next to the side of the fuse / relay box in the engine bay. One wire was a red wire and was connected to a wire on the alarm system. The other wire is light blue in color with a black stripe. It apparently was not connected to anything inside the cab. The other thing I noticed was a three prong connector with nothing plugged in it.