I think I already stated in this thread that the key trick simply will not work on 98's and some early 99's . You need a scanner unfortunately .

 

Get on over to O'Reilly's or Autozone and get 'em to hook the scanner up... You ABSOLUTLEY cannot get codes via OBD2 keyswitch trick on a 1999.

 

Well life just sucks ill have to wait until the money gets better becasue it would cost me around 100 bucks just to get it towed to a parts store. when i can buy a code reader for 75 so all will have to wait until i get some extra bucks.but thats all for the ideas.

 

You can buy one online for less than that, and same for parts store. Just gotta do some research.

 

I've been trying and trying not to chime in, but temptation done got the better of me.

The crank position sensor delivers pulses to the PCM, not an analog signal. Replace it with a resistor and you'll get no spark at all. The cam position sensor does the same thing, delivers a train of pulses -- between the crank position sensor and the cam position sensor, the PCM knows where in time to put the ignition and injector pulses to make the engine run. You can't fake those things.

Just think of all the money you're saving on points and condensers, and all the time you're saving not having to screw around with dwell, timing, and idle mixture and speed adjustments. No more carb rebuilds, no more stuck floats flooding the engine and eating a thousand miles of engine life with cylinder washing every time they hang up. No more stuck automatic chokes, blown Holley power valves, torn Carter accelerator pump diaphragms, or decel valves puking and blowing mufflers apart on long downgrades. No more carb icing. No more vapor lock. No more filing ignition points. No more torn vacuum advance diaphragms. No more jesus clips flying around the engine compartment and always finding the carb throat. No more running like crap just because you went up or down 4,000 feet in elevation. No more hosing down the carb with aerosol cleaner once a year to keep the gum and varnish from fouling the works.

All in all, the electronic controls make these things a lot easier to keep running. They actually cost a bit less to maintain and go a lot further between problems. And a lot further in general. Remember when 100,000 miles was about all you could expect out of a gasoline engine and guys celebrated if they made it that far?

It's not a car maker scam. It's making things more efficient and reliable.

 

Oh how i do remember those points setting dwell and carb rebuilds, damnit im getting goose bumps and all misty eyed now,i miss those days to me it was easer to pop in a set of plugs,points and wires and call it a day, trouble shooting then to me wasnt that bad. but i never had a lot of those problems becasue im a true beleaver in maintaning my vechicals, realy was nothing to get 100.000 from my vechs. pretty normal for my cars/trucks
what i cant stand is i the newer autos require a mechine to test problems, how many times has a cam gone bad say? well ive never heard of many cams going bad but the sensor sure does the part that suposed to keep an eye on a part is what goes bad the most i find that strange. its always the (sensor) not the part its keeping a eye on. i find that bs and having to spend extra money.
its crazy and im learning alot about the new stuff but i see im going to need to buy a code reader and found them for around 50 bucks so thats not to bad. plus this is my first dodge truck to but its a great truck and has the normal problems any 99 would have so its all good.

LONG LIVE POINTS AND SETTING THE TIMING!!

 

Parts stores rent the scanners for free. You have to pay them a hefty deposit, but they refund it when the tool is returned. As long as you have enough room on a card for the deposit, you get the money back when you're done with the tool.

 

The cam position sensor isn't monitoring the cam for failure. What it's doing is telling the PCM where the bumps are, and between that and the crank position sensor the PCM knows the angles of the crank and cam so it can know when to start (and when to stop) charging the coil and opening/closing the fuel injectors. The other sensors on the engine give their feedback so the PCM can know how much to advance or retard the timing, how long to hold the injectors open, that kind of thing.

It's not really extra money you're spending. It's been several years since I've bought points and condensers, but just for giggles I'll SWAG that between the two it'd be about another $15 per tune up. So your truck is, what, ten or twelve tune-ups into its life now? So you've avoided spending $150 to $180 on points and condensers so far and have got better fuel economy, too -- the same basic engine in the same sort of truck without electronic controls would get about 10MPG. I don't know about your rig, but mine will do nearly 16MPG at 65MPH on flat ground with 600 pounds on and two people in the cab. (Not that there's any flat ground anywhere near where I live.) We used to get happy if a two wheel drive half ton with an inline six got that kind of mileage completely unladen. In the end, it costs less over the life of the vehicle to run one of these tightly electronically controlled vehicles.

Imagine, 40 years ago, how you'd have reacted if some guy told you that he could add 20 rear wheel horsepower to any V-8 just by pushing a few buttons, without ever opening the hood. You'd have laughed that guy right out. Now we do it all the time. And if we want to squeeze out a bit more fuel economy we just push different buttons.

This stuff is very cool. I get your points, truly I do -- I've still got my distributor wrench, tach/dwell meter, and timing light hanging on the wall of my garage, and on a shelf on the opposite side of the garage is my old strip kit for the Carter AFB. I'll take my small block Magnum V-8 over the old LA engine any day. It costs less to run it, it makes more power, and once you get your head wrapped around how all of the parts fly in formation it's easier to work on, too.

Don't bitch, man, you've got it easier now.

 

I got my cheapo OBDII scanner for like $25 off ebay. It's a must have in this day and age. You simply CANNOT adequately service a vehicle made after 1995-96 without one. Even spending $50 to $100 on a nicer one will pay for itself the first time you use it to retreive a code.