Hey guys, I'm new to this site but have been on here multiple times trying to troubleshoot my issue. The forums on here have been extremely helpful but I am at my wits end with this problem. I will attempt to keep this short and to the point so here is where I am at.

I have a Dodge Dakota Quad Cab SXT, 6cyl 3.9L. Ran great, pulled into garage and parked it. Next time I went to start it all I could get out of it was the starter clicking away at me.

I did put a new starter in but the old one tested fine and I still had the same issue. Flywheel does spin and I can manually crank the engine.

So far I have boiled it down to this:

It appears to be an issue with the Auto Shutdown circuit. When I turn the key to ON, I get a 12V signal to the Ignition Coil but for only about two seconds then it goes away. I have checked the ASD relay and it works perfectly, even swapped it with the Fuel Pump relay.

If I bypass the relay (jumper across slot 30 and 87 for the ASD relay) I will get 12V's to the Coil all the time but it will not start this way. If I try to turn it over the 12V signal drops out to nothing and I get the clicking again.

I will get a very brief and intermittent spark at the top terminal of the coil using a spark tester this way but otherwise I have no spark if I take the jumper out and put the relay back in.

The engine does turn over for about a half turn then it just starts clicking at me again at the starter.

I have checked the Crankshaft Position Sensor and Camshaft Position Sensor. I have 5V ref voltage going to both sensors and while manually cranking the engine with the key ON, I also get a 0 to 5V swing from the signal return. So it appears both of the sensors are working fine. I even took the Camshaft Sensor out of the Dist and verified the cable was not shorting to the the Dist.

As a side note, I recently replaced all the plugs, plug cables, dist cap and rotor about a month ago. Truck has been running great up to two days ago.

The Fuel Pump also comes on when I first turn the key on and I have 45 psi of fuel pressure at the fuel rail.

I removed the power distribution box and opened up the cable harness underneath it to verify there was nothing shorting out there. Although there were a couple of minor rub marks I didn't see anything obvious. I did a visual on all the wires and gave them all a good pull but I'm not seeing any shorts or opens in the wiring in this area.

I have also gone through any areas where I see a ground wire connected to the chassis and verified I have good contact.

I have not replaced my battery yet, it's pretty much juiced out from all the cranking so I have been using a different vehicle for a jump while troubleshooting. I know Dodges are current hungry when turning them over so I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough juice from the jump vehicle. (Just one of the things that has crossed my mind)

So at this point I keep coming back to the ASD relay not staying closed but I have checked all the sensors "that I know of" that would cause this circuit to shutdown.

I'm leaning toward an issue with the PCM but thought I would post on here to see if anyone could offer some assistance before I throw money at a replacement PCM.

I did remove the three connectors at the PCM and verified nothing was corroded, bent or just funky.

Am I missing any sensors that should be checked out or am I missing anything else???

I'm at my wits end and could definitely use some outside thoughts.

THANKS ahead of time.

 

Got er licked.... Replaced the battery, fired right up.

 

Welcome to DF

Thank you for your update, Good job!