dodge dakota

cb

Member
couple days ago, got in to my truck to go to town.. surprise surprise, it would not go.. I could turn the starter but it would not fire a few days earlier it would fire up and run a minute or two, I thought it may need warming up some.. after a few cranks it started and ran for a good 30- 40 minutes now you can turn the engine over but it will not fire. someone suggested maybe there is an emission proplem they said maybe dirty part etc.. only hAS 50,000 miles on it never had any trouble. any suggestions
 
Does your key have a chip in it? Could be that, never had it happen but was just thinking its a possibility. Wife's key to our Expedition was weak and ser the alarm off. New battery no problems. Just a suggestion.
 
2002 dakota v6, injected...has gas in tank.. if a fuel problem maybe fuel pump, if you think it is starving.. thanks i'll keep checking
 
The older Dakotas and Chrysler products with electronic ignition needed around 11 volts or more for the ignition to fire. If the battery was low my '87 Dakota it would crank, but had no spark. Check the battery voltage or put it on a battery charger for a while. Is the alternator fully charging the battery?
 
You should hear the fuel pump run for a couple seconds when turning the key on. That is the very first thing I would listen for or look for on that truck. It will just run a couple seconds and shut off and you can hear it. The pressure regulator is right on the fuel pump also and if it leaks back it will take some cranking to start.
 
Take the air snorkel off the throttle body. Have someone crank it while you spray a little starting fluid in. If it fires and tries to run for a few seconds that will answer the question about no spark.

If it's a fuel problem you may want to first rule out a bad fuel pump. I think the Dakota fuel pump is mounted in the tank. The fuel pump also has a relay.
 
These pumps are expensive, something like $250-300 from the dealer. They are high pressure ... about 40-50 PSI. If it is the pump I would look for an aftermarket one for a fraction of the cost. I think Carter makes one. If you can find a 40-50 PSI pump to test the fuel system, could easily by-pass the old pump at the fuel line just before the injectors. The beats poking around to test the old pump. Installation of new OEM pump is real pain if you remove the tank, easier way is to unbolt the truck bed and slide it back out of the way to work on the tank. The engineers who designed Dakotas had jobs like these in mind so that most poor suckers would just take it to the dealer for repair. You can image the labor costs that a dealer would charge for this job.
 
Hello cb,

Look in the fuse panel. Locate the fuel pump relay, it should be outlined in the owner's manual, or in the fuse box, swap it out witn one that you know is good. You might just get lucky!

Guido.
 
3.9 v6 pull the distributor cap and check if all is well and dry.
If all looks good I have come across it a few times on that engine where the distributor gear was chewed up real bad causing the exact symptoms you described.
You cant tell by just checking a plug for spark as it will show spark but will be out of time.
Lift the distributor and it will be obvious to see if this is what is causing grief.
 
My Dakota had a crack in the coil would run fine then die, start back up in a few minutes no issues. might run days or just minutes
 
Most likely thing to stop a Chrysler product is the crank position sensor. Chrysler can't build one to save their life.
 
And now the Chrysler factory replacement crankshaft position sensors are being made in China. Ask me how I know....
 
thanks a whole lot for all the comments.. hope will have some help monday to get started on these suggestions. i hope i hope the problem does not call for replacement of fuel pump have a good day if you can
 
I came by a '90 Dodge Dakota through our family. Two engines, three transmissions. 4cyl, 5speed stick. Never made 100K. Only vehicle in 60 years that left me standing on the road due to coil wire shaking out of fire wall mounted coil. One time had to tow it from Green River Wyoming to Iowa. WILL NEVER OWN A DODGE OF ANY KIND AGAIN.
 
Can't agree more. I've been stranded along the road twice in my 65 years. And both times were in a Chrysler product. Won't happen again.
 
I have run Plymouth & Dodge cars, for 60 years. Dakota pickups last twenty. Throw in about three old Chevy's and a 37 Ford. Farmer asked me , many , many years ago, why a mechanic would ever drive a Plymouth. I told him, I work on this stuff all day, six days a week. Don't care to work on my own at night also. My mother in law (great lady) said their 1950 chevy powerglide was a good car. I politely said, but you see if from the drivers seat and I see it under the hook and underneath. I did change the fuel pump on my Dakota and it now has a hole cut out in the bottom of the bed. It has probably been about as troublesome of a vehicle that I ever owned but I bought it with over 100K on it. My little Mazda just keeps going, but the seat is killing my Sciatica nerve problems now days. Repaired enough vehicles to know that some are lemons, some are cherries including Red, Green, and Flambeau Red tractors.
 
Try some carb cleaner into the air intake, not ether. Ether will burn just from compression and that won't tell you a thing about having a spark or not. If you have spark, bring a rubber mallet and smack the bottom of the gas tank once or twice while someone is cranking the engine. If it starts, the pump is going out. We used to charge $125 for that 'diagnosis'.

When was the last time the fuel filter was changed? When those get plugged, it works the pump harder and they fail. If you need a pump, see if you can find a picture of the OEM pump and compare that to an aftermarket one. OEM pumps are usually the size of 12 oz cans, and the aftermarket are little tiny buggers about the size of a pill bottle.

These newer cars really need a scanner and somebody that knows what's going on to diagnose. Waaay too many inputs and outputs to be messing around on the side or the road....
 
if the truck has a check engine light on you can get the codes without a reader on a dodge, in this cycle turn the key on, off, on, off, on (leave on but don't start) then if it has a code where the mileage is shown it will tell you the code number (p0123) if it don't have a code then it will say -DONE-
let us know what it says, also like they said listen to hear the fuel pump run when you turn the key on.
And pulling the fuel tank on a 2nd gen Dakota only takes 20 mins, I replaced the fuel pump in my 01 Dakota in an hour, pulling the tank not the bed.
 
And do like Guido says and swap the fuel pump relay. I fixed by Dodge diesel and FJ Cruiser that way this year. Just lucky to have two relay failures this year.
 
(quoted from post at 12:34:06 07/10/16) I went through that with an 88 dodge truck and finally retired it at 80,000 miles. No more Dodge's for me.

I had an '88 too, got rid of it around 60,000 miles. Had a major transmission failure, took the dealer three weeks to fix it, then the O2 sensor and some others went out and that's when I called it quits. That think was snake bit from the start, when I went to pick it up at the dealer when brand new, someone had put a deep scratch in the hood. Dealer replaced the hood. We took it on vacation and someone hit it in the parking lot of a hotel where we stopped for the night. Got a full sized Ford van to replace it.
 

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