Kevin R. Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 I am having a problem with my 2001 Dodge Dakota 3.9 2WD starting. The truck ran fine Tuesday afternoon, parked it outside, and when I went to start it Wednesday evening it will only crank, but will not start. Battery is great. Has spark at the end of the wires (arc'd to block to test) Can hear the fuel pump prime and smell fuel when cranking Pulled a plug -- appear fine Showing no CEL I am at a loss here. I have heard of this Automatic Shut Down relay that can trigger this in these trucks, but it cuts power to the coil as well, which should result in no spark. I am going to try to spray some start fluid in it this evening while cranking to see if it is fuel related. Any other ideas? I am pretty stumped here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_in Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Could be the crank postition sensor. If that goes out, the PCM freaks out and it won't start. It will only crank. Do you have a factory tack, if you do, when it's cranking see if it's going up a little in RPM's when you're cranking it. If it's not, I'm willing to bet it's the CPS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Could be the crank postition sensor. If that goes out, the PCM freaks out and it won't start. It will only crank. Do you have a factory tack, if you do, when it's cranking see if it's going up a little in RPM's when you're cranking it. If it's not, I'm willing to bet it's the CPS. Thank you. I will try this tonight as well. Just going through the diagnostic phase here as I came to a dead end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 BTW - how big of a pain is the CPS to change? From what I am reading it is pretty difficult unless removing the passenger front tire, rivoting out the splash guard, and getting to it from there. Do you have experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_in Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 BTW - how big of a pain is the CPS to change? From what I am reading it is pretty difficult unless removing the passenger front tire, rivoting out the splash guard, and getting to it from there. Do you have experience? I have done it on my truck, more times than I can remember. I had to pull it before I pulled the engine every time. I left it on there once and broke it, since it smashed against the transmission. I had never remove anything like that, it's on the passenger side. I have a V8 though, but the V6 should be in the same location. Just reached down behind the head and felt for it. Disconnect it, two bolts, remove them, it'll slide out right out. If I was closer I would swing by and do it. I circled where it is on my block, it should be the same location on your truck. Not for sure though, never owned a sixer. http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz243/Dakota740408/1998%20408%20Dakota/DSC08730-2.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_in Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 But before you go through that, though. Check all the fuses in the pdc. Try swapping the asd relay with a good one, its a 20a. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave1647545494 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 I'm going to bet that you have spark but its weak or not on all cylinders those motors are bad for eating caps and rotors.... pull the cap off and see what it looks like inside probably moisture related 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboRust Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 take a hair dryer to the cap for a bit and i bet it starts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Das Borgen Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 my gut is crank position sensor....those are usually the (spark) cause of non start conditions that don t throw codes....check to see if you physically have spark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I do physically have a spark -- albeit my brother said it looked weak. The RPM's did jump to about 100 when I was cranking it. So, does that take the CPS out of the equation? I also sprayed some starter fluid into the throttle body to see if it was a fuel issue. It didn't do anything different when cranking. I will check fuses and the cap the next decent time I can. It is stuck at this girl's apartment so standing out in the dark, freezing rain to check it was not really ideal. Thank you for all of the responses so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_in Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 The RPM's did jump to about 100 when I was cranking it. So, does that take the CPS out of the equation? Not completely but usually if you have no RPM's, your CPS is gone. How many miles are on it? If you go through all the other trouble shooting stuff and can't figure it out, I would just replace the CPS. There is also a pick up in the distributer that could be the problem. Worst case, fried PCM, I fried two of them in less than a year. Once due to bumping the cord from my computer connected to the PCM through OBD-II port, so it lost the tune I was doing and crapped out. Second, I by passed the MSD box due to it going out, was just running an after market coil with stock ignition. Big no-no I guess, the PCM fried with-in miles. When it fried the second time, I had the same exact thing you are describing. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 How many miles are on it? It currently has approx. 111,000 miles on it. I will be going back tomorrow all day to figure it out. I just have a feeling it has something to do with moisture since I drove it there when dry, running fine, and then it rained that morning and then won't start. Will probably just buy a cap to put on -- only $15. I'll keep you posted and thank you again for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Kevin text me if you want me to drop by in the morning and give you a hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted March 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 Kevin text me if you want me to drop by in the morning and give you a hand. Hey, thanks Miller. I didn't see this until now -- but I got it working. Ended up pulling all of the plugs, and some were wet and gapped out of control. They must have finally just given up. Replaced all 6 and a new ignition cap and it fired up fine. Lesson learned is don't check plugs at night even with the best flashlight. They looked entirely different in the day. Thank you for all of your help, guys. :cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Anytime brother. Hit me up if you would like to golf this weekend. I'm thinkin St. Albans, oh and Arby's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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