>----- Original Message -----
>Re: My Dead Dakota
>From: "Ronald Wong" <ron-wong@home.com>
> Hey Mark,
> Where's this splice you're talking about?
Right below the underhood fusebox, about 8" down the harness is a splice
(#115), from that splice, it powers the PCM, Fuel Pump, and Coil. All four
wires are Red/white, one comes from the fusebox, two go right back up to the
relays, and the fourth goes the opposite direction to the PCM. You will have
to unbolt the fusebox, pull it out of the way, and cut open the tape on the
harness to find the splice.
I guess what happens is that water gets into the fusebox, drains down the
harness, and eventually corrodes the splice into green powder (oxidized
copper). You cannot tell if it is bad by looking at it, you will have to cut
the tape off of the splice and inspect the connection. If you see and green
or white residue on the connection under the tape, it has started to go bad
and needs to be re-done (preferably by soldering).
This problem can be very intermittent, sometimes just a single miss while
cruising down the highway, sometimes just a long cranking time, mine was
even sensitive to temperature (28-40F) and high humidity. The problem in my
94 Dak occurred intermittently 30+ times and over $1000 in parts over a
year. Finally one day it just died in Toledo, luckily I was walking distance
from Vin Devers Dodge. When I got there, they were closing in 5 minutes, one
of the mechanics there said he new exactly what the problem was, grabbed
some tools and drove me back to my truck to fix it, AFTER CLOSING TIME! This
guy earned every penny CryCo pays him. Never had the problem since, 80,000
miles later.
My 95 Dak just refused to start one day after I replaced my 14x3 K&N with a
14x4 filter. When I was done it would not start! It was just a coincidence,
as it turns out, but I sure was confused at the time. I checked the splice
as a hunch after I could not get a voltage reading at the PCM. Sure enough,
after I cut the harness to get a better look at I thought that the splice
looked fine, but I gave it a little tug to get a closer look, and IT SNAPPED
IN HALF! Up until that time, I never had it die, it never stumbled, nothing.
I even drove the truck the night before and never even a stumble.
A guy I work with also has a 93 Dak that had the exact same problems.
The point I'm tying to make is that this is a big problem on 92-95 Daks and
you need to check it if you own one. Chances are if you ever drove in the
rain, yours has already started corroding.
Mark Kuzia
flyboy01@mediaone.net
http://people.mw.mediaone.net/flyboy01/home.html
1995 Dakota 13.79 @ 102.45 mph
~360ci, 5-spd, 4.11 LS (8 3/4 [3.90 SG] coming soon)
1994 Dakota 15.36 @ 91.56 mph
~318ci, 5-spd, 3.90 LS (bone stock, no mods)
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