RE: 92-95 Dakota's Dying--MUST READ FOR GEN II's

From: tmfu (tmfu@home.com)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 22:33:23 EDT


> 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.
>

Had the same thing happen to my 95 a year ago! The mech said that it was
because of spillage from the washer reservoir or a leaking one. Could be
right...

Greg
2K1 Neon ES
Rahway, NJ
http://24.6.89.18/Neon
24.6.89.18:6667 (IRC)
ICQ:283886



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