Gen II Dakota's have a wiring problem near the fuse box in the engine
compartment
Q:
Intermittent: GenII stalling while driving, will not run, no power to the
computer, will not start.
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----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.
ent. I have the pasted the info from the DML FAQ page below. Check this out before you buy a new computer.
----- Original Message ----- From: "brent venis" <urbansoul@london.com> To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 01:43 Subject: DML: computer for a 94 v6
> i think my computer is funked up. > > my dak has been running rough for quite a while, and ive tried changing > everything i can think of. new timing chain, exhaust, intake manifold > gaskets. all with no real results. > it runs like it is missing one of the cylinders. ive thought it was some > kind of fuel delivery or timing issue, then about two weeks ago, i fired > it up and it ran perfectly. > for about two minutes. > it did this several times and is now back to running rough all the time. > > soooo.... does anyone have a spare comp for a 94 v6 that i could borrow > for a week or so? or at least some other ideas about what the hell is > going on? > whatever you may need as far as a deposit and such is no problem, i can > pay shipping both ways. whatever. i need to get this problem fixed. > > extra info- 94 v6 cc, 142k, fabm intake, flowmaster muffler, accel coil, > 3923's. > > two side notes- > i bought a borg cap and rotor a couple weeks ago and i went to put them > on and they were not brass. wtf?? same part number as always. anybody > else run into this? > > i will probably be selling a flowmaster #942552 in a couple of weeks. > this is the "flowmaster recommended" muffler for 94-96 v6 and v8's. > seems there was a shipping error and i got two. bonus!! > just a heads up, i will make an offical sale announcement later. > > thanks for all your help. > > > brent >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:02:22 EDT