Updates - wow . . .2008 already? LOL

Wow . . . it's been a while since I updated this puppy . . . you can catch some of the newer updates on my other blogs, but the Dakota has recently gotten some love at least. (Tis' not the only one!) I yanked the interior out (one lucky neighbor cat survived 3 weeks in it . . . alas, the carpet didn't). The new headgasket and other goodies went on during the past weekend. The old Mopar 2.2/2.5 Performance book that I had incorrectly listed the timing mark location . . . DOH! I need to draw a little update in that book, because for my engine the oil pump/distrubutor cog has a mark on the outside of the wheel, not the inner "odd" hole like the camshaft cog. In the "good old days" it might have been that way, but it's not on this one. I estimate the timing is about 90 degrees off right now . . . it occasionally makes a "kapow" sound when cranking. While I'm in there fixing that problem, I'll also toss a new timing belt in . . .just for grins. I'll keep all the old belts/etc.. for spares just in case I'm ever in dire need.

Good Gravy . . .

Last post May? What the heck happened? I battled multiple fuel pump installations . . . finally I have one that consistently works. The only minor issue is the fuel level sender seems to be stuck or non functional? Ugh. I guess I'll have one more bench pressing session with the truck bed, but this time I think I'll just have to lift it high enough to rotate the pump assembly slightly. We'll see on that. I've driven the truck on several longer distance trips (10+ miles or so) and it's been rock solid. I had issue with spongy brakes at first, but after a few more bleeding sessions, it's about where it needs to be I think. The truck drives rather well considering it's age and how many years it hasn't been on the road. I need to get a radio put in and some speakers sometime. That's pretty low on the priority list right now . . . I'll just hum to myself for now.

Some update pics

Here are some pics of the new brakes in place . . . all new parts. I made quite the mess repacking the wheel bearings, but I got it done. I put the tach in but haven't completed the wiring of it yet. I actually drove it yesterday for the first time over a long distance. I put $20 of premium in it because I know the old gas was pretty stale, I was getting pinging and it wasn't running very zippy. I added some Techron fuel injector cleaner also on that load of fuel. I'm anxious to get the license for it so I'm completely legal. I ran the truck down to Lake City Ammunition Plant -- they have a traffic circle there so that's my favorite spot to test cars. Once I get the plate on the truck I'll go for a longer cruise. I need to change the oil next and finish wrapping up a few loose ends here and there. The temperature has been fine -- the fan is kicking in when it's supposed to and everything, so I'm thinking maybe there isn't a problem with the truck's headgasket. Time will tell, but I don't have any bubbles in the radiator and no milk shake in the oil . . . I can probably do a compression test just to make doubly sure. Remarkably, the truck drives pretty good and no smoke or anything weird. It has a little drip, probably a rear seal on the motor, which I'll be able to live with for a while. This winter I can probably get energetic and rebuild the engine fully, or at least put a new seal in.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed . . .

Ok . . . so I had my new tachometer from the other day and the truck that won't start. The other night on the way home I had decided that maybe my issue was related to the TBI (throttle body injector . . . the thing that squirts fuel). I was reading the NS (no start) flow charts and kept thinking that maybe I had an issue. I would hit the key though and nothing -- no happy noises from the fuel pump area (in the gas tank). My first thought was maybe the fuel pump only comes up for a few seconds and then with pressure it shuts off. That didn't sound right, so I called my wife's ex-father-in-law for a little consulting. I had already traced things down, swapped the ASD (auto shut down) relay . . . basically done everything I could to see what the problem was. He suggested a bad pump, and I was somewhat reluctant -- after all, it was BRAND NEW! I then decided to do some more sluething. I checked the voltage going back to the pump -- I had 12 volts on cranking . . . seems like that is right. That still didn't tell me though if the circuit was carrying current fully . . . I've seen issues where voltage shows correct without a load, but current capability is zilch under a load. I went up to O'Reilly's and bought some test leads and decided to hook the fuel pump directly to a 12 volt souce. No happy noises there either. Ugh!

A call to Charlie (my wife's ex-father-in-law) confirmed that it sounded like the pump was not working right . . . but he had some "tricks of the trade" to make my THIRD go at the fuel tank a much easier task. I followed is suggestion and unbolted the bed of the truck. He suggested leaving the back bolts on and then raising the bed up high enough to get the pump out. I got the bolts out and then bench pressed the bed up while inserting 2x4 blocks, eventually getting it to a point where I could work on it. If I'd had a decent floor jack I could have just got it up where it needed to be. My neighbor was gone, so I couldn't borrow his. I ended up removing all the bolts and wiring and getting the bed of the truck tilted and twisted where I could work on the fuel pump. I swapped the pump at OReillly'. . . and before buttoning the truck bed back in place, I reached in and hit the key . . . it fired right up on the first try. Figures!

So with the bed of the truck put back together, I decided to do a little cleanup here and there on wiring issues. The fan had been hard wired to 12 volts off a jumper in the fuse panel under the hood. I cleaned that up and got my tachometer mounted. I'm still working on wiring and that for the tach, but I'm doing pretty good.

The last thing left to was the brakes, and I'm happy to say I got them done and they're just in need of bleeding now. I put new rotors, calipers, and brake pads on each side so it's got a lot of nice shiny stuff where you can't even see it. That figures too. Oh well, it's peace of mind to know it's all done right and will be able to stop. I'm too pooped from working to get the camera pics of things uploaded . .. but I'll update things once I get the brakes bled. Who knows -- maybe I can drive it tomorrow?

Trip to the boneyard

Ok -- I decided to get down to the boneyard . . the local Pick-n-Pull. I haven't been there in years . . . many years as a matter of fact. The last time I was down there with a friend of mine he realized that he had gotten rid of the truck we rode in about 1998! Yike! I didn't get too much quality time there, as I was coming straight from work . . .they close at 6:00 PM. By the time I got done with traffic, I had all of 30 minutes to look and acquaint myself. I quickly shuffled off looking for a P-Body car (Plymouth Duster or Dodge Shadow) to snag the door handle trim. I was beginning to get discouraged because they all seemed to be missing, and then I found a fairly recent addition (recent because it didn't look like the buzzards had picked it clean). I got my replacement part and they didn't even charge for it. I looked high and low for another Dodge Dakota that a friend of mine said they had set out recently, but I couldn't find it. I then decided just to go lurking in the stuff and happened upon a Dodge Ram pickup. While looking at the dash I found a tachometer that someone had drilled and fitted to the dash. They had used some type of rubber glue to hold it in the dash, so I whipped out my pocket knife and had it out in a jiffy. (Score -- less than $4!) I went to test it when I got home -- red/black . . . standard stuff. White goes to lighting -- light works great. I went to hook the green wire to the coil and hopped in the truck and nada. It won't start again. UGH!

So, I've spent most of my night futzing with the thing trying to get it to start. I finally took a small break and went up to get some replacement light bulbs. When I took the grill off and sidemarker lights, I noticed the connectors were taped in. One side was electrical tape, the other side was duct tape. I looked at the connector and the bulbs in place and realized that the bulb was way too big, in fact one side had discoloration and a crack from the heat of this bulb that was pressed to the lens itself. I went to O'Reilly's and got the right bulbs, and guess what? Now you can put them in and twist and not need goober tape job to hold them in. I like solving things like that . . . I'm not sure how those bulbs got replaced like that . . . and since there was two different kinds of tape, undoubtedly someone just bought another of the wrong kind for a replacement at some point. Ugh! This reminds me of the mile long fuel hose with the door screen/hose clamp fuel pickup system on the jet ski from hell last year.

Anyway . . . I didn't get to do the brakes . . . as I was debating where to begin it started sprinkling again. I need to clear out space in the garage to get the truck in so I'm not hampered by weather issues. I found a great space for the tachometer, right beside the steering wheel and just far enough up to be seen but not interfere with the turn signals. I'll have to build a custom bracket for it, but I think I can swing that one myself. So much for progress on the truck . . . and this after I already called my insurance agent to start coverage on the truck. I knew once I got the brakes done I'd probably want to test it, but now I'm back to square one on trying to figure out that pesky starting problem.

Progress

Last night I contemplated starting on the front brakes, but then I got tied up doing something else and decided to forgo that. I was hoping to get them done Sunday but while running the truck on Sunday, the engine unexpectedly stopped. I decided that perhaps the ignition was the source of my issues. I had to take apart the rotor, as one screw was frozen in the rotor housing. I was able to salvage the pickup unit and got a new rotor and cap. The plug wires are pretty decent, so I just flipped them around in the new cap. (Dodge 2.2/2.5 people will understand that statement . . . ) I was still experiencing problems starting, so I wired up another coil that I had used on another car (my old 1993 Plymouth Duster with the 2.5L). The coil didn't seem to fix the problem. I redid engine grounds and eventually got the thing running without any hiccups. By the end of the day I was pretty tired, so I decided to call it a day.

The fuel gauge isn't working -- that has me somewhat concerned . . . it should be working, but it's not right now . . . perhaps the float is stuck and will dislodge itself once on the road. I have at least 3 or 4 gallons in the tank, but I won't be alarmed until I fill the tank for the first time.

The interior looks a lot better with a little cleaning . . . I've got wiring issues to clean up here and there. The door speakers I can see are shot . . . so new speakers and a radio are definitely in order. I'm not going to be too concerned about that until I get all the bugs out of the truck's running. I have new belts, but as of yet, I'm holding off on putting them on. I'm waiting to see if the headgasket is my smoking gun so to speak . . . that's why I got a great deal on the truck in the first place.

Progress pics