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2nd gen engine and wire harness questions

M

Mopardude

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So I just picked up this 96 Ram parts truck that I got for a good price, that has been partially parted out. Has a 5.9L, "supposedly" as the story goes it was a running engine, a previous owner swapped a different trans in and it wouldn't start after that. My brother just purchased an 85 Ramcharger that he would like to swap that 5.9 into. I would like to trouble shoot that engine before we do the swap. So on a 96 what is the minimal that needs to be hooked up to in order to get the computer to play ball. I know from experience on 98 models and newer you start disconnecting certain electronics unrelated to the engine running and it will cause the computer not to do anything. Although I have heard on these early 2nd gens they are a lot more simple. My thoughts are there is an electrical issue as to why the the engine doesn't run but before I go chasing that gremlin I want to be sure everything is here that needs to be electrically.
 
It's a pretty basic engine, cam and crank sensors, coolant temp sensor, tps, intake air temp, idle air control, fuel pressure, should get it running. Do you have access to a scan tool? I would start by checking for codes and go from there. When you say wont start, it wont crank or it cranks but wont run?
 
Yea that is a good point I didn't even think about a scan tool. I don't know the extant of the starting issue yet, I just picked up the truck the other night and haven't dived into it yet. Just trying to educate myself a little before I do. According to the guy I bought it from when I asked him the same question, he didn't know either because it was a buddy's truck. I guess he picked up up for next to nothing for a project than never did anything with it than decided to part it out. So who really knows. The kid didn't seem like a bullshitter so for now I am believing the story. His belief was the crank sensor might have been damaged or something when his buddy swapped the trans on it. Seems like a reasonable place to start looking to me.
 
The crank sensor does go through the bellhousing and it is easy to damage if a person is not careful.
 
Depending which trans was put in the crank senser may not even be there. Older 727 had no slot for it.
 
I believe '96 still uses the older OBD1 system which is less complicated than the '97 up OBD2.
The downside is that tuning options for modifications are pretty much non existent.
Code readers are still available but the "key trick" should work as well.
Swapping into a non EFI vehicle is pretty easy. I would google this as videos are online. I've seen it done, was told that all that was needed was to run the old wiring and get a good 12v source to the computer
 
96 and later is OBDII, pre 96 OBDI, but there may be some OBDII mixed in there when they started to develop them. 96 was the must switch year to OBDII to be sold in the US.
 
OBD I was the last year for my 93 Dakota or anyway that was the last year I have a can for.
 
Thanks for the replies, didn't see all the other replies come in.

Just a little update. Yesterday was finally a nice enough day and had 15 minutes to play around with it, and my brother had stopped by inquiring about it. Weather here in WI has either been cold or rainy when ever I have had time to mess with it. Manually put a socket on it and turned it by hand turned real smooth yet seemed like it had some decent compression to it yet. Hooking jumper cables right to the battery leads quickly realized there is some sort of grounding issue maybe going on. Dash lights would come on but starter relay would only click. Put the negative end to the frame, starter would kick over but was real slow and was drawing a lot of juice off the truck I was jumping it with. Put the negative to the engine ground, starter turned the engine perfectly but no start. Not sure if its a fuel or spark issue. Didn't investigate further because at about that point when we knew the engine seemed mechanically fine my brother decided he was just going to get an intake and carb and call it a day. We are going to save to save the computer and EFI system to explore that option at a later time, as we both are interested in doing such a swap. Just time might be a factor this summer for both of us.
 
So if it turns out to be ODBII, there will be under dash components I will have to save as well?
 
Mopardude said:
So if it turns out to be ODBII, there will be under dash components I will have to save as well?
Click to expand...
If it's OBD II the DLC is under the dash, it's the 16 pin connector the the FED mandated be in all cars after 96. OBD I Mopar has the connector under the hood.
 
When you pull out ALL of the engine harness and computer the DLC should be part of it.
 
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