help diagnose my '97 Dakota

[destrekor]

for the past week, when starting the truck, it'd very briefly make a sound like it wouldn't start, like it wouldn't turn over, but then it would after brief moment. Twice, once two days ago, and once again today, it would start, but then wouldn't idle. So I'd start it again, and as soon as it turned over, I'd apply some gas for a few moments and it'd then idle on its own. Today after stopping at the gas station, it did that again, but I tried revving it and it still died, and upon trying to start it again, wouldn't even turn over, like the battery was dead.
Had a buddy try and jump it, and while it would start, even with applying gas it wouldn't idle on its own.

So here I am, with the truck still at the gas station and going to get it towed to the shop in the morning.
Any ideas of what it might be? I'm still hoping just a straight up dead battery, but could it be something like the alternator, or maybe just its belt? I don't exactly know a whole lot about cars... which I did, would love to work on my truck myself, but nobody in my family really knows anything about cars either, so tough to have someone help show me the ways around the engine to work on it.

 

[potato28]

Just a run down list of what might be broken: EGR Valve, PCV valve, Idler pulley, Battery, Alternator, and Starter. Auto tranny or manual?

 

[destrekor]

Auto. Vehicle has roughly 110k miles on it too.

I guess we'll find out for sure come tomorrow.

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: destrekor
Auto. Vehicle has roughly 110k miles on it too.

I guess we'll find out for sure come tomorrow.

post your finding because i have 1994 altima that wont idle for the 1st couple of seconds (10sec or so) the only way to get it to idle is to hold a rev at anything above 1000 rpm for those 10 or so seconds

 

[iamwiz82]

Idle Air Controller or Crankshaft Position Sensor, if I had to guess.

I assume this is the 3.9L?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If your battery has shorted cells, it'd definitely do that. Any check engine light and codes? Get yourself a volt meter and check the battery.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Definitely sounds like an electrical issue if it won't even turn over sometimes. I'd check the ground connections first thing.

 

[destrekor]

Heh. So, went to pick up my truck this morning from the gas station, and my dad wanted to try jumping it once more to make sure. Well don't ya know it, damned thing started. Drove it to Battery Wholesale, and they tested the battery, and basically stated - yep, battery is dead.
New battery in, and not a sign of any problems. Thing runs like it did before this week... no hesitation when starting.
Hmm. Interesting it didn't start yesterday when me and my buddies tried to jump it. Maybe was a bad connection on the terminals or something?
Would it matter that battery in my parent's car was brand new? Would that maybe indicate my buddy's battery is getting older? I couldn't imagine that being the case.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: destrekor
Heh. So, went to pick up my truck this morning from the gas station, and my dad wanted to try jumping it once more to make sure. Well don't ya know it, damned thing started. Drove it to Battery Wholesale, and they tested the battery, and basically stated - yep, battery is dead.
New battery in, and not a sign of any problems. Thing runs like it did before this week... no hesitation when starting.
Hmm. Interesting it didn't start yesterday when me and my buddies tried to jump it. Maybe was a bad connection on the terminals or something?
Would it matter that battery in my parent's car was brand new? Would that maybe indicate my buddy's battery is getting older? I couldn't imagine that being the case.

Did you set everything up the same way both times?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: potato28

Originally posted by: destrekor
Heh. So, went to pick up my truck this morning from the gas station, and my dad wanted to try jumping it once more to make sure. Well don't ya know it, damned thing started. Drove it to Battery Wholesale, and they tested the battery, and basically stated - yep, battery is dead.
New battery in, and not a sign of any problems. Thing runs like it did before this week... no hesitation when starting.
Hmm. Interesting it didn't start yesterday when me and my buddies tried to jump it. Maybe was a bad connection on the terminals or something?
Would it matter that battery in my parent's car was brand new? Would that maybe indicate my buddy's battery is getting older? I couldn't imagine that being the case.

Did you set everything up the same way both times?

It appeared that way.. cables seemed to be hooked up properly. The terminals were different on my buddy's car than my parents. The cables might not have been on the terminals properly, not sure though.
My dad seemed to have high quality cables though, kind of thick. And he accidentally touched the two ends of the cable together prior to attaching them to my car, so they sparked. 'twas a good sign of proper connection on his battery though.

The fact that my truck could start (but not idle) when connected to my buddy's car was better than my truck not even starting when not connected. So that was a sign of some kind of connection, but maybe not proper.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: destrekor
It appeared that way.. cables seemed to be hooked up properly. The terminals were different on my buddy's car than my parents. The cables might not have been on the terminals properly, not sure though.
My dad seemed to have high quality cables though, kind of thick. And he accidentally touched the two ends of the cable together prior to attaching them to my car, so they sparked. 'twas a good sign of proper connection on his battery though.

The fact that my truck could start (but not idle) when connected to my buddy's car was better than my truck not even starting when not connected. So that was a sign of some kind of connection, but maybe not proper.

If it reoccurs, check your battery cables. It's not uncommon to find them corroded inside and cause a poor connection even though the terminals are secure.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: destrekor
It appeared that way.. cables seemed to be hooked up properly. The terminals were different on my buddy's car than my parents. The cables might not have been on the terminals properly, not sure though.
My dad seemed to have high quality cables though, kind of thick. And he accidentally touched the two ends of the cable together prior to attaching them to my car, so they sparked. 'twas a good sign of proper connection on his battery though.

The fact that my truck could start (but not idle) when connected to my buddy's car was better than my truck not even starting when not connected. So that was a sign of some kind of connection, but maybe not proper.

If it reoccurs, check your battery cables. It's not uncommon to find them corroded inside and cause a poor connection even though the terminals are secure.

Well neither set of cables were mine. I must sadly admit I have yet to have my own set of cables in my truck. Ridiculous, yes I know.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: destrekor
It appeared that way.. cables seemed to be hooked up properly. The terminals were different on my buddy's car than my parents. The cables might not have been on the terminals properly, not sure though.
My dad seemed to have high quality cables though, kind of thick. And he accidentally touched the two ends of the cable together prior to attaching them to my car, so they sparked. 'twas a good sign of proper connection on his battery though.

The fact that my truck could start (but not idle) when connected to my buddy's car was better than my truck not even starting when not connected. So that was a sign of some kind of connection, but maybe not proper.

If it reoccurs, check your battery cables. It's not uncommon to find them corroded inside and cause a poor connection even though the terminals are secure.

Well neither set of cables were mine. I must sadly admit I have yet to have my own set of cables in my truck. Ridiculous, yes I know.

Demon-Xanth is talking about the actual cables that are hooked to the battery, not the jumper cables.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: destrekor
It appeared that way.. cables seemed to be hooked up properly. The terminals were different on my buddy's car than my parents. The cables might not have been on the terminals properly, not sure though.
My dad seemed to have high quality cables though, kind of thick. And he accidentally touched the two ends of the cable together prior to attaching them to my car, so they sparked. 'twas a good sign of proper connection on his battery though.

The fact that my truck could start (but not idle) when connected to my buddy's car was better than my truck not even starting when not connected. So that was a sign of some kind of connection, but maybe not proper.

If it reoccurs, check your battery cables. It's not uncommon to find them corroded inside and cause a poor connection even though the terminals are secure.

Well neither set of cables were mine. I must sadly admit I have yet to have my own set of cables in my truck. Ridiculous, yes I know.

Demon-Xanth is talking about the actual cables that are hooked to the battery, not the jumper cables.

ah
well when battery wholesale checked the battery, it was thoroughly dead. amperage was nearly dead on the meter iirc. Or something like that. I mean, the battery was over 5 years old, had to be... battery hasn't been replaced since I've owned it.

but... could a bad connection cause the battery to die? The one cable was kind of dirty, and I think the technician used some solution on the one connection.

 

[destrekor]

oops