CHURCH VAN 94 dodge ram van 350 no spark

GOD bless you my brothers and sisters!
On Sunday the 14 the van started then turned off and would not start after. I checked for spark and had none at coil wire . The tip of the coil was rusted and so was the the wire i cleaned them then i checked for power with a test light.
I had power on both wires at this time i had not put the coil wire so i did put it back on and it started right up.
This Sunday same thing start then stalled so today all i did was checked for power with a test light and the van started right up. I brought it home to work on it i pulled the wire diagram and the dk grn/org pos. goes to the injectors and alt. The gry wire goes to PCM ign. coil driver . Do i have a bad driver or can it be the crank sensor . THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Hey gilbert, sorry for not getting back to you sooner! Just for my info, this is a 5.9L engine?

Is your second picture on the passenger side of the engine, looking forward? Or, are you suspicious of the wiring repairs?

The best way to be 100% certain of the wiring or the PCM is catching this thing when it's acting up. A test light connected to B+ on the grey wire will, hopefully, pulse during the no spark condition, thus proving out the driver.

Did you have power to the coil with just the key on? That would be strange, since the coil gets power from the ASD relay, which is operated only during cranking, running, or during a two second prime. Again, catching it not starting would be key. Lack of power during the no start would point us towards an ASD relay problem.

Before going too far down the circuit testing path, I'd also suggest doing a good visual on the coil itself. The coil housings crack ALL the time, leaking voltage to ground. You can also try misting the coil and wires with water, see if you find a secondary short.

God bless you my brother's and sister's!

Hey brother Tyler thank you for getting back at me yes it's a 5.9 and the coil is on the passengers side. I was cranking when I checked for power and had coil wire disconnected at that time. While cranking both had power that's when I put the coil wire back on and it turned on. I can't make it act up I tried to but it just didn't happen. l was watching a video where brother Danner was working on a Ford and when he checked for spark and power at coil the car turned on. His called was a bad crank sensor his thought was that he woke up the sensor. My question is the gry goes to the PCM driver from there does the signal come from the crank sensor. I had to have the van ready for this weekend i replaced the crank sensor repaired the wire , replaced dis. cap and wire's.
Thank you brother for your help.

gilbert wrote: God bless you my brother's and sister's!

Hey brother Tyler thank you for getting back at me yes it's a 5.9 and the coil is on the passengers side. I was cranking when I checked for power and had coil wire disconnected at that time. While cranking both had power that's when I put the coil wire back on and it turned on. I can't make it act up I tried to but it just didn't happen. l was watching a video where brother Danner was working on a Ford and when he checked for spark and power at coil the car turned on. His called was a bad crank sensor his thought was that he woke up the sensor. My question is the gry goes to the PCM driver from there does the signal come from the crank sensor. I had to have the van ready for this weekend i replaced the crank sensor repaired the wire , replaced dis. cap and wire's.
Thank you brother for your help.

Ah OK, so the ASD relay is working then, awesome. Thanks for clarifying that! Intermittents are the worst.

I think you're remembering the Lincoln crank sensor video? Let me know if I'm on the right track.



The act of 'bringing the sensor back to life' in this video is a little different, as the Lincoln uses a VRS type, and I *think* your Dodge uses a Hall effect crank sensor.

The coil control on the grey wire is indeed going to come from cam and crank signals. But, keep in mind that the PCM will only energize the ASD relay during cranking with an RPM signal present. If you have power to the coil during cranking, then that means the PCM is getting cam/crank signals.

That still doesn't rule out a failing coil driver, however, but it does tell us soemthing about the cam and crank sensors.

God bless you my brothers & sisters.

Yes brother i am taking about that video, so why did it start when i checked for power? What changed when i put the test light to the wires? Do you think that a driver can came back to life the same way the crank sensor did on the video?
I hope not because that will mean that it can still fail and not start.
Thank you brother for your help.

gilbert wrote: so why did it start when i checked for power? What changed when i put the test light to the wires?

I wish I knew Any possibility of a poor connection or spread pin at the coil connector? That may explain why it comes back to life only during testing.

Personally, I've never seen a failed driver come back to life during testing, but I see new stuff all the time! I do have a Jeep at work who's ASD relay driver comes and goes. If you get in and turn the key to crank immediately, it'll crank no start. But, if you turn the key on and wait about 10 seconds, it'll start. Chrysler PCM's of this era produce some quirky issues.

I'm wondering if it might be worth checking for injection pulse the next time it acts up? We know it's missing spark, but missing injection pulse as well would point to a bigger problem. If you have injection pulse, then we'd move on and keep going down the coil control path.

Missing control at the coil still leaves the grey wire and it's connection at the PCM suspect. We may end up back probing the PCM connector and rechecking for control there. Also, speaking of PCM connectors, have you seen this thread ?

God bless you my brother's and sister's.
Brother the first time I also thought it was a bad connection as you can see the wire's have caps. When it happened that went out the window.

On this van it starts then it turns off after about a min. then no spark that's when I put test light to ground and check for power and it turns on. I hope that replacing the coil and crank sensor took care of that we need the van. Yes brother I have seen that thread .
I Thank you brother for your help and God bless you !