[Gagirl84]

I'm changing from a 93 Dodge Dakota 3.9 engine to a 5.2L out of a 96 Dodge Dakota. Got motor and transmission out of 93 I want to put in my 93 will it work and how hard is it ? Also I don't have the complete wiring harness out of truck... Please help

 

[Killer_19]

Just like any engine swap there is going to be some fabrication and a lot of time to make it happen. I’m not sure what the differences in the harnesses are but getting a 5.2 harness would probably be the easiest way, also don’t forget that you will need a 5.2 ecu aswell. You will have to figure out motor mounts, maybe transmission mounts, driveshaft, etc. How hard the swap will be really depends on what options the 2 trucks had (4wd, ac, manual). If you search on google or YouTube I am sure you can find someone else who has already done the swap and that is probably your best option to find info.

 

[Gagirl84]

So I could go to a junkyard and get a wiring harness and ecu out of any 5.2 Dakota and it would work??
Yes I'm a female and trying to do my 1st big job on my own.... with the side help of you guys and google lol... I'm still fairly wet behind the ears so hold the giggles guys
It makes more sense to get another wiring harness considering the different number of pins on my plug-ins... Like the fuel pump went from a 4 prong to a 5... But now my question is would I get a wiring harness from a 93 year model 5.2 or a 96?

 

[immattj]

I was looking at the title of your thread (gen1 to gen2 swap) & I am pretty sure that the '96 is also a gen 1. Meaning that you are doing a gen 1 to gen 1 swap, which may simplify matters and mean that you MAY not have as big an interchangeability issue with PCMs and wiring harnesses (as far as the years go). (However, in the engine swapping game, nothing is a sure thing, and there may be some variations within the gen1 years.) And I would agree that the wiring harness and PCM should both be for a 5.2 and you MAY need to get the PCM flashed for your VIN, or possibly a flash for the swap . . . I do not know how sophisticated the Dak PCMs were back then.

 

[Zaan]

I was looking at the title of your thread (gen1 to gen2 swap) & I am pretty sure that the '96 is also a gen 1. Meaning that you are doing a gen 1 to gen 1 swap, which may simplify matters and mean that you MAY not have as big an interchangeability issue with PCMs and wiring harnesses (as far as the years go). (However, in the engine swapping game, nothing is a sure thing, and there may be some variations within the gen1 years.) And I would agree that the wiring harness and PCM should both be for a 5.2 and you MAY need to get the PCM flashed for your VIN, or possibly a flash for the swap . . . I do not know how sophisticated the Dak PCMs were back then.

you don't really run into issues with the vin in the pcm being different until after 2000. even then its particular to the model. I don't think the dakota did until the 3rd gen in 2005.

 

[immattj]

you don't really run into issues with the vin in the pcm being different until after 2000. even then its particular to the model. I don't think the dakota did until the 3rd gen in 2005.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about that.
I had it backwards anyway, I don't think having the PCM flashed for the '93 VIN is what OP would need to do, as that would flash the PCM for the wrong engine. But hopefully it won't need to be flashed at all.

What I was thinking about was a thread I read about a gen2 swap, I think I remember it involved a Hemi swap. Anyway, as I remember, there was a flash that needed to be done specifically for that swap. On that one, the OP could start it, but it would almost immediately shut down, and it turned out that the facility that flashed the PCM got a digit wrong.

 

[nwrensch]

96 was the first year for OBD2, but if you get a harness and ecu form a 91-95 5.2 you should be good. I am quite sure the motor mounts are the same and the trans will bolt to the 5.2.