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JTEC VS NGC wrong vin

13788 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Buddy789
Brand new to this site. Bare with me if this is something that has been gone over before. Here is the back story before my question.
I have a 2002 Dodge Dakota that I bought brand new in September of 2001. Last year I blew a head gasket so I had heads rebuilt and changed the timing chains and all of the sprockets including the reluctor wheel on passenger side. Before I bought timing chain set I checked my VIN and found the 8th digit/number is "N" which apparently is for NGC (Gen II). So according to the parts warehouse that's the set I needed. After installing all of the components and reassembling everything I went to fire it up and it would not start. I tore it all down and re checked everything again (timing marks all correct) and reassembled again. Still would not start. OBDII code showed camshaft sensor error. I replaced that. Compression was good. Had spark and fuel. Frustrated, I gave up for a while. After doing some research now, I believe I have a JTEC motor with an N in the VIN. The ECM has (3) 32 pin connectors. Has anyone else come across this? I already threw away the old reluctor wheel. (passenger side cam sprocket) so I can't compare them. I haven't tore back into it yet but I'm sure that is the issue. Could I have damaged anything by trying to crank it over with wrong cam timing sensor on it?

Frustrated
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No. The only thing you are doing is wasting gas. :p
I do not remember ever hearing that the VIN tells you if you have NGC or JTEC, only the PCM plugs being the deciding factor along with the separate TCM next to the passenger headlight on JTEC models.
Either way, you have to get the correct reluctor wheels for the cam and crank for your JTEC truck.
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