1999 dakota will not start

after 106,000 miles this is the first time it will not start, although it will crank like new. My mechanic told me that it is the ecu but im not very convinced. any way that i can check to see if it may be something else? is the gas filter in the gas tank? could it be the timing belt?

chances are you have a bad crank sensor mounted on the back of the motor between the bellhousing. Those are notorious for going bad and causing no starts.

Well, the thing to do is find out what you don't have - Spark, Fuel Pressure and injector pulse are first things to check. If you have pressure and no spark or pulse, then yes, you have to determine why not...crank sensor being a good place to start. Takes a little bit of diagnostics to keep from waisting a lot of money...like throwing an ECM at a no-start.

Check you Crank Shaft position sensoe located between the firewall and the engine block on the passanger side of your truck. Your truck will crank and crank but will not start if the sensoe is bad. Trust me. Sometimes you will notice that the sensor in some of these DAKOTAS are just hanging off of the engine block. its about 25 to 40 bucks. Auto Zone carries it. You will not even get a check engine light.