P1281 on a 2000 dodge 3500 van I have replaced the fuel pump crank sensor plugs wires cap rotor running out of $$$$ fast

100 PSI is way to low, I think you have a burnt valve. Check the cylinder compression on all cylinders, no cylinder should be 5% lower than the highest cylinder pressure measured or the engine will run rough or misfire.

With the black smoke it make me think about your compression ring. Do a compression test. You must be over 110psi to have no problem and also the variation must be smaller that 8psi from your lowest to your highest cilyndre. If your under 110 psi and over 8 psi of variation then your engine gonna need ? compl?te overhaul... PS: over 92psi your engine Will still work but your not gonna ave power/torque

Check to make sure your fuel pump is pumping by having somebody turn the key to the acc on position not starting the vehicle, this should make a buzz sound, or check fuel pressure. If you are getting fuel, make sure you have spark. Could be the fuel pump or just a coil. Make sure all ground wires are tight. This would be a good time for a tune up. When my truck did this it was just a ground wire. The second time it was the connector to the coil. I replaced the spark plugs, wires, dist cap and rotor, coil, and pcv valve. Now everything is good. 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 with 210,000 miles.

time to buy a new van.. umm what about the alternator?

I'm not familiar with dodge but I know Ford's and GM's have ignition modules that go out and you lose spark.

IF CHECK ENG. LIGHT WAS FLASHING OR STILL FLASHING YOU HAVE MULTIPLE CYLINDER MISFIRE, HAVE YOU PERFORM A MAJOR TUNE UP: SPARK PLUGS, CAP, ROTOR, WIRE SET, CLEAN THROTTLE BODY, RESET SENSORS?LET ME KNOW

did you check the crank sensor?

did you check the coolant sensor and see what it is reading ?

First of all let's explain how the spark gets to the plugs. There is a crankshaft position sensor and a cam sensor. They are what determines when to fire the coils and injectors. The crank sensor is located on the passenger side on top of the bellhousing, the cam sensor is the pickup plate in the distributor. As the engin turns the send refernece pulses to the computer which grounds and ungrounds the ignition coil causing it to discharge and send voltager from the secondary coil wire to the center tower in the distributor cap. The rotor button recieves the voltage and distributes it to the 6 towers (1 for each cylinder) If you say you're getting spark from the rotor that tells me the primary side of the ignition system is working, and the secondary side is working into the distributor cap. I'd check for spark out of the plug wires at the plugs. Pull a wire and insert a #2 phillips screwdriver into it, hol the shaft of the screwdriver aprox 1/8"(no more) from the exaust manifold and observe the spark as someone turns over the engine. You should see a nice blue spark. If theres spark, spray a little gum cutter in the throttle body an crank it, if it fires you have a fuel problem. Install a fuel pressure gauge on the schrader valve on the fuel rail and observe it as you crank it. If theres no fuel pressure maks sure there's fuel in the tank, if so climb underneath and beat on the bottom of the tank with a rubber hammer, the pump may be going bad, sometimes you can jar them and make them run.

Needs Crank sensor. Good luck