88 dodge dakota 4x4 3.9 tbi no spark no fuel pump .no start. I have similar problem. Mine will start if pour gas in throttle body, How about yours? I have been told it is pickup . never heard of this . can't locate it.

Check your repair manual for ECM voltage and signals! There is no communicatiin between the the ECM advance and the engine beyond idle..........

Are you sure it is a carburetor and not throttle body injection? They do look similar.
If it is a carburetor, there would not be a regulator. The fuel pump will either be a mechanical pump mounted on the engine, or a low volume electric pump in the gas line from gas tank to the engine.
If it is throttle body injection (TBI), yes, there is a fuel pressure regulator, probably located near the throttle body. It will have gas lines connected to it (one line will be a return line back to the gas tank) and a vacuum line. The fuel pressure on TBI systems is not as high as multi point injection, usually around 20 psi. You would have to check the specific pressure requirement for your pathfinder.

Take off the air cleaner cover and look at top of unit. A carburetor should have a choke plate right at top of the carb throat. However some Nissans by '88 had a carburetor without a choke-it used an enricher jet controlled by the ecu for added fuel when starting.. On a TBI, looking down at the unit where the air goes in, you will see one or two injectors with a wiring harness connected to them-each injector will have two wires connected to it.
If still unsure, check engine designation on the under hood label. Carbureted engines will have a s letter designation, injected engines will have letter i. To explain: my '87 Sentra is carbureted, so engine designation is E16s, some same engines were injected, so their designation is E16i.

Hello, just had this problem myself. Check your EGR valve by pulling the vacume line off and pushing up under the valve put your finger over the vacume line hole and release the valve, if it returns to normal position then its bad if not its good. If its bad it needs replaced. Mine did the exact same thing and thats what it was. Hope this helps

If you have to put fuel in the throttle body to get it to start then its not getting fuel from the gas tank, a clogged fuel filter can cause this problem as can a failing fuel pump or pump relay.

2.3 V-6? You should be a 2.5 V-6 whether you have a TBI (throttle body injector) or sequencial, If there is no injector pulse then move your inspection to the distributor, there you will see a distributor pick up, this controls spark and fuel, and yes the rule is if there is no spark then there is no fuel but you case is special you have spark and no fuel pulse,you will need to inspect this for corrosion as it can give spark and no fuel injector pulse,that is one area of no injector pulse, Then inspect the MAP sensor (your a spped density), the most common complaint for a map sensor is it start then dies. inspect this sensor its mounted on the firewall make sure the vacuum hose is connected, and that it is plugged in.

could it be your crank sensor?
having a similar problem with a dakota. dodge tells me it may be the dist, but seeing as how you replaced it with a new one it could be that the sensor needs replacing

sounds like you have a problem with your fuel presure regulator

as for pouring gas down the tbi try turning your key on then off a few times wait about 3-5 secs for the fuel pump to prime the system and try that if the key prime works than have a mechanic presure test the f.p.r.
and try and remember there are a ton of auto salvage yards that will sell an fpr for like 20 bucks including the fuel rail

Tried changing the fuel filter? If that's not it it could be a bad pump

check all your fuses and relays

distributor module is bad. no spark from module fuel pump will not run.