Two goals in the last few minutes gave Dale a deserved win from a game in which they had largely dominated but looked like never scoring.
Substitute Chris Dagnall hit Dale's first on 89 minutes as he pounced on Adam Rundle's superb low cross to fire home.
As Lincoln pressed for the equaliser Rochdale scored a second on the break thanks to Rundle's injury-time strike. With the Lincoln rearguard low on numbers substitute Danny Reet ran towards goal, laid in Dagnall whose shot hit the post but Rundle was on hand to smash the ball into the net.
The entertaining encounter had looked to be heading for a goalless draw with both sides providing some good-looking football but never finding the cutting edge, whilst the few chances created were squandered.
In the first half both sides missed a golden chance. First Lincoln's Jeff Hughes volleyed over from six yards after stealing in at the back post. Then at the other end Rundle slammed his shot into the crowd after finding space on the left-hand edge of the box.
Rochdale upped the tempo in the second half but the Lincoln defence looked to have the better of anything Dale could throw at them.
Nat Brown produced a superb clearance from inside the six-yard box and the tall centre-half was on hand again when he blocked Rundle's close-range shot.
And when the Lincoln defence was breached, Alan Marriott was always secure in goal especially when he held David Perkins close-range volley.