ball joints deffinatly...and the paint...we have a 99 Dakota Black and the paint is starting to peel off of it, i've also seen a few purple ones that have paint starting to come off. Otherwise the only replacement has been ball joints, same brakes for 96K also. And its auto with no problems.
Looking At a 99 Dakota
- Thread starter Drg racr
- Start date
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I didn't change the brakes on mine until 99,500 miles. Now, that's pretty darn good for factory brake pads.
FSEVENTY
Veteran Member
I have a 98' 3.9 with the 5 speed, 177K miles. No major problems. It had all the origional parts until this year when the power steering pump went, and the water pump (I'm still on the origional cap, wires, and clutch and I get 20mpg average street/freeway driving in Phoenix).
The auto trans sucks like everyone else has said. You should be great with the 5 sp manual, just change the gear oil when you should.
The magnum engines are know for a couple of things. The belly pan under the intake starts to leak, usually around 100K miles. Take off the intake hat at the throttle body, open up the butterflys and look down into the plenum. If you see oil, the belly pan gasket is shot. If you see lots of oil, don't wait too long before replacing it. Te belly pan leak will cause rough idle, but overall drivability should not surffer much. What to worry about if the belly pan leaks is that it containimates the oil and you will make lots of sludge in the oil pan. I pulled the pan at about 166K because my oil pressure was dropping, and I dug out about 2 inches of oily gook from the bottom of the pan, and the pick up screen was about half plugged. If your belly pan is leaking, I would suggest pulling the pan and cleaning it out now, and then again in another 100K.
Check out for broken exhaust manifold bolts too. I've had two brake off in the manifold, but no noticable leaks. I think Dodge used crappy bolts that can't take the heating/cooling cycles of the engine, and they just crack and snap off inside the manifold. Most trucks have missing bolts, but everyone seems to just live with it because it dosen't seem to leak most of the time. If you ever pull the manifold though, thats a different story...
The IAC (Idle air control sensor) at the back of the throttle body will get plugged up and cause drivability problems and poor gas milage. Pulling it out and cleaning it every couple of years helps as well.
Paint can be a problem too. Sometimes the top layers of paint are not thick enough to protect the primer from UV light, so the paint starts to break down from the inside out and it comes off in BIG flakes. Dosen't seem to be a consensus on what color this happens with, just if the robot screwed up the paint that day in the factory or not.
The contacts for the fuel level sensor will start to corrode and cause the fuel gauge to fluxiuate from the actual reading to empty. You can pull the tank and clean the contacts, replace the whole pump/sensor assembly, or let it ride, you just have to get used to the low fuel level beep every time it jumps.
The ball joint problem I though started in 2000, but it may have been 99. I still have the origional ball joints, and they are worn but not dangerous at 177K. Some trucks with the crappy ball joints have comple joint failure anywhere from 60K miles on up.
Brakes are also a big deal. You'll go through lots of sets of rotors and pads, and never quite have good braking. Spend the money on quality rotors and pads and you'll be better off than replacing warped rotors and pads every 60K. Don't over torque the lug nuts either, as some people believe that that helps warp the rotors.
Check out these sites for more info on the Dakota. I Love my truck. It even pulls my 2000+ lb boat, but you sure notice it back there. I had a 50 series Flowmaster muffler, it it makes it sound a ton better than the stock muffler. It's still relatively quiet in the cab, so if you like it loud you can get the 40 series. I just swapped out the muffler only, so it only cost around $80. A K&N drop in filter or the complete cold air kit is also a common upgrade that gives a little more seat of the pants feel. You can also trick the engine to run a little richer (more power) buy relocating the IAT sensor from the intake to the air hose. Stay away from the cheapy ebay "power modules", but supposedly the power programmer chips and such work ONLY if you have made other mods, ie.. V8 throttle body, cold air intake, cat back mufflers, etc...
http://www.dodgedakotas.com/
http://www.dodgeforum.com/forumid_28/tt.htm
http://www.intense-dakota.com/
http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/
The auto trans sucks like everyone else has said. You should be great with the 5 sp manual, just change the gear oil when you should.
The magnum engines are know for a couple of things. The belly pan under the intake starts to leak, usually around 100K miles. Take off the intake hat at the throttle body, open up the butterflys and look down into the plenum. If you see oil, the belly pan gasket is shot. If you see lots of oil, don't wait too long before replacing it. Te belly pan leak will cause rough idle, but overall drivability should not surffer much. What to worry about if the belly pan leaks is that it containimates the oil and you will make lots of sludge in the oil pan. I pulled the pan at about 166K because my oil pressure was dropping, and I dug out about 2 inches of oily gook from the bottom of the pan, and the pick up screen was about half plugged. If your belly pan is leaking, I would suggest pulling the pan and cleaning it out now, and then again in another 100K.
Check out for broken exhaust manifold bolts too. I've had two brake off in the manifold, but no noticable leaks. I think Dodge used crappy bolts that can't take the heating/cooling cycles of the engine, and they just crack and snap off inside the manifold. Most trucks have missing bolts, but everyone seems to just live with it because it dosen't seem to leak most of the time. If you ever pull the manifold though, thats a different story...
The IAC (Idle air control sensor) at the back of the throttle body will get plugged up and cause drivability problems and poor gas milage. Pulling it out and cleaning it every couple of years helps as well.
Paint can be a problem too. Sometimes the top layers of paint are not thick enough to protect the primer from UV light, so the paint starts to break down from the inside out and it comes off in BIG flakes. Dosen't seem to be a consensus on what color this happens with, just if the robot screwed up the paint that day in the factory or not.
The contacts for the fuel level sensor will start to corrode and cause the fuel gauge to fluxiuate from the actual reading to empty. You can pull the tank and clean the contacts, replace the whole pump/sensor assembly, or let it ride, you just have to get used to the low fuel level beep every time it jumps.
The ball joint problem I though started in 2000, but it may have been 99. I still have the origional ball joints, and they are worn but not dangerous at 177K. Some trucks with the crappy ball joints have comple joint failure anywhere from 60K miles on up.
Brakes are also a big deal. You'll go through lots of sets of rotors and pads, and never quite have good braking. Spend the money on quality rotors and pads and you'll be better off than replacing warped rotors and pads every 60K. Don't over torque the lug nuts either, as some people believe that that helps warp the rotors.
Check out these sites for more info on the Dakota. I Love my truck. It even pulls my 2000+ lb boat, but you sure notice it back there. I had a 50 series Flowmaster muffler, it it makes it sound a ton better than the stock muffler. It's still relatively quiet in the cab, so if you like it loud you can get the 40 series. I just swapped out the muffler only, so it only cost around $80. A K&N drop in filter or the complete cold air kit is also a common upgrade that gives a little more seat of the pants feel. You can also trick the engine to run a little richer (more power) buy relocating the IAT sensor from the intake to the air hose. Stay away from the cheapy ebay "power modules", but supposedly the power programmer chips and such work ONLY if you have made other mods, ie.. V8 throttle body, cold air intake, cat back mufflers, etc...
http://www.dodgedakotas.com/
http://www.dodgeforum.com/forumid_28/tt.htm
http://www.intense-dakota.com/
http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/
Last edited:
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dcs13
Veteran Member
my brother in law has one. has had a LOT of problems with front end. (brakes, ball joints etc) the damn thing wanders worse than my 71 Duster did...buyer beware
dcs13 said:
That's why they recalled about 600,000 of those things.
elzie
Veteran Member
Shane said:
You do realize you just cursed yourself, don't you? Or is that just me?
Drg racr
Veteran Member
Thanks for the info guys. I'll check out the belly pan before I buy it.
