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Dodge Dakota
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11/13/2008
23:32:35
|  RE: Dodge dakota r/t
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Check the rear diff out very carefully. Stock diffs commonly fail at the 60-80K mile mark. That's about a $2K repair job.
With the trans in park and the parking brake set, crawl under there and grab the drive shaft. Try and turn it by hand. Gear lash is measured in thousand of an inch. If you can move the drive shaft a noticable amount, it's failing.
The second common problem is the belly pan gasket. The stock beer barrel intake manifold has a stamped steel cover over a large square hole in the very bottom of the manifold. This gasket commonly leaks - again at the 60-80K mile mark.
Remove the air cleaner, open the throttle blades, and shine a flash light in there. If you can see oil coating the surfaces, the gasket is leaking.
It's not a real expensive repair. Cost is about $35 in parts, and took me about 2 hours or so.
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