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V8 Dakotas
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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7/18/2004
18:16:10
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 Subject: dodge and not
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'94 dakota owner. 5.2l, A518 regular cab short bed. bought new. 152,000 miles. upgrades include jacobs coil, taylor 8 mm wires, A/C Delco rapid fire plugs, mopar computer, mopar full exhaust, 3" cat, K&N air filter, shift kit, 180 thermostat. 21 mpg highway, 17 mpg city. pulls a flat 15 with no traction in 1/4, p225/70/15 bf goodrich tires.
i used the factory 7/70,000 warranty to fix my truck twice. coolant sensor 3k miles, speed sensor 12k miles.
i was unlucky enuff to encounter a plenum gasket blow out twice, the first at 74,000 miles the second at 147,000 miles. the second time i fabbed the plenum gasket out of a 1/4" sheet aluminum. both fixes were done by me and my buddy.
all maintenence is done by me, oil every 2000k trans fluid once, rear end never, brakes, tires...once a year. water pump went. did the timing chain too, cuz it was right there.
the truck has been great. but i seem to have been cursed with front bearings failing..alot. i have done them and so has my friend. we've decided that that we are capable of replacing front wheel bearings properly, and that the universe is against us. oh well.
i'm considering a new vehicle. will it be a dodge? no. absolutely not.
i'm keeping the engine and trans. rebuild is in order. but it wont be going into a dakota..or any dodge for that matter.
i am a chevy 'car' guy by heart. i will not ignore the fact that dodge built my truck very well, i will not ignore the potential of a magnum 318 and the A518 its attached to. i also will not ignore that my truck had quality drawbacks and my engine has 15% +/- tolerences.
my next daily car will probably be foreign. but my toy will be custom american.
i guess when the american car companies can build a vehicle that doesnt look like it fell out of a gumball machine and has a fisher=price interior and the price doesnt resemble a mortgage, i'll consider. until then i'll enjoy my truck till its time and maybe check out a vehicle made for grown ups....like say...a Volks wagen.
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huh
Dodge Dakota
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7/18/2004
20:31:43
| RE: dodge and not
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So what's your point?
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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7/19/2004
20:59:57
| RE: dodge and not
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i suppose i need a point. listen up children. buy a dakota because you know you will get rid of it in 2 yrs.(or sooner). educate yourselves. dont put a dime in it. the dakotas golden years are over. it had a rep. i felt bad when i sent an r/t the way of the s-10. i felt bad for the guy that just paid 10,000 more for it then i did mine. did dodge build something good and then get greedy and ruin it? the complaints about the dakotas chronic problems are not imagined. not at all. they are real. and workin class folks who bought them are the ones on the wrong end of the stick. again.
my brother bought a '99 sport v-8, against my advice. even though my truck was an excellent vehicle to me, i told him not to do it. well, he loves his truck, but he has had the dumbest crap go wrong on it. and i dont give crap what anyone thinks, paying the prices the dealer charges and its rackin up miles back forth to the dealer for warranty work (or to hear the "technician" say 'cant help ya we dont see nothing wrong') instead of enjoying it, is crap.
i'm 10 yrs deep in dodge and i wasnt the least bit surprised when chrysler was bought out. (or should i say bailed?). and that wasnt because it was a company worth saving, because its not, it was because tooooooooooo many people would be looking or a new way to feed their kids.
i have come to this site plenty over the past few years. never really looking for help or anything really. i hit the inside track on my truck before there was an inside track for it. but i see my trist with dodge coming to an end soon. i just wish that the guys who put their hard earned money down on a '97 and up dakota could enjoy them more then they are. i think there are tons of people disappointed with their trucks than just the ones posted here. my parting advice to you all is this...
i wonder if... someone organized the "dakota nationals". i wonder if they picked a place and a time and brought all their problem stricken dakotas, parked them, placed a poster board (good size) in front of the grill, displaying all the unresolved issues with their trucks, ....i wonder if dodge would care.
demand more for your money. now about that volkswagen....
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Abuse
Dodge Dakota
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7/19/2004
21:23:46
| RE: dodge and not
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metalrain
You abused your truck and didn't do proper maintenance. Shut up and go buy a Ford Or Chevy. You are the kind of complainer that will find fault in in thing you touch or do. Did I hit a nerve? Hope so....Your mom didn't teach you how to take care of your vehicle nor did she teach you about accepting personal responsibility.
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buh bye
Dodge Dakota
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7/19/2004
23:26:38
| RE: dodge and not
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He is pretty whiny, isn't he?
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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7/21/2004
23:27:54
| RE: dodge and not
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i suspect with your astute investigational skills, you've deduced that because replacing tires and brakes once a year, suggests 'abuse'. i'm gonna hafta assume thats were you came up with that load of crap. i replace my tires once a year because, 1- a magnum 318 has no problem turning a p215/75/15r in any road conditions, including dry. 2- i dont rotate tires, when the rears weren't doing their job anymore, all four got replaced. here, where i live, we get these pretty little white flakes called snow. my truck weighs 3300 pds. so, sherlock, i think we can both agree that most of that weight is on the nose, hence dakota being what we call a 'pick-up'. seeing as the weights on the nose, it would make no sense to put bald tires on the front of my truck just in time for, what we call here, --winter. which brings me to my third point...brakes. seeing as all the weight (as we earlier agreed)is on the nose, my back brakes, do nothing. i have not opened my drums since i did my brakes for the first time which was 12,000 miles. and if you're as good at math as you are with deductive reasoning, than that works out to a set of rear brakes on my truck that have 140,000 miles on them. which, follow me sherlock, means the fronts have been doing most of the work. the truck bed is only used on occasion.
also, you wrote 'abused'-past tense. i still own my dakota. i still drive it daily. and it still gets the mileage i stated. and still will pull a flat 15 with no traction. does this sound like a vehicle that hasnt been maintained properly? even so, a rearend that has never had its fluid changed? well, i tell you this...it doesnt whine horrendously like my buddies r/t's did (past tense, because he was smart enough to get rid of it when dodge did nothing to correct the problem) and he only had 40,000 miles on it. a trans that only had one fluid change? well, i tell you this, it only got that because it drained out during the shift kit install.
the problems i encountered with my truck are trite, and merely a reference comparison to the ridiculous crap that has been going wrong with the '97 and up models. as i stated in my post my truck was referred to ,by me, as 'excellent', 'great', and 'being enjoyed until the end', and if you consider these remarks as 'complaining', then your mother didnt teach you how to comprehend what you read or your just another mildly retarded (read as: moron) that chrysler cherishes.
that goes double for your wingman, 'buh bye'.
but the truth is this, you're a grandstander, the "dont confuse me with the facts" type.
buh bye.
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buh bye
Dodge Dakota
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7/22/2004
00:07:00
| RE: dodge and not
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What are you rambling on about? I keep thinking you are going somewhere with this, but no. It's like random thoughts.
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Cavalryman40
Dodge Dakota
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7/22/2004
05:59:49
| RE: dodge and not
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Well, I don't know how hard you ran your truck, but I do know this. Chrysler was NOT "bailed" out.
The Damiler/Chrysler merger came at a time when Chrysler was one of the hotest car companys around. If memory serves me right the reason for the merger was two-fold, 1. Chrysler had no presence in Europe, unlike Ford/Jagaur, there was alot of consolidation in the industry at the time. Chrysler had to consider the future. And 2. Damiler/Benz wanted Chrysler's engine tech. Chrysler has the reputation of being able to mass-produce a quality engine. Something Damiler/Benz was very interested in. The Benz people spent a lot of time, in Detroit studying how this was done.
Now I do feel we were misslead about the merger, because it was supposed to be 50/50, and it has became clear the the Germans are calling the shots. But that doesn't change the fact that Chrysler was NOT in trouble. Damiler/Benz needed them.
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kRaSh
Dodge Dakota
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7/22/2004
13:48:46
|  RE: dodge and not
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If I may make a small contribution here.
I have a 90 S-10, 91 Dakota, & 99 Dakota. All of my trucks have had "known" issues here or there. All have had pesky problems. As do all brand vehicles sooner or later. And I think you did an excellent job of maintaining your vehicle. You seem pretty pick as am I.
But as you noted, the drivetrain was good so you were keeping it to build an American vehicle.
Good for you!
I did close to the same thing. I kept my vehicles and replaced all of the "known issues" myself with aftermarket performance parts and/or heavy duty parts. And I love all of my trucks. I use them all for their different purposes.
I wish you the best on your efforts of making a "good quality" american truck. And personally, I think the VW are nice vehicles. I also like Subarus.
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luvmeZ28
Dodge Dakota
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7/23/2004
12:17:44
| RE: dodge and not
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youre not gonna find any cars/trucks that havent had their share of "pesky" problems or recalls.go look on a volks. board,if they have them,more than likely you will find people complaining about their problems too.nice speeches though,for a second i thought you were gonna go off on a tangent about you wife leaving you or something,but i guess dodge can be blamedfor that too.
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
15:55:56
| RE: dodge and not
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cavalryman40,
i didnt say bailed. pay attention. it was a question whether or not i should say it. i dont believe everything i read. so that debate is moot. but i will respond to the 'dialmer/benz needed chrysler' statement,---NOT. they (diamler/mercedes)were venturing into newer (to them) territory. i.e.-people with less money to spend. enter Chyrsler. the only 'tech' chrysler has (had) was in their new process casting foundry. (engine blocks). remember this if nothing else, mercedes has more technology in their wheel bearings than chrysler has in its whole vehicle. i did in fact get a good laugh out of your otherwise well written letter.
you can already see the influence of mercedes in the newer chryslers especially dodge trucks.
i do believe Diamler should dissolve chrysler as soon as posssible.
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volkswagonguy
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
16:07:37
| RE: dodge and not
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Too bad your mom didn't dissolve you before birth.
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
16:44:40
| RE: dodge and not
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volkswagonguy,
why's that? because i think dodge has a place and it isnt at the top? well for whatever reason, at least you can feel better that i responded to you at all. i do what i can.
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kRaSh
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
16:54:58
| RE: dodge and not
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Ok, we are here to express opinions on dodge trucks. Wither they be good or bad opinions. There is no need for child ness. I happen to disagree with metalrain on a couple things, but he is entitled to his opinions.
Lets not have this become a battle of the babies.
"Fighting on the internet is like the special Olympics.
Even if you win, you are still a retard."
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
17:33:33
| RE: dodge and not
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kRaSh,
i appreciate what you write. what exactly would you disagree with, if i may ask. i like to be educated or even corrected.
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kRaSh
Dodge Dakota
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8/23/2004
17:59:26
| RE: dodge and not
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Well the dissolving of Chrysler would never happen nor should it. This is what I think.
With all of the MOPAR enthusiasts from the old classic muscle cars of the 60s and 70s as well as the current gear/motor heads like myself, there will always be a strong Chrysler presence in the automotive arena.
If Chrysler were dissolved, what would become of MOPAR? Or more importantly to me, MOPAR weekends at Gateway International Raceway? What about the crate motor industry, which is a large piece of the monetary pie?
I am not here to tell you your opinion is wrong, just to say that I believe in my trucks, and my parents’ chargers and coronets and barracudas and hemicudas and challengers and furys.
Yes I grew up with a Chrysler emblem in my hands. So I am very biased, but I am also open-minded. Which is why I agree with part of what luvmeZ28 said about ALL vehicles having their own problems.
If I could get a Dodge truck body and interior, with a Chevy motor, Ford tranny, Chevy suspension, and a Ford rear end, I would be a happy camper.
And that’s how it is. You buy what YOU think you care about most in a vehicle. Wither or not its perfect for someone else is irrelevant.
Just my 2¢
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metalrain
Dodge Dakota
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8/25/2004
01:05:19
| RE: dodge and not
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i noticed all the dodge and chrysler vehicles you mentioned are older models.
if you havent already, check out hughesengines.com, they have an article on dodge's crate engines, you may find it interesting.
by the way, i like my truck also. it has been one awesome daily driver.
my truck has not had an easy life either. i worked it. i know most vehicles couldnt endure what that truck has. the 152,000 (well now 153,000) were the hard way. from the pacific coast highway to savanah, from the magnificent mile to kingsville texas, 130 degrees in the mojave, to -60 below by me, from the street light to the drag strip, just a sliver of those 153,000 miles. i got 10 yrs worth of stories with that truck.
kRaSh...i am a happy camper. but alas, if chrysler disappeared, i dont think i would notice. the aftermarket already produces all the parts i'll ever need.
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