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Melissa
Dodge Dakota
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6/20/2005
23:31:01
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 Subject: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Hey guys. I have an automatic 2000 Dodge Dakota 4x4 V8 magnum. I've had it in 2 different garages in a 2 month period and something is still wrong with it.
It started overheating & losing antifreeze. The 1st garage replaced the thermostat & said that my truck was getting so hot that it was evaporating the antifreeze. When their so called repairs didn't work I took it to a different garage & after putting around 100 miles on it they finally got it to overheat (they put it on diagnostic machines & they said that it wasn't reporting that there were any problems so they decided to drive it until it overheated!) They replaced the clutch fan & radiator cap. Now the dang thing sounds HORRIBLE....I was warned by the mechanic that it would sound loud when starting up but this thing NEVER quiets down now..it's constantly roaring the whole drive (I didn't have this problem BEFORE I took it to the garage!) After the inital loud sound; it then sounds AND drives like it is in 2nd gear. It has lost ALL power....no passing power, no driving power (even little Chevettes can pass my big bad truck!) Also it shifted from drive to 2nd gear by itself when going down the highway & it feels like its takes forever to change gears now.
Then it started pouring smoke and water came out of my tailpipe. So I took it back to the 1st garage who thought that it may need a new head gasket. But they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it....that the smoking could've been caused by being parked at their garage for 2 weeks without being started.
It not overheating or smoking now but the garages can't seem to pinpoint why it's lost power; constantly roars and sounds like it's being driven in 2nd gear. They also drove it again & said that they couldn't get the transmission to slip into 2nd gear. So now I'm out several hundred dollars....haven't gotten to drive my truck in 2 months & am having to bum a ride to work and they can't figure out what's wrong! Any ideas? That way I'll know what to tell the garage what to look for next!
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gen1dak
Dodge Dakota
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6/21/2005
01:57:43
|  RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Sounds like they've tried various methods to crutch the symptoms. The howling fan would tend to indicate they changed the clutch mechanism to one that pulls more air, and pulls all the time.
It does sound like a blown head gasket, but unless they pulled both heads, they cannot make a difinitive diagnosis. Since the smoking has stopped, the first thing I'd suspect is that they put some gasket sealer in the coolant, again, a temporary fix.
On the other hand, your tranny may be failing, and running hot, and this is overwhelming the engine coolant by heat-saturating the radiator. The tranny will downshift by itself when the tranny temp gets too high. Also, if the tranny is dying, it'll soak up a lot of power, and make you feel like the engine is weak, so of the two scenarios, I'd start with a thorough tranny check. What's the mileage on your truck? These trannys have that God-awful checkball valve in the tranny line. It's a given fact that these checkball valves will get stuck at some point. If it's stuck closed, or nearly closed, the tranny fluid cannot circulate through the tranny cooler, thus causing the tranny to overheat. The damage is probably already done, but that's where I'd start. If it turns out to be the tranny, be sure to get the TransGo kit installed in your rebuild. This kit will eliminate the need for the checkball valve, and it can be left off to prevent further meltdowns.
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Kowalski
GenIII
6/21/2005
17:50:19
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Which motor do you have ?
Lead, follow, or get out of the way
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Melissa
Dodge Dakota
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6/21/2005
22:20:34
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Thanks for all the input. I have a 5.7L. It has 120,000 miles on it. Regular oil changes, mainentece, etc.
Well I have an appointment to have my transmission looked at tomorrow....so here goes to probably another couple weeks plus around another $2000 on this truck! If it's really bad I may end up swapping it off & just putting the money on a new truck!
Thanks again for all the help!
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What the...
Dodge Dakota
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6/21/2005
23:48:19
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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How'd he get a hemi engine in there?
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What the...
Dodge Dakota
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6/21/2005
23:49:49
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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OOPS! Sorry.
How'd she get a hemi engine in there?
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Kowalski
GenIII
6/22/2005
17:39:00
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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You either have a 4.7 or a 5.9...
Lead, follow, or get out of the way
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Figols
Dodge Dakota
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6/22/2005
21:02:51
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Assuming you have a 4.7 and not a 5.7 I would have to say that you have a bad head gasket and the wrong fan clutch. Your original problem sounds exactly like a head gasket and I know the 4.7L tends to have any issue with them. At this stage you may also have some head damage from the leaking coolant, but you won't know until the motor is torn apart. As for the fan clutch, the garage must have installed the wrong one. YOu should have a thermostatically controlled clutch whcih is one that engages at a certain temperature. You can get ones that are engaged at certain RPMS and they are a lot cheaper. The original style for the 4.7 Dakota is to my knowledge only available from Dodge.
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Melissa
Dodge Dakota
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6/23/2005
11:15:53
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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No it's a 5.7....I don't know how the guy I bought it off of did it; I know he said he had put a new motor in it & this motor has 120,000 miles on it. He's a guy that custom builds his own car's and trucks & he told me when I bought the truck that he had made some modifications to the truck to suit him.Most garages are suprised that it has a 5.7 in it; when I took it to swap it off one time the appraiser didn't believe that it had a 5.7 in it either until he looked under the hood.
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maybe
Dodge Dakota
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6/23/2005
11:28:03
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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it's a 5.7 chebby motor! that's the problem.
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N56629
Dodge Dakota
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6/23/2005
13:09:54
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Melissa, got a picture of this thing?
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Melissa
Dodge Dakota
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6/23/2005
16:03:48
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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No, but as soon as I get it back from the garage I'll be sure to take a picture & post it here.
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ucimaplaya2
Dodge Dakota
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7/01/2005
23:35:58
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Im confused as to how a 5.7 could be in a dakota. I mean that could either be a chevy motor or the new hemi, but could it really be put in a 2000 dakota? Well yeah but why would you waste the money and fabrication time?
Anyway either they put the wrong fan clutch in their or you got a defective one that is stuck fully engaged (Many people don't know that it is very easy destroy a fan clutch assembly by laying it down horizontally instead of vertically). I have a feeling that a head gasket(s)is the culprit. If its running rough and there was a considerable amount of water and water vapor coming out of the exhaust even after the truck is fully warmed up, then head gaskets. But definitely check into damage to the transmission as gen1dak suggested.
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Whaaaat
Dodge Dakota
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7/02/2005
00:34:07
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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"(Many people don't know that it is very easy destroy a fan clutch assembly by laying it down horizontally instead of vertically)"
Guess it's pretty crappy that every new fan clutch I have pulled out of the box was laying down horizontally...
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dartvader
Dodge Dakota
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7/04/2005
23:19:16
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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I don't know about the tranny but you can do a compression test is easy and cheap so you know if you have a bad headgasket or maybe cracked heads.good luck
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tc
Dodge Dakota
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7/06/2005
20:13:01
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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stop switching garages back and forth! although it sounds like both of them like to guess and could use some help on learning diagnostic skills.
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Satakieli
Dodge Dakota
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7/07/2005
10:24:42
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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First off dont hate chevetes. That was my first car and a lot of others as well. Yes theyre slow and all that but who cares when ur getting 30+ MPG in a carbed engine? anyways onto the garages. secondly Ford GM AND chrysler have a 5.7L. No what they did is just bad business. it could be a couple of things. Transmission yes. head gasket unlikely. does the coolant bubble? is the oil a milky color on the dipstick? If it runs poorly the wrong thermostat might have been installed. putting the wrong thermostat in will make it run like crap. Make sure a compression test, a cooling system pressure test, as well as getting your transmission check.
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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7/07/2005
11:10:47
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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If the truck gets really hot, you won't evaporate the coolant. Not possible. It's a closed system, where would it go? If it overflows from the bottle, you'de be able to see it.
My bet would be a blown head gasket or cracked head. Have the coolant tested for products of combustion; that's the only accurate test for this sort of thing.
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Micky
Dodge Dakota
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7/07/2005
12:39:58
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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I had a monte Carlo with an overheating / evaporating fluid problem . Turns out it was the Transmission. 1/2 the anti freeze in that particular car, is dedicated to and cools the enginge, the other 1/2 cools just the transmission. They had to replace the cooling lines to the transmission and the pan gasket.
Maybe its similar with the Dodge ? Just a guess.
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jayb
Dodge Dakota
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7/07/2005
17:40:31
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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ok. well ive been down a similar road. 1st get the correct fan clutch for the truck thats a must. 2nd, it really sounds like a bad head gasket, but if they put a product like copper block sealer in it, then your screwed for now unless you pull the heads. just change the damn fan clutch, and see what it does. it probably seems like your tranny isnt working right, because of how much pedal you haveto use when your driveing. but first just change that stupid aZZ fan clutch and go from there. i seriously cant believe that some mechanic would do that to you.... change that dumba$$ fan clutch and let us know how it goes.
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um
Dodge Dakota
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7/07/2005
18:56:21
| RE: Any ideas what may be wrong?
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Any of you hound dogs notice Melissa stopped posting to this thread 2 weeks ago ?
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