Hello everyone, I am a new owner of a 96 Dakota 4x4 3.9 5 speed. It's been a great truck so far and this forum seems to be very helpful and informative. I'll get to it:
Previous owner made it push button start and straight pipes. Everything under the hood looks stock besides that. He also replaced the tires for 20" Falkens on Hancook low profiles. I want them off lol. Check engine light comes on after a few minutes driving. It blinks at times when I get it to 55-65 and I read that it does that to indicate catalytic malfunction and power loss soon. How does that relate to the straight pipes? I also read about having to replace the O2 or CO2 censor from a guy who had straight pipes but I thought he was in a V8.

1st and 2ND gear pull great but a lot of times, unless the truck has been running some miles, shifting into 3 and 4 makes the engine seem a bit clunky until about 1800-2000 rpm. I tried getting off the clutch differently and seeing how it reacts at different in- and declines, but still seems to be clunky and a bit hesitant.

A few more things I have questions about but before I ask I want to look myself. I'll post some pics after this post.

 

Push Start





Both doors are different color. I wanna go with a flat black when its all said and done (any pics somewhere)








Straight pipe





Straight pipe extends just beyond 15 gallon tank





Dubs yo on ell peez son

 

straight pipe or pipes-- WTF muffler is that
If you Have EFI I do not think the computer is going to like it
No headers
3.9 just enjoy it
start to mod and you have a money pit
scan and post your codes
96 with OEM cat is most likely toast
I just had to change the OEM in my 92- not a bad life
Do you have to pass smog?
what is your tire dia or od compared to stock?
your new wheel/ tire choice depends on use but larger dia than stock gives effect you describe
lower gears of a 4x4 gets expensive

 

Straight pipe, thought it could have been dual. I'm going to change the spark plugs tomorrow to see if it fixed the hesitation in third and fourth. What is tire dia? I don't wanna mod it like that. I just want it reliable. I don't even think here in NC they require inspection if the car is 15 or 20 years old. But I don't wanna have muffler and exhaust issues down the road with the straight pipe. Any ideas on maintenance towards that?

 

Tire dia. = Tire Diameter Look on the FAQ page. It shows you how to check you codes without a computer.

 

Being a 1996, if the previous owner removed the catalytic converters, you may be seeing a "Catalytic Converter Inefficient" warning (which would make sense!)

Easiest way to fix is to either a) have a high flow cat installed, or b) have an exhaust shop add a second O2 bung in the proper place, put a spark plug anti-fouler adapter in it, then install the downstream O2 in it.

This, however, is only a WAG (Wild Arsed Guess), without the codes.

As Onemore94dak says, you can check codes without a scanner. (I'd buy a good OBDII scanner anyway as a service tool, but that's up to you.) It's known as the Key Dance - you go on/off/on/off/on inside of 5 seconds (not start, just to on), and on a 1996, count the flashes of the CHECK ENGINE/POWER LOSS light.

What I would suggest instead is a good OBDII Bluetooth or WiFi pod to plug into the OBDII connector the 1996 has, and an app like Torque (Free or Paid) for an Android tablet or phone.

The pod can be had for around $20 to right under $100 on Amazon for the Bluetooth variants (for the Android software); it's a bit more for the WiFi variants (for the i-Device owners.)

RwP