I have found one site stating my engine is a Magnum and another said it's a LA.
Which is it?
How do you tell?
It is a 3.9L with carb.

 

Its an LA block with dual point throttle body injection. That's not a carb on it, its a throttle body. The magnums started in '92 with the 3.9 and 5.2 and '93 for the 5.9.

 

Mmmm...see I know nothing about Dodge, lol.
I hadn't looked at it but figured it was a carb because of the round air filter/pan on top.
Are LA engine's good engine's?
Do they have some common faults?

 

The LA line of engines goes back to about 1956 as far as the v8s are concerned. The 3.9L v6 is literally a 5.2 v8 minus cylinders 7 and 8. They are old technology (just a simple pushrod small block), but tried and true. The magnums are based off the LA blocks but have an upgraded oiling system, hydraulic roller lifters (require a billet cam) and are multipoint injection (one injector per cylinder). But to answer your question, yes, they are extremely reliable engines. I have personally seen one with 450,000+ miles on it never rebuilt... in fact I think that was a '90 dakota. These engines really have no common problems as long as they are properly maintained. The magnums only have one common problem, but you don't have to worry about that since you have an LA. They never did and never will get good gas milage... not something Dodge has ever been known for... but I'll gladly trade durability and reliability for a little bit of gas milage. Lol, with engine technology that old, they had it perfected until they decided the over head cam line of engines was a good idea (3.7, 4.7 and 5.7).

 

Thanks for the great info 95 318SLT.
I was needing something reliable and that would last a long time...sounds like I inadvertently got it. Which I am glad to hear.

 

it is adjustable. ive done it about 6 times on mine depending on what im doing with it. i usually advance the timing a couple degrees if im hauling the camper in the bed to make sure it doesn't overheat.
look down at the crank pully on the right hand side, you'll see a tab with markings on it from 0 to -10 and 0 to +10. mark the +10 with white chalk. turn the fan by hand until a line on the crank pulley appears (the one that goes all the way across). mark that line. loose the bolt on the dist hold down just enough to be able to move the dist. put the timing light on it and rotate the dist until the 2 lines match up then tighten the dist hold down bolt. recheck to make sure its on. good luck!
us old guys are good for something.
"disco never died they just changed the name to dance music"

should add crazy i don't think the 87-91 have la heads on them. they are duel point injected through the throttlebody, not multi-port through the heads. i don't think they are interchangible.

 

oops just made a bobo. the 87 was carbed not injected. it had some kind of small simple computer attached to the breather housing to control the choke. i saw one. real weird looking.

 

I didn't say anything about fuel injection or nothing. Your trippin!
But you are right. They didn't have magnum heads.

 

The '91 and older were all LA engines and all had interchangable heads. The carburetors were "injected" through the carbs, which the throttle body took the place of. But despite all that, its not the heads that make it TBI or MPI, its the intake manifold. Its the magnum series engines that are MPI and had different heads, intake, etc.

 

Thank You mazda7475 for clearing that up on the adjustable timing.
I hope that will solve my overheating problem.