Hello all. I have the chance to buy a 93 dakota with the 3.9 magnum with 136,000 miles on it. The engine is in good shape as well as the body. The only issue is the transmission. It needs to be rebuilt which is not a problem for me. The guy selling it wants $600.00 for it which I feel isn't that bad. The problem I have is that it's a 21 year old truck and I heard that parts can be hard to come by for a 93. Is this true? If so want parts are commonly hard to find?

 

Not a bad deal. $600 for truck plus $1500 ish on a rebuild, you got a $2100 truck with new trans. Motor is a nice little motor too. Just be ready to change the timing tensioner. I have 160000 on my 3.9 and need to change it. Anyways you shouldn't have too big of an issue finding parts

 

Thanks for the reply. Question though, when does the timing chain need to be replaced? How many miles are they usually good for? The truck I'm buying has 136,000 miles.

 

Well the 3.9 is notorious for the timing chain tensioner to go bad. Not necessarily the timing goes bad, it's just a guide for the chain that wears down and gets loud. I have 160,000 on my 96 3.9 and it needs to be replaced. If the truck your looking at still starts, start it and listen to the front of the engine. It sounds like a bad lifter or a pulley going out. It's seems pretty straightforward replacing it and not very expensive if done yourself.

 

Yeah, the timing chain will rattle pretty noticeably when it gets really loose. The one on my '90 is very worn and I'll be replacing it in the next week or so. It's a kind of "random" rattle in my truck - mine is worn enough that the noise is always there, but it's not consistent like an engine knock. I don't know what year they added it but my '90 didn't even have a tensioner in it from the factory. There's a TSB about adding the tensioner in there with a new chain.

If you're up for rebuilding the trans it sounds like a fair deal to me. You could also swap in a manual trans if you're so inclined, although that would be easier with a parts truck.

 

They actually built these things without timing chain tensioners. The tensioner is an add on TSB fix.