Yesterday I was given a free 1992 Dodge Dakota LE w/ the 3.9L v6 engine. Great. Lovely. Its been sitting for four years but it runs and drives. SO i'm new here and I'd love some help.

1. 1. My exhaust is blowing white (almost blue. almost.) smoke like no other. its also dripping gas from the exhaust. Any ideas on where to start fixing this. maybe #2 will help.
2. 2. Its carbureted. I've looked on teh forums and don't see other 92 dakotas with carburetors. The guy that gave me the truck was the first owner and he didn't do a conversion to the carburetor. Yet here I am with a Holley carb (neato).
3. 3. I've seen this issue on a few dakota forums now....why the hell does the hood stick? I did the whole pull the lever and bang on the hood trick. It worked but it's not my preferred method of checking under the hood.

I want to restore this car back to its former beauty and any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Hi, Welcome to DF.

First of all to start you do not have a carburetor, you have an electronic fuel injection. The throttle body only controls air unlike a carburetor which controls air and fuel. The Holley throttle body is stock, not a performance piece.

First step is to clean out the air filter box and tube, looks like it is a nest of some sort on the inside. Next will be to look down the throttle body with a flashlight, check to see if you find oil at the bottom of the intake pan. If so then the intake plenum gasket is blown, which is pulling oil from the engine, which would be one possibility of the smoke.

Next get some WD-40 and spray everything to do with the hood latch system.

 

Welcome to DF. What Crazy stated above is a good place to start. Clean that air cleaner out real good, give it a tune up, plugs and wires, change the oil and filter, new air filter, and check the plenum as stated.

 

Another vote for the plenum issue, those symptoms suggest it. It's a well known issue that happens to some (though not all) of these motors. The fix involves pulling the intake manifold to get to the plenum pan/gasket. It's not to difficult if that proves to be the problem.

 

I'll fourth (or fifth?) that.

The 3.9, whereas it's not exactly a tire burner, can be very respectable in these intermediate sized trucks (I know, I've got one in my 1988 and it's OK for a grocery getter and to run my work out of.)

A good tuneup (wires, plugs, cap, rotor, air filter, PCV valve, PCV air cleaner if it has one) is highly indicated, as well as checking to see if there's oil in the bottom of the intake plenum (since that's one of the signs the plenum gasket has failed on the 92 up motors.)

As to "dripping gas out the exhaust", verify that's not just water because it's cold enough to condense as the motor's running (that tends to take care of itself by running the motor enough).

If, however, gasoline is running out the exhaust truly - DO NOT RUN THAT TRUCK.

Find out why it's running gas out the back, and fix that. Before it becomes Da Bomb (and not in the good way!)

RwP

 

Welcome to the forum.

I agree to everything above. As Ralph said, it's much more likely that it's just water dripping from your exhaust which is completely normal. Water is a byproduct of the combustion process. I can't imagine a scenario where the truck is running AND dripping straight gasoline.

Also, there are big rubber screw-type adjusters on either side on top of the grille, where the hood rests when closed. Try adjusting these. Hoods don't like to open when these are adjusted too high. Screw them in a bit.

Do a full tuneup (generic tuneup instructions can be found on google) and get back to us. And post some pictures of the truck!

 

Wow. Amazing response from everyone. 1-I feel a damn fool for ever thinking that was a carburetor. 2-Though I haven't had the chance (midterms) I'll look into the throttle body asap. 3- Ill make sure i lick the exhaust after its nice and hot to make sure its not gasoline. I'll also work on getting pictures up. I'm excited to get this project rolling. Lots of rust to tackle, though =/

 

No licking is necessary.

 

Took a peek inside, gotta be the plenum gasket right? Certainly this isn't what a good plenum looks like?