Hey guys, im looking for a bit of advice on a truck. Iv never owned a Dodge truck so i dont know much about them. My friend is getting rid of her Journey and wanting a smaller 4x4. we found this nice 4X4, 1995 Dakota Ext CAD 5.2L. Other than a few cosmetic issues it seems to be in good shape. Runs and drives good. Issue i'm having is it has 270,000KMs on it. The seller said it was just in for oil change and service but engine oil is BLACK and transmission oil is on the brown side. Im thinking the maintenance has not been kept up the best on this truck.

How much life do you guys think the engine and trans has left? Iv been reading that the 5.2 is a pretty solid engine but the trans can be hit and miss. What other dodge vehicles would i be able to rob engine or trans from if i needed?

Any advice would be awesome guys, thanks!

 

depending on overall condition and price along with your ability to do some basic mechanical work. I look more at frame and body condition along with price vs miles.... (272 KM? not familiar with KM) I have a 01 Durango with 258K MILES on it, a 92 Dakota with 204K miles, a 96 Dakota with 186k miles and a 97 Wrangler with 194K miles and all are driven regularly.

 

There's 1.6KM per mile; I think the OP means 272,000 KM, which would be approx. 170,000 miles.

RwP

 

It's 167777k miles. Not bad. My recommendation... Buy it. Do a full tune up on it, plugs wires cap rotor etc. Do your oil change, USe A a good high mileage synthetic and a quart of Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer. Swap your trans fluid and filter, use a good synthetic atf and Lucas transmission stabilizer. Conventional oil will discolor faster than synthetic, and synthetics are way better than conventional. They handle higher levels of heat, lubricate better and reduce friction in the motor. You can always use a good motor flush before you change the oil to remove sludge and build up from the engine. But be careful, sometimes you'll develop some leaks because the flush washed out the deposits that are plugging up the holes in any bad seals u have

 

Yup sorry, i meant 270,000 Kilometers. The truck body its self is in alright condition. front fenders are the worst, able to see through a bit. Easy and cheap enough to fix with some replacement fenders. Rear fender wells have some surface rust. Rear bumper is f***ed. and is missing the little middle slide window in the back window. Interior is pretty clean. Front end looks feels tight and responds well.

Im thinking it would make a great project truck. The seller is asking $2500.

We live in norther Canada by the way. Only about 23,000 people. So not a huge selection on used parts at the pick-a-part.

Thanks for the help guys

 

Don't know about Canadian prices, but 2500.00 for a truck with 175K miles and rust is way too much here. I routinely see Gen 1 Dakota's in the $500 to $1000 range.

 

I got my 94 3.9 142Kmi no rust for $900. I understand the pricing irregularities due to real and imagined scarcity in the North but that seems too high anyway. Unless this thing is pristine I'd get that price a lot lower or walk away. You could spend the money on a flight and a drive back and still come in under $2500 to get one from down south somewhere.

 

 

I paid ~$3000 for my 1st, a '90 longbed 2wd back around '00, only had 70-some thou miles when I got it, I had it 5 years and worked the He11 out of it (should have kept my 3/4 ton back then for how I used that truck) as my son grew the cab "shrunk" and I went back to a fullsize.
then a 94 shortbed (nother V6 but this one was a Magnum) ran it the shortest time of any Dakota I had, had it about 14k miles, had paid around $1000 in 2010ish, sold it for $500 to a buddy of mine because that was all I needed to buy my 93 318 clubcab.... my buddy is a dealer trans guy.... and both the 94 and my "new" 93 had bad trannys at the time.... I put a 5 speed in the 93 and ran the wheels off of it for 72k miles.... loved it, plenty of ba11s, V8 and 20 MPG on the highway, regularly 18-1/2 MPG in daily driving...... I wrecked it BAAAAAD so it had to go... had around 202K miles at the time it got wrecked....
3 days after that wreck (almost 2 years ago now) I bought my current 92 318 clubcab for $1100 with brand new tires and exhaust (would have cost me over half of the purchase price to have to have done that to it myself) bought with 165K, currently at 205K and climbing, my daily for 70 miles a day.... 3 weekends ago just got done going thru it doing some PM stuff..... trans was getting goofy, 4th gear was getting intermittent.... swapped one in I had laying here that my dealer buddy and I had overhauled last year with a fresh converter. next day water pump blew so I did a new one plus a new timing chain at the same time, (cover gasket had started seeping anyway)

The day that I brought the 92 home, I went to the junkyard that my wrecked '93 had been taken to, and bought the Class 3 hitch from it that I had recently bought, the then- brand new drums, and a few other parts that I had recently put onto it before the crash and put those onto my 92 gradually, over about a month..... came out with a couple of armloads of parts the yard had charged me $40 (I told them these came off of my own truck that was brought there 3 days before) they gave the tow truck guy $200 for it which I had split with him..... I then stopped by the parts store and bought a cap rotor plugs wires and all belts and hoses, those I put on the very day I bought the truck, right off the bat "no matter what" the old stuff looked like. 3 days later my wife and I took off for Branson, in that 92, was our 25th anniv, a trip we had planned a month before I wrecked my 93.... 8 hours there, 8 hours back a few days later without an issue.

then a year ago I found my 96, 318 clubcab, my 1st 4X4 Dakota... is currently my wife's daily driver. I paid $800 for it with the trans laying in the bed.... it was a Craigslist find about an hour away. the last owner was quoted $2800 for a trans overhaul..... local kid bought it from him, and pulled the trans with plans to take the trans into a shop for a "bench rebuild" but instead decided to enlist in the Service, so his Dad said "it had to go".... again, my dealer buddy and me rebuilt it, (we did both that one and the one that came from my 93 back to back, the one from the 93 when I put the 5 speed into it, is the trans that is now in my 92) cost me around $500 in parts, to rebuild both of those trannys...... including reman converters for both. as far as labor we traded work, he helped me with these trannys and I helped him rebuild a 4.0 for his Grand Cherokee)
I have done a decent amount of work to that one, don't plan on getting rid of it any time soon.... I rebuilt the front and rear diffs, added a brand new Traklok to the rear, 4 new tires, new balljoints, idler and pitman, right away....
then last weekend (20k miles after I got it, and right after the water pump failure on the 92) I did the waterpump, timing chain and intake gaskets on it just this last weekend..... and gave it its 2nd cap and rotor since I have had it....
I scout Ebay for deals on parts and Rockauto for "clearance" stuff and stock up while the getting is good... buy the best brands I can, USA made whenever possible and buy parts when the price is good so I HAVE THEM on the shelf when I need them..... don't cost me much beyond my time to maintain (and improve) them..... still much cheaper than a payment every month, and we often jump in and go on a few hundred mile drive on a moments notice...camping, or Craigslist "wild goose chase", whatever..... and my trucks have been great to me.