So I have a 96 dakota that's a 5 speed manual with the 2.5l 4 cylinder. It has 200 thousand miles. Bought it from a friend that just let it sit for a while. Ive started fixing it up a bit. Changed the oil, the filter, air filter, new spark plugs and wires. Put a new headlight switch in and replaced a bunch of bulbs. What else should I do to return it to its glory? A couple days ago I went to turn the lights on and when it got to the second notch, all the lights went off. Don't have instrument panel lights, headlights don't work, turn signals do. Nothing in the rear lights up, even when I press the brakes, nothing. Any advice?

 

Step 0 - Download the Factory Service Manual from the FAQ.

Sounds like the new switch may have failed on you.

If the turn signals work, but the brakes don't, it's something between the MFS and the battery, or internal to the MFS.

But again, grab the FSM so you could trace out the loss of power.

RwP

 

So I fixed the lighting problem, ended up being the bulkhead connector, the main wire for the lights had corroded, since you can't find a new one anywhere I just drilled a hole through the firewall and spliced it there. No issues since. Been driving it as my daily. Speedometer is still acting up, replaced the diff speed sensor and it made it work here and there. Gonna be replacing the exhaust manifold this week. Bunch of bolts missing, causing terrible noises. Work in progress, be nice if it was warm outside

 

Like Ralph said get the service manual and the parts catalog too, they are invaluable.

As for your missing exhaust manifold bolts I think you will find that these are going to be broken exhaust manifold bolts.

Good luck, I hope you have better weather than we do, we just got about 4" of snow.

Steve

 

I have the 94 3.9 and I had to fix broken exhaust manifold studs. I looked up what I wrote and it has been edited out of the thread or I may have put the data in a different one??
Get the studs and bolts from the dealer to include any OE washers called for. Its expensive but at least you will know they are right.

This is about my 3.9 I am sharing it in case the 2.5 will be similar. IDK if the 2.5 block is steel or alum or ???? My 3.9 is steel.
My studs were broken flush and below flush, the bolts were fine. To remove what wasn't broken using OxyAcetylene torch heat the head of the bolts cherry red. When they cool back to black color they should come out easy. You can't use propane to do this because it is not hot enough to heat the bolt head fast enough so that it heats cherry red without heating the metal around it to the same temp.
On the broken stud I drilled them out. I forget the sizes but I had to get left handed drill bits and eventually on one I had to use a rotary file which damaged the first few threads and worried me. But you will notice the new studs are 1/2" longer on the manifold side than the OE studs. I suppose this helps make up for having to drive the head side deeper if you bung the threads. The hole is also longer than the OE studs, don't go crazy but don't worry if you damage the first thread getting the broken bit out.
Here are a couple links. The search function on here is pretty good
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ud-broken.html
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...d-removal.html

 

Thanks man. Ended up not being too bad, the studs that were missing had just fell out so it wasn't too hard of a job

 

I'd change the timing belt, cheap, easy to do. Especially if you don't know when it was changed last. Nice thing is the 2.2/2.5 are non interference engines, so it won't take the valves when it does break. Motors are almost bullet proof. Mine still ran with no oil pressure, all 4 rods were knocking. All the bearing material was in the sump of the pan, plus some rod and crank metal.

 

So now I have a new issue. Motor is now idling way too high. Sometimes I don't even need to hit the throttle when releasing the clutch. I had put a new exhaust manifold and gasket on. Sounds like it's leaking towards the bottom but I can't see anything, no room too. Checked that all the bolts are tight and they are. Ordered an endoscope so I can look at it all. Don't wanna tear it all apart til I know for sure. Replaced the TPS and the iac no difference. Can put my hand on the throttle body and it doesn't stall so it's gotta be a vacuum leak right? Checked all the vacuum lines I know of and they all look fine. Stumped at this point honestly, any help would be great

 

How's the plenum gasket?

It's a known gasket leak location for the Magnum engines.

Past that, check all the vacuum hoses. AGAIN. and AGAIN.

RwP

 

Wait - 2.5L - no plenum gasket. My bad. ('Twas a knee-jerk reaction, sorry!)

For the 2.5, I'd surely check all the vacuum lines and the throttle body gasket, intake gasket, and the IAC seals.

I'd also unplug the IAC to see if that makes a difference.

RwP