ok, i drive my 91 dakota at LEAST 100 miles a day. i go fromthe most southern end ofjersey to philadelphia every day. i LOVE this truck. i have a few problems though:
1. i put about 3 quarts of oil in a week
2. i have NO heat for some reason (and its friggin cold)
3. i have to hit the dashboard to get anything to workwhen the lights are on

any suggestions to help me out?

other that that, i have no probs. in about 2 days, i will hit 200,000 miles on the original 318 and trans. i love this old gal. i will be BBQing to celebrate.

 

heat problem could be caused by a bad theromstat, or if your truck has ac the shutoff valve in your heater hose is not opening. Your dash problem could be caused by a bad ground or the plugin on the instrument panel . Oil consumption may be bad rings ,smoaking through the exhaust, orbad gaskets ,leaking out onto the ground . good luck

 

1. I'd agree with virginiaswapdog on this, could be caused by leaks, bad rings, etc. If you haven't already, try using some additives, and, if you are using a light-weight oil, try using a slightly heavier (but not too heavy) weight oil.
2. Is the engine getting warm? Read this, and try flushing your heater core.
3. Visit this thread. The connector is probably just not making a good connection, common problem.

 

i had s similar problem with no heat and it turned out to be a bad t-stat. as for hitting the dash, i did that in my old s-10 and the problem was the blower fan wire connector was bad. i have a 93 5.2 185,000mi and i use 10w40 oil and it runs good

 

i had a similiar problem with my dash not working when i turned my headlights on. I took the dash apart and the top cover for the steering column (where the hazard lights button is) and there was a ground wire comming from the guages that ran through a metal post on top of the steering column (it looked like a string running through a fork almost) so i took a wire tie and fastened the wire up against the metal. I also twisted the barrel connectors on the back of the instrument cluster and plugged them back in so the untwisting force gave them better contact with te pins and i havent had any problems since. But i know it was the ground wire for sure.