wow! untill today it thought i was on my own to figure out all my problems with my 1st gen durango. if any one can help, advise would be greatly appreciated. a little over 2 months ago i bought my first dodge. a 1998 dodge durango 5.2 v8 4x4. its got some character to it. a little rust and alot of fixin needed. when i bought it. the guy who sold it to me said " oh yea shes a great truck all ya need to do to make her perfect is get yerself a new head unit" whata load of crap. i want to puch him in his face. what a f,ing liar. he sold me a lemon. and theres nothing i can do about it. i bought it for 3 grand. and i have already dumped over 2 grand into it trying to get it all fixed. i had to have all the ball joints replaced. all of the controll arm bushings. all the shocks and struts. the inner and outter tie rod ends. the alternator a new battery. a water pump. a throttle positioning sensor. tranny speed sensor. the tranny coolant line and the tranny radiator. i had the kick down band adjusted and the tv cable adjusted. i had to get all new bearings and seals put into the rear end cuz they started grinding shortly after i bought it. all new brakes all the way around. new spark plugs cables cap and rotor. i could keep going on. but im not. this sucks. the damn truck has spent more time on the jack than on the road. and now im having a power draw issue. i park it in the morning coming home from work at 730 am and when i head out to work at 10pm the battery is completely dead! so now im forced to drive my wifes van to work. UGH! like i said i replaced the alternator and the battery. and i also redid the ground. im starting to want to run this thing over with my k25 dozer. thats how upset i am. its constantly been giving my greif. and i also cant figure out why my damn tranny still slipping. if anyones got any kind of advise im open for it. running out of patience with this thing. and im past the point of being able to sell it. cuz like i said i got over 5 grand into it. and its only worth 3. so please help me. this things got a hornet remote starter on it. and it looks like the previous owner installed it. should i just take the power wire for it out of the fuse panell and see if thats my issue or not. also with the radio being all ****ty. theres no display showing. and it sounds like crap comming out of the speakers. the volume keeps varrying and it crackles sometimes. the speakers are all new and i know there not the issue cuz i took the door pannells off to make sure they were wired correctely. oh this truck stresses me out something feirce. please. help!

 

I don't think the remote start system is causing the power drain, but u can try unhooking it. How bad is the transmission slipping?

 

the tranny when starting off feels like im hauling a load behind me and it doesnt engage like its supposed to. after driving it for a while when i come to a stop and start to go again it feels like its straining to move the wheels. it shifts erraticly going up hill. going in gear ther jumping out but jumping back into the same gear was in. im kinda affraid that its an internal problem thats causing it. but i was just under it and directly to the front out the kick down bands is a 3 wire plug going into the tranny. now the wireset and plug going in it looks like only 2 of the 3 wires are connected. and the insulation on the wires is crumbling off and the copper looks corroted. what plug is that. is that the power plug for the cervo? and if so does it have 3 wires? im going to jack it up soon and look into it further. hopefully all it is is a bad wire connection and possibly cut back and re connect the wires. i may need a new plug though cuz the corrosion is right up next the plug face.

 

so i beleive i may have found my problem. it is a 3 wire plug. an only 1 of the 2 wires still has its insulation on it. its in a verry innaccessable area with only inches to work in. two of the wires are almost completely corroted and they were crossed over each other. as in the copper wires were exposed and laying over each other. im going to try my hardest to tape em up for now. and i think its going to have to go to a dealership to get the plug set replaced. i just looked on a few different auto web sites trying to find the plug set with pig tails so i can splice em together. but it was a no go. if you have any other advise on what it may be. let me know. cuz ill know soon if that was the problem.

 

I would fix the wires and if you can get a new connector for it. If that doesn't solve your trans issue or drain issue we can go from there.

 

+1 with adukart.

 

the wires are for you NSS.. And will not cause your "dragging issue". I would ck the temp at all four wheels after a drive for a difference in the wheels. (this would indicate brake drag) and is not uncommon for a caliper to stick after pushing the piston back in (old brake fluid has moisture in it and can cause a rusted caliper bore). As for the draw>>> easy to ID cause.. Disconnect Neg battery cable and install test light between neg cable and battery. with keys inyour pocket, the light should dim out nothing after 5-10 min. If its still bright, start removing 1 fuse ata atime till lamp goes out.. Thats your draw circuit. Find out what that fuse supply's and thats your cause (they vehicle did has issues w/ the CTM (central timer module).
Good Luck ..

 

Yea it sure sounds like ya haveing wheels dragging on ya,, Jack it up per wheel an try to see how hard it takes to turn the wheels,,

 

Replace the transmission output speed sensor, drivers side about half way down. If you have a problem with this it would cause a bunch of your issues.

Then again I'm sure that the output sensor has only 2 wires, but the neutral safety sensor has 3 wires. So again your issue could be your broken wiring harness. Git it fixed and I would replace both sensors just to make sure they are working correctly.


Here is something you can try:

 

well after letting my truck sit for 18 hours which would always cause it to be dead every night, i went out to it and it started right up. and after driving it home from work in the morning, i didnt notice any slippage or miss shifting. its just shifting hard now. which i think is caused by my mechanic tightening up my bands. so yea i was surprised to see that those wires were crossing (connected) so if all goes well this week and if i dont notice any more problems, friday it will be going to american transmission to get a new connector put on. and to have the bands and tv cable re adjusted. cuz as of now i can only put my pedal half way down. which is annoying. but for the first time this morning i was able to do a burn out on pavement. even with my big tires. and recently i put on all new brakes so i know theres no wheel drag. there was prior to putting new brakes and drums and rotors on, cuz my rear brakes were ceased up and everything was rusted together. all the springs were packed with dirt and rust. but wish me the best of luck guyscuz im reallyy hoping that this is my issue. im hoping that this weekend i can order new fenders. i also want to do a complete exaust change. new headers and all. but i noticed that two of my bolts on the manifolds on the drivers side in the middleare broken off. and im hoping that when removing the rest that they dont break off. and if they do what advise do you guys have for me as to removing them from the block. should i get a acetline torch or just drill em out or what? cuz i got a set of tubular headers off of ebay that im dying to put in.