I have a 98 Dakota. This is a small list of the problems I have had with this POS since I bought it in 2000.

1) Light switch pull thingy pulls right out of the switch, just a little frustrating at 5:30am when going to work, It will work if you stick it back in the hole and put pressure to one side and pull it out.
2) The ball joints both sides have had to be changed, I like to have a few words with the genius who thought of the nice rivet design on that instalation.
3) The fuse that keeps blowing everytime I flick on the high beams, and the only thing that will work until I change it are the low running lights. Its real good when all the dash,radio and tail lights dont work at 5:30 am.
4) The running lights that stay on after you turn of the truck. I know that they usally will stay on for a minute or two when the truck is shut off and you walk away ,they usally go off. But when I get out of work at 3:00 pm and they are still on theres a problem somewhere.
5) The rack and pinion steering. What kind of POS is this thing. Sometime I drive and its fine and then all of a sudden I got stiff steering just like driving an old bus, then all of a sudden its back to normal. I took it to the garage and it was perfect turned great, pulled out of the lot and the good ole stiffy was back, oh ya forgot to mention the mechanic wanted 800$ to fix this mysterious little problem. so I just live with it.
6)And the best one of all is the fantastic transmission in this lemon. Half the time it wont shift out of 1st gear till it red lines. then the next day it perfectly fine, shifts great I think wow everythings ok now, then it starts again a couple days later.whats with that? now latley its been running good till I pull up to a stop light, and thats when you can hear it, it sounds like somebody is shaken a can of rocks under the truck, I get some strange looks from other drivers when I am sittin there pretending its not coming from my truck. And I still only have 85000 km on this truck.
Thes are just a small list of things I have had happen the last 7 years that I have had this truck. I do have to admit one thing I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER DAKOTA AS LONG AS I LIVE. Next time its gonna be a big ole Dodge Ram.
Just wondering if anyone else has had to put up with this crap for years.

 

nah i do maintenance on my vehicles weird idea huh!
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all vehicles over time ahve their wear and tear, **** happens, #1 sounds like just its just worn out, #2 most of the time engineers never have touched a wrench before in there life, just drill out the rivets, #3 fuses blow 9 out of 10 times because of a short, wire insulation probabally rubbed away, check your wiring #4, my dakota wont shut off its lights automatically either, just a engineering design, #5, check your fluid level and your belt, #6 dodge transmissions are slush buckets, i agree with you on that, if you hear rattling but dont feel it, sounds like a loose heat shield underneath the truck, i had my transmission rebuilt at 64,000 miles, they arent exactly bullet proof, make sure you have the fluid replaced and the transmission flushed almost every 20k miles in my opinion, done my a reputable shop with Mopar ATF+4, NO DEXRON WITH AN ADDITIVE, it WILL kill the transmission.... all a dakota is pretty much is a downsized ram, the only neglect ive given my dakota is the serpintine belt whch is still original, put on at the factory and i got 75,XXX miles on the clock, otherwise, she runs like champ,

 

hmm weird. my stock engine was running 12 pounds of boost. put it back to stock. romp the shhiizzz outta it every damn day.....get home and make sure all is in order. wash her. make sure the header bolts are tight...clean the air filter.. routine maintenance..never hadda problem...well xcept for my rear wheel speed sensor. went out...but that common for these trucks i guess

 

on a '98 sounds like normal wear and tear that went un-treated. The under car rattle is most likely the cat converter. The stiff steering could be big tires or the rack and pinion could be going out or faulty steering pump. Sounds like you have a big electrical issue as well. It would be a miracle if it all revolved around the bad headlight switch but most likely you got some corroded wires or a ground wire or three that got un-grounded. Have you had the motor pressure washed recently? Do you drive off road or live near the beach or other areas of high salt concentration? Dodge is known for weak ball joints and weak transmissions. Sell it and make it someone else's problem!

 

How could you determine if it was the cat converter?

 

An undercar rattle can be a lot of things I agree with ya there. The Cat converter is the most common culprit, especially if the car is not in motion at the time. Obviously dont take that as an accurate diagnosis! Take it and have it confirmed by a specialist.

 

lazer heat gun take ur pre and post cat temps...should be higher post cat

 

Cool thanks for the info.

 

Thanks for the info I am gonna check that one out.