I've been running propane (duel fuel) in my 02 Dakota for over 4 years now (140k). Finally, the valves and seats gave out due to the heat. It would have been nice for the propane folks to let me know when I installed that the valves and seats needed to be upgraded to handle the heat. Minor detail they left out. So, out with the propane.

Just got the block and heads back from the shop on Friday and did the rebuild this weekend. We will be re-attaching the tranny and re-mounting on Christmas Eve. Any tips or pitfalls to look out for when re-mounting the engine and tranny?

All in all, I still saved over $2,500.00 in fuel costs, even after the engine rebuild. Oh well.

WARNING TO OTHERS!! If you are going to run CNG or LPG in your vehicle, check the specifications for handling the excess heat generated by these fuels.

 

I dont get it... if you already have the propane injection set up, and it saves you money, and you have to rebuild the heads anyway, why wouldn't you keep the propane and do what upgrades need to be done to the heads? It seems to me like switching it back is more work and would cost more money than just changing some valve seats.

 

He has duel fuel. I think you should upgrade the heads though too. Be able to keep the dual and if thats all thats needed than thats very minimal.

As for seating the tranny to the motor get a friend to help and lower, fan shroud needs to be removed, remove the cooler too if you want I had my tranny cooler and what not hooked up to it and it would be more of a pain for me than not so I left mine in.

Use 4 chains to the motor to keep it level side to side. and line them up on the motor mount studs. once those are on get the side block to bell housing bolts and you should be golden from there!

 

...but, when we saw what a hack job was done on the wiring and the residue buildup on the air intake, throttle body, intake manifold, we made the decision to get it all cleaned up so I could get it running top notch on gas only. The history that I didn't include in the original post was that once the propane kit was installed, starting the truck usually included a stall out or 2 (gas or propane). I also had several instances where the modified air intake would not work correctly and the propane never made it to the engine (Doesn't run very well without fuel). Anyway, my daughter is using the truck part-time now and my main goal is to get it to peak performance and reliability. In about 18 months, I should be upgrading to a Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel.