Hi,
I had my truck break down yesterday while traveling out of town and don't know what to do. I am not a vehicle mechanic and suck at working on vehicles. What I would like to know, if anyone would be kind enough to tell me, is what is wrong with this thing and what I should do. I only have a couple hundred bucks I could use to fix a problem so would I be able to fix the truck or is it a lost cause? Vehicle is a 2000 Dakota 3.9L. I bought it used a few months ago.

Here is the problem. I drove from San Antonio going to a friends outside of George West Texas. When I got to the exit, the truck started beeping and said check gauges. Up to that point the gauges had been fine because I keep a pretty good eye on them. the temp gauge had gone all the way up all of a sudden though. Within about 2 seconds I heard a pop and fluid popped over my hood. Truck lost power, basically shut off I guess. I managed to coast to a Valero parking lot and look under the hood.

I found that a part called the Coolant Pressure cap had broken. It seems to connect the radiator to the engine. I called the wife and had her bring a new cap and the two large hoses that connect to it from the auto parts store. I got them all hooked up.

Now I think I may have messed up at this point but not sure. Once I got it on I figure this is a radiator hose and needs more fluid. I poured about two bottles of radiator fluid into the cap (Coolant pressure cap) figuring this is the place to add it. Started it up but it did not seem too happy. Tried it in reverse and the truck was very jerky. Put it in drive back into the parking spot and was very jerky also, no way in could be driven.

It had alot of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe and then I noticed alot of radiator fluid leaking out the bottom of the truck in rear. I believe that would be the muffler.

At this point I am wondering, first if I should not have added radiator fluid to that hose, though it seems radiator fluid should be going through it since it goes from the radiator to the engine. But also, did I blow something out? My wife says according to what she found on the net, the head gasket may be blown. I don't really even know exactly what the head gasket is and have never changed one.

Thanks for any replies.

 

Head gasket,.. Have it towed home until
you can have it fixed.

 

The head gasket goes between the cylinder heads and the engine block. There is one head gasket for each cylinder head, one on either side of the engine. It does sound like you have a blown head gasket. The white smoke from the tail pipe is there because when the head gasket leaks, antifreeze gets into the combustion chamber, it gets super hot there, turns into steam and is forced out the exhaust. One way to check for sure is if the truck will run, remove the radiator cap, let it idle till it reaches operating tempoerature and the thermostat opens. Look down the radiator fill neck hole and if you see large bubbles in the coolant there the head gasket is blown for sure.

You will need to replace both head gaskets and have the block checked to be sure it's not warped or cracked. Whether it is cracked or warped depends on how long the truck was driven after it ran hot. A good machine shop can tell you for sure. If it's not cracked, it would be a good idea to have it machined anyway. If the block is cracked or badly warped, you will probably come out better financially by replacing the engine or at least getting a new long block and re-using your original heads.

There will also be more work involved in fixing the truck. You will need new coolant, an oil change, and it would be a very good idea to clean the intake and exhaust valves and install new spark plugs.

This may or may not be what you needed to hear. It can probably be fixed, but it won't be cheap. Sorry to hear this happened to you.

Jimmy

 

Thank you both for your responses. The more I look, the more it seems you both would indeed be correct in that it is the head gasket, at the least. I have made arrangements to rent a lift from uhaul and tow it back home at least, from there I suppose I will need to bring it somewhere to do the work, or at least get an estimate to see if I can afford it. Sucks that its Sunday.

As far as the engine being warped or cracked, could not say. I do know that many years ago I had a car that ended up with a crack and it leaked oil on the ground when started. I did not see any oil under the truck so maybe that's a good sign? As to warping, would not know, the way it was so jerky though, perhaps that could be? I don't know.

One other thing I forgot to mention. When I had restarted the truck after replacing the hose, I could rev the engine but when I would take my foot off the accelerator pedal it would stay at a high rpm, for maybe a few seconds, then slowly come down on its own back to idle speed, taking maybe a few more seconds. That was kind of strange. Any ideas as to why this would be?

Thanks again.

 

I have no idea on the high idle. Could be the PCM trying to compensate somehow for the increased engine temperature or the bad air-fuel mix in the combustion chamber when the coolant leaked in there.

I have not heard yet of any Dakota having a cracked block, the 3.9 is an old school cast iron engine and is very durable. Hopefully all you will need is a head gasket job and a slight machining of the block and you will be back in business very soon.

Jimmy

 

Thanks much for your reply Silver. Turns out I will not be towing it until tomorrow so I am going to bring it straight to the dealer and see what they say. Hopefully the repairs will be relatively minimal, all things considered.

 

Definitely not going to only be a couple hundred bucks unfortunately. I'm predicting at least $2000 from a dealer, I'd consider throwing a new engine in at this point seeing as you're already going to be shelling out about half of what it costs to get a new motor put in.

 

Agreed 100%. The dealer will rip you a new one on the repair. They will also charge you way more than the average garage would to replace the engine if you go that route with it. You would be far better off finding a good local independent machine shop and garage that can do the work for you. You might even find another low to average mileage 3.9 in a local junk yard for maybe $1,000.00 or less, it would probably cost $400.00 to $500.00 to have them swap it in for you. I am just guessing at the prices there, could be more but I doubt it would be less.

Unless you are talking about contacting the dealer where you bought the truck about exchanging it or fixing it for free or reduced cost. From what I know about dealers I would expect them to say no to that idea. They will probably tell you two things:

1. You bought the truck used, as-is so any repairs are your responsibility.
2. They will probably say you ran the truck hot and continued to drive it, which in their book constitutes abuse, so they will decline any assistance with the repair.

The one and only good thing about going through the dealer is if a Dodge dealer orders in and installs a new engine or even a new long block for you, it will probably have a longer warranty, probably 5 years or 50,000 miles. Maybe even better.

You can ask the dealer about it but my personal opinion is you will come out better at an independent garage and machine shop or a good junk yard. Maybe the dealer had some kind of used car warranty, some will cover it for 3 months or 3,000 miles, some even have a 6 month/6,000 mile warranty. I hope the dealer is willing to help you and you get it fixed as cheap as possible. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Jimmy

 

Im not understanding why you guys are telling him to put a new engine in. Take it to a little ma and pa type shop. It will be a lot cheaper than the dealer.

 

I mean it will be cheaper at a ma and pop place but unless the labor at that shop is $20 an hour its still going to be in the thousand of dollars range... If you conservatively assume 16 hours labor and $60 an hour thats $960 just in labor. Then there's the time to check if the block is warped and fixing that if it is and then there could be the possibilities of having to rework the heads... It all adds up really quickly. To put it in perspective a mom and pop shop charged me $300 just to remove one head, for doing both were looking at $1200 to do both at that shop. So best case senario he's at $1200 with parts and labor and then he has a motor with however many miles on it. Which is cheaper than a new motor but I'm just saying that he needs to look at the pros and cons here. I would hate to see someone drop that kind of money into a vehicle and have it crap out again. Regardless of what the OP chooses it ain't going to be cheap.