Hello, I was just wondering what the average overall milage is for the 2001 4WD Dakota's are? My 01 Dakota is at 103,335 miles, and on June 1st I am going to be driving it 900 miles. I was wondering if thats when the motor starts to break down, and things start going bad.

I do oil changes, tires, etc... Think I would be good for a 900 mile drive?

Any suggestions on what else to do before making such a long trip?

THANKS.

 

As long as you take care of it 100k miles isnt bad at all. Little stuff like changing oil every 3-5k miles and changing trans fluid, use fuel injector cleaner every oil change, etc goes a long way. If your tires are good then dont worry about it give em the old penny test.

 

My '04 had 110,000 and I took off on a 5,500 round trip from West Virginia to Arizona. Never worried about it a bit. I plan on doing it again next January too. I have drove it to Arizona five times now.

 

What do you think my MPG will be? Out in West Texas the speed limit is 80mph, so I'll have it on cruise control doin 75-85 4.7 Liter.

I might have to pull a 4x8 Uhaul trailer, if so I'll be running 60mph (depending on trafffic conditions, and weather and visibility) might be running 55

Think without a trialer I could push 20+ mpg?

 

Oh man you're golden. 103k is nothing. I'm driving my truck to Florida to visit my sister in the spring which is 1500 miles and I didn't think twice about it at 128k miles.

At 80mph you won't see 20 mpg. Closer to 16 or 17. There is a huge difference between 70 and 80. If you put the cruise on at 72 or so, you might see 18 I would guess.

 

i have 210k miles on mine and wouldn't think twice about a 1500 mile trip. i put on 150 miles a day just to get to my shop and back. dont sweat the 100k.

 

I agree with everyone above. I have 185K on my truck and I take 700 mile trips about every other month. I have had no major problems out of my truck other than a few general maintence things needed to be done when I bought the truck.

 

I have 90k on my 98 Have like 1,500 into it in the past 3 years thats counting tires too.

 

I have a 3.9 and 2 wheel drive but I drove it last May to Atlanta and back, it's about a 900 mile round trip, had about 115K on it then, no problems at all. I took the same trip at Christmas in 2008 at about 90K, no problems then either. I didn't start having to replace parts on my Dakota until I hit about 125K, that's when I had to replace my fuel pump. At 142K I replaced my water pump, and now at 143K just last weekend I replaced both front wheel hub/bearing assemblies.

I should add though that none of these parts were completely worn out or broken, they were just showing the symptoms of a lot of wear, like the wheel bearings were still OK but were making noise, same for my water pump. I replaced my fuel pump because it was taking longer than normal for the engine to start when it was cold or had sat overnight. That's due to a bad check valve in the fuel pressure regulator, and is a common Dakota problem, but my truck was still starting even then. It just took a few extra seconds.

Dakota's are damn good trucks and they are tough too. Mine has been wrecked in the front end twice, once from me hitting a small deer at 75 mph and once from some careless driver hitting me because he was impatient and not paying enough attention to what he was doing. My truck is doing fine at 143K now. I would not even think twice about jumping in and driving it anywhere I felt like going, no matter how close or far away.

I always say my Dakota is like an old and trusted friend. It has never let me down and never left me walking. If you take good care of your truck and know what to look out for, listen and feel for and you know how it runs, sounds and reacts, trust your truck and have a good safe trip. At 103K your truck is just getting broken in.

Jimmy

 

my motor grenaded at 130k but that's a whole nother story, my fault.