And so the saga continues we await the outcome with trepidation.

 

As do I 98Dakaz, as do I. I am expecting to go get in it, start it up and hear that faint whine as it starts, go to turn out of the spot and hear it whine and then the worst noise of all....when you step on the gas as you pull out of the dealer and it whines up with RPM.

Then I will turn around, pull in front of the dealer to the certified used car area, go in and ask how much they will give me on a trade in.

 

Thanks for the update and good insight on the cap (I figured I'd fab. one myself anyway)...hope the new pump works and please do post an update when you can.

 

Well......Mopar pumps are the way to go. Maybe this can be made a sticky or something to save other people the time, trouble and money. DO NOT BUY A AFTERMARKET PUMP!!!! At least for the Dakota 4.7, the Ram 4.7 uses a different pump, so not sure what the aftermarkets are like for that.

The Mopar pump they put in isn't completely silent, it still has a faint whine when turning in and out of parking spots, but it is the quietest the truck has been since I bought it. There is also a faint whine when driving straight that changes with the gear shifts, which is what really bothered me about the whine, but it is so faint that unless you sit there concentrating and listening for it you won't notice it. The aftermarket pumps were so loud that you couldn't help but notice it, even if you tried to ignore it, I could even hear it over the radio.

The only issue I had when I picked the truck up was that when I opened the hood to look at the new pump, first thing I saw before I even got the hood all the way opened was that the top bolt on the pump wasn't tightened, it wasn't even all the way in. I reached in and turned it with my hand. I drove it straight back into the shop and had some choice words for the service adviser. I'll never go back to that dealer again.

The moral is.....spend the $320 on the Mopar pump or you'll end up spending A LOT more on changing out aftermarket re-manned pumps.

 

You may be correct on that I was lucky with the junkyard pump I got it looked new they said it was from a truck that had only 45K on it and it has been great so far in fact it steers so easy now and it has been very quiet.

Just shows that some Parts you should never buy rebuilt even though it cost way more for new.

 

I had my power steering pump replaced on the 3.9 because the hi pressure line was leaking all over the place. the shop said the pump needed to be replaced to so I was pissed and had them do it. $500 bucks later for a new pump and hi pressure line and I had the worse groans and moans coming from the pump. I took it back to the shop a few weeks later and the one mechanic who I trust told me that they were suppose to tell me at the counter that the pump will make noises for about a 1k miles or so till it breaks in. It definitely did for like 2500 or so but seems to be pretty quiet now. Hopefully everything is good as I was about to make them replace my pump

 

Well I hope mine will quiet down after a little bit, right now it's still noisy. Not sure if it's gotten louder since I picked it up or if I am just paying attention to it more since after spending $1,500 I would expect it to be silent.

I don't know what else I could do, it's got a Mopar pump, new high pressure line and rack. What the hell else can I change??? I just CANNOT believe that a p/s pump can make this kind of noise and it's considered normal, what makes me even more crazy is that I hear plenty of other Dakota and Durango's with the 4.7 that make no noise at all. I mean this thing is whining just going straight down the road....what kind of pump does that??

I'd almost think it wasn't the pump and maybe the alternator or something but it gets so much worse when you turn the wheels, so it has to be the pump.

My days of owning a Dodge might be coming to an end and it's only been 6 months. too much BS wrong with this thing at 95K...horrible quality.

 

That’s so sad you spend that whopping amount and still have this problem when I spent $35 and get great results perkier steering and no noise at all and took me all of 25 minutes to replace.

I still say something other than the power steering pump is wrong here.

 

sounds like time to call chrysler and complain about the truck the dealer that serviced it and have them replace it all at another dealer free of charge.

 

In all honesty I think it is just an issue with the 4.7 pumps, the 2.5L is a completely different animal and I'd bet the p/s pump is completely different as well. I have heard a few 4.7's whining like mine when they passed me, whether it be a Dakota, Durango or Grand Cherokee, but have also heard plenty that don't make the whine.

I have no faith at all that Chrysler would care one bit or do a thing to help me out if I called them, in my experience a manufacturer has no involvement or interest in what the independent dealers do. And at this point I don't know what a different dealer could do, everything has been replaced, but you turn my wheels and it sounds like a cat in heat. Which honestly doesn't bother me as much as the constant up and down whine while driving straight ahead....it is INCESSANT.

This thing has 95K on it, and other than this p/s nightmare, the tranny cooling lines are rotted, the oil pan is rotten almost all the way through, the exhaust manifolds are leaking when cold and sound like a hard low end engine knock, the parking brake shoes delaminated and fell apart, and the steering intermediate shaft u-joint is worn and sloppy making the steering sloppy.

And they wonder why people buy Japanese products. I had a 20 year old Toyota pickup with 220K on it that had zero issues when I sold it to get this thing and I bought that thing with 120K on it.

I'm fed up. My experiment with American vehicles is over.