First, I would never use the Haynes manual for engine work. The FSM is very detailed in this stuff.

I would have your torque wrench checked out if you torqued everything down yourself. It may actually be off. Also, those bolts are TTY in the 3.9, and if they were reused could be the source of your troubles. YOu did use new bolts and torqued them properly when you redid the gaskets, correct? No need to retorque anything if you did it right the first time. I believe there is a sequence for the head bolts also, but I may be wrong.

If the bolts are loose I actually think it is better to know that than to be looking at a warped head that leaked into all cylinders. What I would is get a head gasket set and replace everything as said, and while you have the head out put a machinist straight edge on it and check it for warpage just to be sure it is flat. Or take it to a machine shop and ask them to do it.

All in all, I was able to do a set of head gaskets in about 6 hours after I learned how, definitely worth the chance I would say. You know what you have there, with another engine you may run into different (or worse) problems if you aren't sure of its history. If you recently ran a compression test or did one when you worked on everything last winter, that would be the best indicator of how much wear you have on your pistons. Always go by the numbers, don't just start changing stuff to change it.

As for flushing out the motor, once you change everything it is going to smoke for a good while after you get the heads back on. Just let it idle and keep an eye on your gauges. Test drive it around until the smoke stops, then I would change the oil fairly soon after. There is no reason to be dropping pans and such IMO. You change the oil before you restart it and then again soon after. A little bit of coolant is going to make a lot of steam.

The biggest question mark I think you have at the moment is how much damage you did when you limped it around.

 

Engine work is engine work--nothing magical or revolutionary, at least not for the old Magnum engine series. Haynes is okay for the basic wrench turning operations--the torque specs they use are the ones Chrysler's engineers provided, and the torque sequence is the same. I have both the Factory Service Manual for my year truck & also Haynes. What is nice about Haynes is that it is fairly to the point--and doesn't bother with a lot of extra discussion or special jargon. Haynes does tend towards the generic, and when very specific info is needed, I pull out the FSM and do my homework.

As for Wes's motor, I don't think any of us like it's chances. But for some people, and new motor means the truck is probably going to the wrecking yard. I've always been amazed (especially here where trucks don't rust) how many straight cars and trucks get junked. If Wes can get it back on the road for short cash, it's probably going to prolong the truck's life

 

im PRAYING that the heads are ok. for all the things that need to be replaced, would work? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/2000-Dodge-Dakota-4WD/Head-Gasket-Set/_/N-jeo31Z8znn4?filterByKeyWord=head+gasket+set&fromSt ring=search

and i REUSED the old head bolts when i re-assembled the motor the first time. I INTEND on getting new ones this time around. and i need to get my torque wrench calibrated.

i knwo that i ****ed up the motor, but idk how much.. but at this point i NEED to get back to work. I am a indipendiant shipper on USHIP.. and i HAVE to get back to work. and no im not hauling heavy weight, and only staying within the northeast.

so after me giving you all that information, can you help diagnose what happened?