I have a 04 dodge dakota i recently replaced the head gasket on the right side and i ran it around town for a week or so to make sure every thing was ok, I got a misfire code a few times and changed out the coil and everything was good. Then I went to get my van that was broken down about a hundred miles away. I got a tow dolly and towed it all the way home. When I got in to town the engine overheated. I got it home and let it cool down, added water and realized the radiator (i have a tow package it was the little one in front of the big one) was all wet. The next day I had to go to work and as I pulled in the truck just died and would not start. We waited for about twenty minutes and then my wife started it and headed home. About 5 miles later it did the same thing and this time it would not start back up. She had it towed to the house and I tried to start it. It would only start if I had the gas held down and it would run really ruff. When I take the gas off it just dies. I had it taken to the dealership and the guys said without really doing anything that the engine was shot and I need a new one. They did not do a compression check. they said that the ruff running was because one or more of the pistons did not have compression and that was why the truck would not stay running but again they did not do a compression check at all.

P.S. There are no engine codes. I was thinking that maybe it might be I.A.C. or the camshaft censor. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to DF. I'll move your post to the correct Dakota section.

 

Hi and welcome to the forums.

What engine do you have? Have you checked compression?

 

its a 3.7 v6, no i have not checked compression

 

How low was the coolant? You may have a blown head gasket, yes, again. It may have just been bad luck or you might have not gotten all the air out of the cooling system.

When the gasket was replaced was the head surfaced? It could also be the other side. What's the coolant look like?

I know you're hoping for something simple but you won't lose coolant or overheat with a bad IAC or cam sensor.

 

i lost the coolant because the front radiator broke wile i was towing my van. coolant looks good. the thing is the coolant ressivor was full but the engine was not as the water got hot it left the engine but did not return

 

In that case there is a good chance of another head gasket failure. The 3.7, like the 4.7, has aluminum heads and doesn't like getting hot.

Pull the plugs. They can tell you a lot about the condition of the cylinders. After that, I'd do the compression test.

There is no reason to expect that the IAC or TPS would fail after an overheat.