Hi,

I recently purchased a 2001 Dakota quad cab 4.7L V8 Magnum. Here's the deal with the truck: the radiator blew, it was immediately shut off and flat bedded back to the man's house. It sat there for a year before it came into my possession. I was told the radiator was shot and the exhaust manifold had a hole in it. I changed the rad and put some water in it to try firing it up, it turns over but will not start. I added some gas and made sure it had a good battery, it came to life once, just to stutter a bit and then die. It's worth noting that when the rad blew, it covered the entire inside of the hood with coolant and was left that way. A lot of things are coated with an orange film and the water I put into the system immediately turned orange. I'm at a complete loss and I don't know where I should go from here. Also, there is smoke coming from the radiator cap when I try to start it, it doesn't fire up yet it's still smoking. Any suggestions? Open to anything at this point. Preferably as inexpensive as possible.

 

Bad news you may have a blown head gasket common in any overheating condition with the 4.7 I'm very sure the owner knew this or he would have fixed it himself. If it sat for a year like this your cylinder walls may be rusted up if enough coolant leaked into the cylinders the engine could be garbage.


I would never buy an inoperable auto unless it was dirt cheap very dirt cheap as its more than likely to need a lot of money to fix.

 

Thank you for the input! I'm happy to say that I paid only $200 for this truck AND I had the radio from my previous Dakota to swap into it. I won't be losing out either way, I'll just part it out if push comes to shove.

Regarding your statement about the gentlemen who sold it to me, he told me that it was looked at by a mechanic and he was told it needed the manifold and the radiator. I'm by no means any expert on engines, more of a novice, but from the little experience I do have with blown head gaskets, they normally don't prevent the engine from functioning as soon as they go bad. (had a dodge neon run for over a year with a blown head gasket) Correct me if I'm wrong. The man was very honest and it definitely was not driven after it overheated the one time. Any other causes of the smoky radiator cap? lol

 

Not to sound cynical but at $200 all he was doing was getting $200 to get rid of junk sitting around. Now you may win if you part it out but you will still need to get rid of the left over carcass.


If you think it may be saved pull the plugs and see what they look like rusted good or crap. If they look good squirt some oil down the pug holes now with them still out crank the engine a few times.


Oh also pull the fuse to the fuel pump dont want gas squirting around

 

I'm going to do just that. I hope I'm not getting spark and it's as simple as that. As for the steam/smoke coming from the radiator cap, could that because of the tap water? I know distilled or actual coolant are preferred but for the sake of troubleshooting I'm using regular tap water. Anyone know off-hand how to do a full flush of the cooling system? I want to flush the transcooler and all and get some clean water in there and get it running before I do the oil change and put good coolant in it. It's a very nice truck and I'd hate to have to part out a second Dakota.

 

Well checking the plugs and the other basics is a good start just water is ok for now as long as you have no freezing nights. Cheap oil is a good start also so you aren't wasting too much cash trying to get it running. But I suspect a head gasket Good luck at $200 its worth a try.

 

Update: I took the coil packs out and put a flathead into the boot (it that's even what it's called lol) and tried to check for spark. There was spark but it's a small yellow spark as opposed to the strong blue spark I'm used to seeing from spark plugs.

I also managed to get it started... well, kind of. I decided to go ahead and read the owners manual cover to cover and it said that if the engine is flooded, to hold the accelerator to the floor while turning the ignition and continue doing so until the engine was running smoothly. I did just that, but I wouldn't say it was exactly smooth. It sputtered to life and would stay on very briefly and then die. Immediately after starting it makes a weird noise kind of similar to a lifter tap but not quite. I'm willing to attribute that to the hole in the exhaust manifold. Now, the engine dies unless I have accelerator at least half way to the floor. There always appears to be a little fluid of some sort accumulating on the manifold. You can see it just underneath the cover and this causes the engine to smoke when starting. I'm not quite sure where to go from here. If someone could recommend the next step in troubleshooting I'd greatly appreciate it. The engine is definitely getting spark and fuel. I do not have a compression tester to check compression and I don't think it's out of time.

98dakz, I went ahead and put about a tablespoon of oil in all of the cylinders when I took the coil packs out as you suggested. Fuses all look good. I'm at a loss. When I turned key to on 3 times to display codes it ready "pdone". Is there anything that could cause this? Truck absolutely will NOT start without the accelerator to the floor, it cranks endlessly. I hear the fuel pump kick on whenever the key hits the "on" position. Please help.

 

Check for codes. You don't need a scanner.

With the key OFF, turn the key to RUN (don't start it). Then turn it back to OFF, then to RUN again, back to OFF and finally leave it in RUN. The odometer will display any codes. It will show P DONE when finished.

 

First thing it displayed was "pdone". Does it display the code after that? I turned it off as soon as I saw "pdone".

Edit: Could fuel injectors or a faulty coolant temp sensor produce these problems? Going to do some troubleshooting tomorrow, so far I'm checking the following:

IAC
TPS
I'm also going to perform I test I read about on one of these forums, which is pulling the fuel pump fuse and cranking the engine in order to clear out any excess fuel in the even that it may be flooded.
Any thing else I could try?

 

Check your fuel pressure.