All,
My mother in law abandon this vehicle out in my place a number of years ago. Been using it on the farm as a extra hauler, threw a Reese hitch on it, but it has numerous issues I have been recently sorting out. Have other trucks. The odometer says it has 227K miles on the odometer. Mother in law says it would overheat quickly which I believe a flush and fluid change of the radiator corrected. (Not seen a overheat since) I swapped the thermostat (probable issue) for good measure.

Probably the easiest is I need confirmation on what Auto transmission fluid it takes and rough amounts when swapping the filter and gasket. The transmission has not been an issue but I always swap the fluids on any vehicle I do not know the history on. (Oil/Radiator/Trans etc)

My generation 1 Dakota (1988 3.9/Auto/2WD) took ATF+ Is it the same for my 1999?

It recently has undergone a ignition tuneup, which the cap/rotor appears not to have been change in some time. (pitted very bad). This tune up made a significant difference in running/starting etc.

The second question concerns a rattle in the engine. My biggest concern. Not a deep rattle or a thump...I thought it was the belt tensioner originally...I changed the belt tensioner and honestly there was some noise from that as the bearing was sloppy. What is unusual about it is the rattle appears once the engine is warmed up a while only. Also about the same time a Check Gauges warning light appears (thats what the light says). Also the oil pressure drops to 0 (like the gauge is off instead of on). The other gauges seem fine. The rattle appears to be coming from the top end. Also out of the blue the check gauges light disappears, oil gauge goes up to normal but the rattle remains... I am farly certain the two are not related....I bought a new Oil Pressure Sending unit that arrived yesterday. Waiting for a few other items to make a afternoon out of it.

Once I have confirmed the oil pressure is not to blame...I am going to pop a valve cover...to me it sounds like a rocker or something in the top end...high treble tapping that does not seem to always track with the engine RPM. Any ideas on what to look at?

On the ignition tune up, I did a compression test...All cylinders are within 15% of each other. The two front cylinder (left/right) are the lowest just around 125-130PSI) A little oil raised the passenger one. The drivers side oil add seemed to make no difference.

There is a ABS light which I have purchased a rear ABS Sensor that also arrived this week.

I hope to get the vehicle on the road by early spring...My local yards have a couple decent engines...hoping that will not delay things...

Thanks everyone,
Chris

 

The timing chain can make a rattle when it's severely worn. If it's never been changed, yours is WELL past replacement. They last around 150-180K. More with highway miles and regular oil changes and much less if oil changes were neglected and a lot of short driving. I think you use Dexron III or similar. If you have the owners manual that will tell you and there might be a notation on the transmission dip stick.

 

ol' grouch,
Thanks for the reply!

My buddy when I was in college had one these same vehicles new. He had nothing but problems with his timing chain and they swapped it out numerous time under the factory warranty. He used to haul a good sized 4 Winns boat with his Dakota.

Would this make a racket only after the engine is warm...any way to confirm its the timing chain?

Hate to go thru the trouble of replacing it all to find out the rattle is still around.

The chain will go on the list of possibilities. I have no idea the history on this vehicle...My mother in law bought the vehicle used. Its incredibly clean inside. The outside has typical rocker and bed rear wheel well rust but overall not to bad for a work/farm truck.

Thanks for the suggestion,
Chris

 

Get some soap stone, white paint stick or something else to mark the timing mark on the balancer with. Rotate it by hand with a socket until the mark is at TDC. Remove the distributor cap and mark it with something easy to see but do NOT use a a pencil. The graphite WILL cause arcing. Now, hook your socket and rotate the engine slightly backwards by hand. Watch how far your balancer moves before the rotor in the distributor moves. 5 degrees or less, no problem. More than that and you have slop in the timing chain. I've seen as much as 20 to 30 degrees. Those engines will run but terribly. That's also the limit before they jump or break.

Quite often, you can hear timing chain slap when the engine is running. I had a '94 with the 3.9 once that got terrible fuel economy, luke warm heat and lots of noise from the front of the engine. A new chain really woke that puppy up, fuel economy went up, great heat from the heater and so on.

 

ol' grouch,,
Thanks for the help Again!

I will put it down for this upcoming week's endeavors for this vehicle as the temps in our area are coming out of the negatives/single digits. Going to get to the 20s.

Even in the garage, with heat, the concrete is frigid for these old bones.

Its one thing I have never done is a timing chain...done plenty of timing Belts. Looks like its a doable Saturday job if its the timing chain.

Will let you know what I find out.

Again thanks for the help,
Chris

 

The first generation of Magnum engines, (3.9, 5.2 and 5.8) trace their design history back to the 1953 Dodge 241 Hemi. They are fairly simple to replace. A bit involved but if you have reasonable mechanical skills, not bad. The directions say to drop the oil pan but I've had good luck just using sealant and being very careful. Since the water pump has to come off, look it over really good. You might want to replace it just because it's off already. Don't forget to use sealant on the long bolts that go into the water jacket in the block. Eegular hand tools and a straight edge are all you need. The timing marks need to be aligned.

 

All,
Confirmed by way of a Haynes manual for the make/model/year...I should use ATF+3 or ATF+4 Trans Fluid.

Thanks
Chris

 

Use the +4...... there was a reason mopar changed their recommendation.