Hi. I inherited my dad's 2001 Dakota when his Alzheimer's got too bad for him to drive. Long story short, the engine fried one day. A shop near me can replace it, but my question is: whether I should get another engine just like it (3.9 v-6) or if you would put in something else if it was you. It's a 4-door with the full size back seat, and automatic transmission. It's 100% stock.

Sorry, got no pics right now, but I'll get some.

Also, it has some body damage to be repaired soon (I hope). Any favorite modifying/customizing suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Well since you got the truck free, and you can't get much at all out of it by selling without a working engine, I'd say you're going to put a bunch of money into it anyway.

Figure dropping another 3.9 into it will cost what, 800-1200 for a junkyard engine of unknown condition, plus another grand or so for labor to install if you don't do it yourself.


If it was me, I'd put the stock motor back in, get the little body work done, and trade it on something else.

If you decide to swap, your resale will tank, and you'll have a lot more money into it. For engine prices I went to Gundies.com and pulled up 2001 Dakota. The 4.7's all ran about $2000 and the 3.9 and 5.9's were all in the $1100-1200 range. Typically they have 50-100k on them.

If you swap the engine, you'll need a new transmission as well. The 4.7 tranny runs 7-800 and the 5.9 tranny runs 11-1200. If it's a 4x4 you may need a different transfer case, not sure if those were power-output specific or not. I don't think they are. Also you'll need to consider the rear axle - v6 should have the 8 1/4 and the v8's have a 9 1/4". That's another $1250 if you need it.

Plus there's going to be a wiring harness difference, ECU difference, and all kinds of labor to get it done. And in the end, you'll be able to sell it for a lot less than the V6 it came with.


So unless you're EXTREMELY attached to this truck, it's better to just fix it and trade it off for something else. All prices are typical junkyard prices, you may be able to source stuff for significantly less.

 

I think preference would depend on what you can afford actually. It will cost a little more to upgrade. You'll have to change out more components like the cpu. I wouldn't mind having the 5.2 or 5.9 in mine, but I get buy with the 3.9. There are mods for all of them depending on what you want to do and of course how big your pocket book is.

 

I would stick with the same engine. If you change the engine you need to change the computer, the tranny, and on some the rear. differential. Not sure on the diff. though. I do know that you need to change a few things to make it right.

Stick with the same engine.....Less of a headache.

 

go with a 408

 

And dropping a 408 in will only run you 8-10k or so.

 

Thanks everybody. Okay, I'll just make all repairs per stock. Forgot to say this is a 2-wheel-drive. One thing that surprised me, when the truck was running, was the crappy gas mileage. Was getting about 13 mpg. But then again, that's with Houston traffic. I know this is a heavy truck, but I thought the six cylinder would have gotten better. A co-worker has a full-size truck with the Hemi, and gets as good mileage as I was getting.