This is for I believe all dakota 2nd gen owners even with the 4.7, 3.9 and 3.7 but this is about my 5.2 (almost identical to the 5.9 so you will want this info RT owners). Excure any grammar and spelling as I am 17 and typing this on a iPod touch from my friends house while he looks for his wallet.

Well about a month ago here in Idaho we started getting below freezing nightly, one day I noticed the belt squealing as I warmed it up in the morning. Dealer told me my idler pulley, belt, and belt tensioner were going out. I checked it out, belt definitely needs replacing its cracked bad but i put it off. Tensioner and idler are fine to my eyes so I decided to wait till xmas break to do a more extensive search for "The sound".

The sound got progressively louder and to me sounded like it is possibly slipping on the A/C compressor clutch when engaging(like squeal, squeal, SQUEAL SQUEAL, squeal) which made me think even more that it was a bad tensioner and belt.

Well coming home from meeting a girl for lunch friday,
my truck started to squeal more, I thought it was the A/C compressor clutch locking up. About a block from my house I hit the gas a little harder than normal to get up the hill i heard what sounded like a pin tap the skid plate(stereo and a/c off as to listen to squealing) then steam was spontaneously coming out the engine bay. I immediately pulled over, not turning the truck off and popped the hood to see my ORIGINAL water pump spraying coolant over everything including my new cone air filter.

The leak I could tell was getting worse by the second so I ran back into the truck gunned it up the hill and parked my truck nose out on my driveway so I did not get coolant on the cement. I did not overheat anytime and lost approximately 2 gallons of coolant.

Not sure about any other engines but on the old 5.x Magnum v8's the water pump is only removable if you remove the fan and clutch first with the fan shroud. NO one has the right tool for the job except the dealer that wants $450 for a repair that in total cost me $100 including the case of beer for my friends helping me.

As for replacing the water pump you need. A big 40mm wrench (the longer the better), The water pump ($49 reman, $89 new), Some High temp silicone sealant, and something to keep the pulley on the pump still while removing the fan assembly. I had to use a Rubber belted grip similar to what is used to open jars but had a belt as big as the truck

Just some help on the hard part, you should be able to do the rest yourself trust me, of not search for other forum threads.

Tighten down the grip and send a friend in with gloves and tell him to hold while you break the rust on the 40mm nut. (I should note my truck had normal threads while some have reported reverse) Do not totally remove the fan yet. Remove all screws from the fan shroud then remove the fan and shroud at the same time. After that you have total access to the water pump. Remove bolts, remove hose clamps, take off hoses, then remove pump, scrape off old gasket and sealant.

Get new pump and spread new sealant over areas where gasket contacts the pump. Do not put sealant on the engine block side you will regret it. Bolt back up, attach hoses, tighten clamps, then reinstall fan and shroud. Do the same to get the fan on as you did off. Fill coolant, run engine at idle, and top off, let sit overnight, top off again then you are good to go.

Notice: I am one of few to get this mileage out of a waterpump, most such as my brother and his ram with the 318 have a average of 60k and as little as 20k.


99 Dodge Dakota, 5.2 Magnum, Auto, 145,XXX miles Ext cab, short bed. Previous owner internal mods unknown till summer 2012. 16" rims on 29" tall tires. 14mpg city when driving nice and 20ish highway.

 

My truck belt goes squeak squeak; ROFL.. Replaced Idler; Tensioner and finally the belt; squeak went away.. now it has a little at start up again untill the blet warms up. But it has a new water pump so IDK

 

17 and buying beer huh.... haha...

 

Oh we all know no matter how old you were you were underage and had at least 1 beer haha. I've heard of my own father being 13 and drinking beer lol. As for me im not 21 so I dont touch any kind of beer .


Mine does for about 5-10 sec when its real cold out.

My water pump went at 83k I was gonna do mine but I was in a time crunch and had a local mechanic replace mine for 180 total!!

 

Mine squeals for about 5-10 seconds as well when I first start it in the morning, but only if it has been raining or really cold out. It used to be worse, then we replaced the idler and tensioner pulley.

 

that wasn't a big problem to me. i was expecting spun bearings or something. just normal wear and tear

 

Yeah but I've already replaced idler; tens., belt.. it never did this before i started trying to swap the tens. pully.. it got worse worse worse untill it wouldn't stop; put the new parts on and new belt stops for a few days then boom;.. its starting again..but only a few seconds untill the belt warms up i guess. but then again; this is not a dd it sits in the garage most of the time.

 

I replaced mine and helped my dad replace his and we did it without buying the special tool. I just took two short bolts and stuck them in the holes of the water pump pulley and used a big pry bar to hold it in place and a large crescent wrench.

 

I just gave them the money and drove them to the store. That was their payment for helping me. They didnt share.

 

Yup, it has to do with the bearing in the water pump, it drags bad when its about to go out. Also when the fan clutch engages it adds a ton of strain on the bearing and will eventually cause the pully to start slipping the belt whenever the fan is engaged. Another way to tell is if you water pump or other pulleys are shiny and not new then the bearing is dragging its *** like a fat lady holding a fake twinkie trailer hitch.