I seriously have no idea where they get most of ths schmucks. Mine had a rought idle yesterday. sitting at 800 and then dipping to 300 and back to 800. A few times. It's only got 2,507 miles on it. Already changed the plugs to the 3923's. It runs fine, however. It's just a bit frustrating.

 

Well guys,,,,,Dodge has given up on my idle problem, which has gotten worse since they started working on it. Last month the "regional tech advisor" came down, ran all the computor test again, broke out the holy water, slung some around and announced that it was "RUNNING AS DESIGNED", and left.
He did promise that if they came up with a fix that they would let me know,,,WOW! Great,,Thanks Guys. And the sevice manager told me that if I wanted to trade it in that I would get the full trade in value because all the dealers knew about the problem,,well, duh,,,What problem? It's "RUNNING AS DESIGNED".
Now I'm really confused,,I guess they designed it to idle with a miss to keepthe driverawake at the stop lights.
So I called Dodge customer service for the fourth timeand instantly got shot over to an English speaking guy, the Indian dude didn't want to talk to me , after reviewing my case he started repeating,"RUNNING AS DESIGNED" -- "RUNNING AS DESIGNED".
So now there's a sign on the side of my Dakota letting everybody know it's "RUNNING AS DESIGNED".
After 38 years ofbeing a loyalChrysler patron,,,,,,, I've bought my last one.

 

I completely agree! Get another Dak up next to it and show them the comparison. Obviously, the test should speak for itself. Di-dee di!

 

4000lbs isn't exactly a small truck. A small truck would be an s10 or a ranger not a dakota. What a bunch of bafoons. Its like they are hiring people from Ford dealerships or something.

 

Here's the latest on my dakota's idle problem,,,,,can't do the lemon law, waited too long for that one,,have talked to 2 lawyers about sueing Dodge & the dealer (lol), can't do that because of the arbitration agreement on the back of the sales agreement I signed. Arbitration means Iwouldhave toput up 10% of the truck value, turn it back over to them but continue to make payments and then it might take a year to settle, also have to hire a lawyer. After the dealer saw the sign I have on the truck they wanted to trade with me, they offered me $4000 less than trade-in on it ,,,,why?,,,because it had an idle miss and theywouldn't keep it on their lot, they would send it to auction and takewhat they could get.I'mnot willing to take another screwing so Istill have it and apparently will for another 7 years,,,financial constraints. Have to buy the wife a handicap equiptedvan and they start out at $40,000. I'd post a picture but can't figure out how,,any advice.

 

NGK Iridiums are worth about as much as a pound of hog **** to me.

 

My 4.7 HO idles rough too. Not horrible, but annoying. 38,000 miles. New plugs (stock not Autolites, that's next), two rounds of fuel system cleaner, TPS manifold cleaner. All did nothing. On top of that, the truck surges on acceleration. But everything checks out fine. Add that to all of my suspension, andaxle problems. If never had a vehicle with so many problems. My friends Toyota Tundra idles and rides as smooth as silk.....with well over 100K, and no unscheduled maintainance. You figure it out.

 

Sorry about the delayed response,,been trying for the last 2 weeks.

(written 7/17/08)
The NGK plugs didn't swing the idle problem either way,,,these were the first Iridiums I've used,,we'll see how they do,,,,,I've always had good luck with NGKs.

mprohr,,,,I'm afraid your Dak, according to Dodge, is "OPERATING AS DESIGNED",,just like mine. I know you, like me, didn't pay what you did for a truck that runs like crap from a company that appears to give less than that.

I found out that '02, '05 & 06 Daks are on Consumer Reports "Autos to Avoid" list,,mine's an '05. There wasn't any Toyotas on the list, so a Tundra with 100k running better than a Dak with 38k isn't hard to fight out.

Don't get the idea that this is sour grapes, I've owned Dodges for 36 years and have two now.

(Written 8/5/08)
Well, the new Dodge manager called me Friday (8/1) wanting me to bring the Dak in. He wanted to trade me out of it,,told him I couldn't afford that. Said all I wanted was it fixed, so he gave me a Chrysler 300 to drive and put the Dak back in the shop,,,the shop manager probably crapped his pants when he saw it. Here we go again.