i own a 06 dakota ex. cab 3.7 6 spd. i am a true mopar lover,but this truck is so under powered,also hate the trans,noisy,and hyd. clutch is also bad. i have owned 4 other dodge trucks,including a hemi 4x4,they were all great.
traded ahemi 4x4 for this dakota cause didnt need 4wd where i moved to,and also the gas was killing me,thats a big jump backwards.
empty bed ac on 95 degrees outside have to wind every gear to at least 3,000 rpm,to pick up any speed to get on high way,just seems under powered,and i am beating the hell out of it to get going fast enough to merge whith traffic.
anyone else think there 3.7 is under powered?
also had it back to the dealer 5 times for rough idle,the good old answer,{we cant do anything unless the check engine light comes on}
i put a claim in whith chrysler corp. about idle quality{shakes}
im done could write for hours about this. thank ya'll

 

Couldn't you tell it was underpowered when you test drove it before you bought it?

 

That's just it I felt the same when I bought my R/T I was dam this thing needs to wake up it's a v8 for dam sake, added some Modds and a great tune and I'm more then happy now, it may just be your used to the bigger motor and a v6 really is a killer for a truck especially ours

 

The autolite 3923's should smooth out the idle in the engine. It may not cure it completly, but going a range cooler should help the engine run smoother.

 

"I coulda had a V8!"... facepalm.jpg

 

I used to drive a gen 2 Dak with 2.5l with 5spd. Was no tach so i cant say how high i got the rpms but i would jump on the thru way with all of my stuff for college a whole truck bed and interior and it wasn't that rough getting up to speed. Could it be a bad coil pack causing the shake?

 

No offense but if it's so underpowered why did you buy it? You did test drive it right?

 

shot i love my 3.7, as a daily driver its great. and i offroad, and haul, ice fish and all sorts of stuff. I have no complaints!!! the v8 could come in handy sure, or you could have bought a sports car.

 

The 3.7 is under powered, but the deal I got on mine I could not pass it up.. I work for Chrysler and where always lagging behind in HP on our 6 cylinders motors compared to everyone else.. Thats why I did the electric fan and added the plugs the guys posted above, I seen 16.2 mpg on the computer today.. My computer is right on because I manually checked it and I run over size tires on mine, I hate to say it but it is what it is you know, your lucky you did not drive the old slant 6 because you would think the 3.7 is a beast LoL.. Cya Slick

 

i bought my dak in sep 06 new,just figured i would get use to it, but after 4 years and 54,000 miles it still lacks power.
i put flowmaster 40 dumped,home made air intake,3923 plugs,plugs did help idle a small amount.
it is odd because the only time it amazes me is in the morn when it is cool here like 72 in summer. it has a lot of power like v8,but soon as it is about 85 or more it looses all power,with ac on even worse like 3 cyl.