Afternoon all!

Well our Subaru winter driver finally gave up the ghost. Rear frame rotted out, seized up brakes.... Very sad day when we sold it for parts this morning..

At any rate, we've been trying to find a larger 4x4 truck and everything is a rot box here in upstate NY. Anything within our budget? Either the frame is compromised, the cab is junk...(think Flintstones) or both.

Ran across a 2005 Dakota with the V8 Magnum. It was a fleet vehicle with a fire dept. just north of Albany. For a 2005 it's not to bad underneath. Floor pans are clean, frame is so-so with a light coating of 'crust' but still solid. All in all? If the mechanicals where all 100%? I'd have no issues with using this as a tow truck! It has 2 rust areas that are not severe yet. The mini door on the drivers side has rot at the bottom (common for our area) and the right rear fender needs a patch. Rest of it? Pretty clean. Even has a super nice cap on the truck bed!!

Of course people lie... First thing they tell you when looking at a used car/truck. This was no exception. Last owner gave me the run down:

Needs a windshield. (won't pass a NYSI)
Miss-Fire they couldn't figure out. According to him? They fired the parts cannon and didn't get far.
Transmission has only 70k on it, the truck itself has just north of 194k on the V8.
Claims he replaced the spark plugs and coils. (thinking maybe the plugs...coils? mehh.... maybe??)
He purchased a set of new injectors for it, but didn't install all of them. Looks like he did 2 of the 8.

Now I spent about an hour crawling around on the ground/mud and didn't see that much wrong with the under carriage. So we pulled the trigger and purchased it. I did pull codes first...set a record! 21 codes!! And right off the bat I could tell? Most where self-induced while they where trying to figure out the miss fire.

Okay, I know this is getting long. We brought it back to our work area and the next day I dropped 5 gallons of fresh fuel into it along with injector cleaner. She did NOT want to start! Thankfully the new battery is strong. It finally kicked over!! And then the fun started with the transfer case. It did finally go into 4x4 mode, we had to drive it up a slight hill that is covered in wet leaves and mud. When it was almost into it's parking spot- It was running a bit rough, and the oil pressure light started to flicker a bit. Ughhhhh...

Wednesday we spent some time evaluating everything. And a lot of baloney was exposed. Tires? Rear tires worn (would pass inspection.) Front tires that looked great? Date code of 2005!! Wow!! No way they are staying on the truck!

Front brakes @ 50% and the rotors might cleanup. Lots of surface rust and minor pitting.
Rear brakes? about 30% left of the shoes (I only checked 1 side...the drum was frozen in place on the axle hub) And did I mention the brake pedal was a bit 'mushy'? Yep...You might have guessed. Leaky wheel cylinder.

And the final injustice!! (Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment) Zero Heat in the cab!! and the engine temp was about 1/4 higher then I would expect on the gauge! ... Insert doom music... Wife checks the radiator. It's very low on coolant. I break out the pressure tester! And we find the radiator is loaded with stop leak, and it didn't 'stop the leak'... We're hopeful that all it needs is a radiator. But my gut feeling is the heater core is likely plugged solid with stop leak.

Last item on the hit parade? This things a hard starter! I checked the oil pressure with my scan tool this morning. I didn't run it for to long due to the coolant issue/radiator leak. The one tool stated 47.5 PSI at all times. Didn't fluctuate at all. I let it warm up slightly...idle dropped in closed loop.... Zero oil pressure change with the reading.... I shut it off and change scan tools.. Now it won't start again!! Just fast cranks! It finally started up after I did a 'clear flood' on it. (couldn't smell any gas? But when I floored it, she started right up).

I think the fact the exterior looks decent did in fact cloud my judgement. However we've done project cars/trucks in the past and came out on top. Yeah tires and a windshield will stink to replace. But that was expected for the most part. Radiator replacement? Got to figure out which one is used in this application. Most likely the heavy duty one as it was a 'fleet' vehicle with a fire dept. Would they interchange with the standard one? Not sure yet.

So that's where this sits. And the kick in the pants came from our own DMV!! Usually the process time for a title is about 2-3 weeks. The lady didn't say a word as I paid the fee(s) and taxes. At the end she stated "Okay, all set.. Just so you're aware? NYS is running extremely behind with title processing. It will be about 8-10 weeks before you will receive your title. I asked "Sense this in already in process, Can I register it once we finish the repairs....Or do we need to wait that long for the title..." The answer didn't sit well. "Nope, you need the title and that will take 8-10 weeks... You could have registered it right now with insurance and been all set! But sense you requested only a title transfer? You'll have to wait." If we did that route? We'd be given a 10 day temp inspection and all the repairs will take probably 3-4 weeks. I had that allotted already. So now we just got hosed by the DMV!

Yippie!!

I'll post induvial questions in the correct forum. We've got a handful of issues to work through as it stands, codes to go through.. It might simplify things if I post a single issue per thread. Or should I dump all the questions onto one very long thread? Let me know what would work best. I'd hate to have a moderator start merging topics.

All best Regards!! And I'll see if I can get some photos so everyone can see my "pain"..... *8-10 weeks?? Good Lord.....

S-

 

Gotta love the government. Or not.....

What engine is in it? Is that the 4.7?

 

I really need to get a signature file going LOL

It's the 4.7 Magnum (zooooom) engine.

I'm planning on skipping our normal journey to the local swap meet tomorrow (sunday) and we will hopefully get an oil pressure tester on it, and a fuel line pressure test on it as well. Due to it getting wicked cold up here, I'll spring for a sacrificial jug of coolant so we can run it a bit and not worry about doing potentially more damage.

I like the little bugger! But I do wish people would be more forthcoming with information. Provided the engine isn't roached, we'll proceed.

Thanks! Have a good evening!

S-

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the forum.

My suggestion is a different thread for each issue. Do some searching here. You might find that someone already had the same problem.

 

Hope you got it cheap. Thats a lot of problems to tackle.

 

The 4.7 v8 is not a magnum and it is known for having several issues.

 

The 4.7 IS a Magnum. Mine said so right on the air hat. Obviously not the same as a 5.2/5.9 Magnum, but Dodge still called the 4.7 a Magnum, as well as the 3.7 V6.

 

The 4.7 is a Power Tech.

 

Yes, but they still called it a "next generation" Magnum. Blame Dodge for the confusion.