Hello. I apologize in advance for a long post. It’s been a rough couple of months with my Durango.

The day after Christmas my Durango overheated. We replaced the thermostat and refilled and bled the coolant but it was still overheating. We replaced the water pump and after that it refused to start for a while. I honestly don’t know if we ever figured out why it wouldn’t start. We just tried a gazillion things and it finally started. We were able to determine the continued overheating was due to an air bubble previous bleeding hadn’t let out. During the process of figuring out what was wrong with the overheating we discovered cyl 3 had low compression. We replaced the spark plugs even though we had just done so in Aug and a few sensors etc etc. a lot of things we read said it could be a blown head gasket. However we are pretty sure that’s not it as the exhaust is fine and the oil was fine.

we were about to go on vacation so we left it as it was. It was driving fine other than a ticking sound we attributed to the cylinder. There was no misfiring or codes or anything.

Last week all of the sudden instead of telling me to change the oil soon (last changed in late October) it was saying oil change required. My husband was busy so I put it off for a few days. During that time we had extreme cold temperatures. We kept the car in the garage during that time. After a while it finally warmed back up and we ended up moving some things into the garage to work on so we left the Durango outside. Temps were above zero even overnight now. Fuel was at 1/4 tank. 2 days after I noticed the oil change required light I had to get up early and take my girls in to a dentist appointment. Almost immediately I felt something different. The engine was jumpy when I tried to accelerate. Nothing too bad at this point so I just took note and tried to make it to the appointment. About halfway there (7 miles or so) it had become pretty bad. It was only when accelerating between 35-55ish or idling. If I was going 60-65 I didn’t feel it.

I have my daughter google it and one of the first things that popped up was water/ice in the fuel lines and I remembered in winter you shouldn’t let it get down to 1/4 tank and especially with it being the first time in weeks that it had not been garage kept I though that might be the issue. So I drive to the gas station. Put in a bottle of Heet and filled the tank up.

I drive to the dentist and by this time an engine code had popped up. After the dentist I run to the store that is next door. All the time hoping the issue would go away. We get in line to get a coffee drink and by this time I’m noticing the jumping is getting worse. As we wait for the coffee I’m googling and I remember that on another vehicle I had had that the engine jumped really bad when it was low on oil. So I drive close by to an auto parts store and buy 2 quarts of oil and put them in. Those 2 quarts put me at the safe level of oil I’m so it was low and had been pretty dark. And for some reason I totally forget asking them to check the code since I have a code reader at home.

I start to drive home hoping it’ll go away. But it seems yet to continue to get worse and worse. It drives fine between 10-15mpg but as soon as I accelerate higher the jumping starts and it’s so bad I’m scared to accelerate past that. I get on to the freeway and slowly work my way up to 45mph. As I get closer and closer to home I can’t keep that speed up without it jumping badly and by the time I get him I can’t go more than about 37mph. I pull the code. I’m pretty positive it said misfire in cyl 6 but I could be wrong which cyl.

I call in an order for oil and oil filter and new spark plugs for my husband to pick up on his way home. The tech who’s helping me over the phone is asking me a question I’m not familiar with about the filter so I ask him to check what we’ve previously purchased. He starts looking and puts me on hold a minute. When he comes back he tells me that the last time I called in for oil that the guy sold me the wrong oil and sold me 5w-30 instead of 5-w20. 🤦🏼‍♀️ so I don’t know if this plays into the issues but the 2 quarts I put in were 5w20 because that’s what my Durango takes.

My son started to change the oil for my but the bolt stripped so I had to get a new one. Then we also find out they gave us the wrong spark plugs. So finally today (this all happened Friday) we get the oil changed and spark plugs in and unfortunately the jumping is still there. My husband checks the codes and gets cycl 3 misfire (the one with low compresssion) and I clear it and check again and again it’s cyl 3 misfire code coming in without the check engine light on yet. the ticking went away either when I put in the oil or the oil was replaced I can’t remember which but there is no longer a ticking sound when running. Just the jumping and acceleration issue.

I’ve been researching all night and we’re learning towards a piston ring replacement and are being told it’s best to just find a new/used engine to drop in.

However the acceleration issue has me puzzled. I don’t really see that mentioned with piston issues. My engine doesn’t “rev” up high in order to accelerate normally. It’s almost just doesn’t want to accelerate at all. Rpm’s are normal and not jumpy. If I had to say it was anything I’d say it feels kind of like a clogged cat. But no code is coming up and I had codes galore when I had a clogged cat in my old Kia.

anyone have any advice of anything to try before we eventually take it in to a professional for proper diagnosis? It’s probably going to sit for a while because funds are tight right now.