I am new on here and ask this question because my 02 Dakota has been a nightmare since I bought it. I am no stranger to Dodge. My first was a 96 Dakota Sport 3.9ltr 5 speed and ended up being fantastic and so much fun. Drove it 251,000 miles before the frame rotted out due to the NY salt dropped in the winter. It suffered rollbacks, clutch drops, dukes of hazzard jumps, etc and just refused to die. Honestly I miss that truck terribly and it owes me nothing. During its life I purchased an 04 Neon SRT4 for summer use which was also fantastic. It was faster than a Porsche Carerra, Mustang GT, 350Z etc. It was also very reliable and memorable.
This all being said "what went wrong with this truck?". I bought it in PA (Clean shape) with 100,000 miles on it. It has a 4.7, 5 speed manual, intake, and exhaust. I love how it sounds feels and for the most part performs. The power is exactly what I would expect from dodge and it will outperform its ford and chevy rivals by a long shot. I have owned it for 6 months now and it has given me many issues. Ball joints, tierods, brakes, heater core and now its in the shop for refusing to start sometimes. When it does start I smell antifreeze (one of the gaskets probably), the temp gauge shoots all over, engine misfire on #3, and extremely poor fuel mileage (220miles to tank).
I want to say that im angry but the truth is I am sad that this unreliability would come from my beloved Dodge. This is a family of vehicles I grew up with (Dad had a Power Wagon 440, Ram Charger 360, and a Dakota 318) and always supported. During my 96 Dakotas life my friend had 5 different Ford pickups die and get replaced.......5! This will not be the last dodge I will own but any info, help, comments, stories, or ideas are appreciated. Glad to be on here.

 

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of good info here and very knowledgeable people here in the tech sections. I have the 4.7 in my Durango and I love it! In my own personal opinion, I think its the better of the engines. Not the fastest or strongest or even available upgrades, but the most reliable and long lasting. Again, my own opinion. Its tuned out of the factory pretty well, and doesn't take much to keep up. I'm pushing 150,000 miles and have only a hand pull of problems such as a O2 sensor and evap leak. For being almost 10 years old, I don't think that is too bad at all. Welcome and don't forget to fill out your vehicle info and photos.

 

Before you start blaming Dodge as a whole, remember you bought a vehicle with 100,000 miles on it, and have no idea how it was treated during that time period. Good luck in the future

 

Im not blaming dodge as a whole. They make most of the most exciting best performing blue collar vehicles on the road. i will forever own Mopars. Im just sad the 4.7 turned out to be like this. Sould of bought an older one with a 318. Still having reliability issues with the 4.7 by the way.

 

The 4.7 is pretty stout EXCEPT it doesn't rebound from an over-heat well at all. Even comparatively mild over-heats can cause issue (not only with this, but most aluminum head engines).

Problem with buying a vehicle with 100k miles on the ticker is that you never know just how well the original owner took care of it.

From the symptoms, I'd suspect a head gasket issue - or possibly even warped heads. A leak-down test would confirm this...

 

Did a leak test and the head gasket is fine but water pump gasket was shot. It seems to be running good now. Cost me $1500 for the motor work, ball joints, shocks, complete tune up/fluid change, and a new computer. Im hoping from now on if I take care of her she will take care of me. Quick question tho - What can I do to get more power out of this thing? I currently have an intake system and a cat back exhaust. I know the stock 4.7 had around 240hp and 300fpt. With my SRT4 an intake and tune got me 40hp at the wheels but im expecting not so much flexibility with the 4.7 as these are completely different motors. thanks for the chat guys.