Intro - '99 Durango SLT 318 Auto PT 4WD

From: Michael/Suzanne Farich (farichms@westol.com)
Date: Wed Jan 01 2003 - 22:14:01 EST


I recently bought a '99 Durango SLT 318 automatic with part time 4WD for my
wife. It is to replace a '79 Jimmy that she wrecked. She was fortunate and
only ruined the Jimmy but did not get any more than cuts and bruises for
herself. Long story...

I'm still trapped in the 70's myself, but I gave her the option to either
have the '79 repaired, or to pick out a late model she'd like better, and
she has opted to cease her dependance upon my turnin bolts on antiques for
her. (I know, dooohhh, give a girl a choice like that and how hard is it to
guess what she'll pick!) A week and a half later I got a phone call that
she had put a deposit on the subject '99 Durango so I went to check it out
that weekend for her, agreed that it would be a nice vehicle for her and
bought it for her. I'm going to be a good boy and not do anything to the
Durango but regular maintenance for the forseeable future. I'm not used to
makin payments and that alone will scare me out of modifying anything for a
while. But, I can sense the old desires within myself - is the transfer
case used in the 318 models suitable for a 360, or larger small block,
should that opportunity arise, if that transfer case ever quit, could I
replace it with the full time transfer case to make this Durango full-time
like the '79 Jimmy was, ... You know how it goes, once you get that stuff
in your blood and start living that way, it's hard to keep your tools off of
your stuff. You're always plannin and schemin about how it could be made to
accelerate harder, ... if any of the original components ever needed
serviced and higher torque producing counterparts could be used to
repair/replace them ... Problem for a late model owner who is, in his
heart, still caught in the 70's, is that he doesn't have any familiarity
with the late model hardware - except to start with the trusty old 318. By
'99 I'm sure even it is not the same exact animal I remember from my '70's
stuff though. So, I'll probably lurk for a while at least to just start
learning from the rest of you about what is inside these late model,
mid-sized, Mopar 4x4's - just in case some years down the road I actually do
put my tools to it for more than just regular maintenance.

One regular maintenance item comes to mind already. The dealer I bought it
from certified this Durango for 8/80k powertrain warranty. The service
manager reviewed with me part of their procedures. I told them I asked
cause I normally go through hoses, belts, fluids, filters, ... on fresh
acquisitions just because I have no history information on these items. the
service procedure for the transmission on this one was to fix a leaking pan
gasket. They said normally they wouldn't even pull the pan or change the
filter - that they reverse flush it through the cooler lines instead. The
benefit is said to be that they can then get more of the old fluid removed
before refilling with new fluid, plus they install seal conditioner with the
new fluid. The seal conditioner sounded like a good idea to me, but I
wondered - if the reverse flush cleans the filter, but there is no pan
evacuation to pick the dirt out of the pan, when the trans is refilled and
the engine started again, any dirt flushed from the filter would go right
back into the filter, wouldn't it? I appreciated the time the service
manager took to tell me what all he did, so I did not want to pick an
argument so I didn't ask. After all, I told him I just wanted to know what
was done recently to the vehicle so I would know what to plan on doing
myself sooner vs later, and he was providing that information. There was no
need for me to debate proper service procedures so I did not. Any of you
ever hear of this procedure? Is there something I did not get in the
explanation of the trans flush operation that overcomes the problem of dirt
falling into pan during reverse flush then going right back into filter on
refill and restart? I'm tempted to wait a few months to let the seal
conditioner do its job then drop the pan and change the filter myself just
to make sure!

Mike Farich (in SW PA)
farichms@westol.com



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