The dakota's pinging

From: Eric Huff (mopar@ehuffy.com)
Date: Mon Jul 05 2004 - 19:02:18 EDT


Under warranty, i just had the intake gasket changed (it was using
oil) and "while they were in there" i had them do the spark plugs,
wires, and the pinging tsb.

So, i put regular gas in to check on the pinging and it pings like
crazy. (this is the 3.9L, ~60k miles)

I was on the highway, and kept it from pinging as best i could
(which sometimes meant more gas, sometimes less).

It got a little better over time, so i imagine the pcm corrected
thing a little.

Of course, the plugs are back to stock now, so i suppose i will
switch to a cooler plug. Does everyone agree that the autolites are
better than champion? I put Autolite AP3923 in at 30k, and they
helped a little, but i still couldn't use regular gas. AT that
time, i wasn't using oil, so i don't *think* the gasket was bad...

Now that i look at the TSB, they didn't do it correctly. The wires
did still look too close to me... I'll go fix that, too...

Also, i see that some people put in a 180 deg thermostat. Doesn't
this cause more wear? Or do the 3.9L cylinder walls get a lot
hotter than the water, so a cooler thermostat just brings it back to
"proper."

Thanks for any help on this old topic...

eric

-- 
1974 Valiant 4-door, 318
1999 Dakota Ext Cab, 2WD, 3.9L



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