Re: Lackluster performance (Was: Can't Rev past 3400)

From: andy levy (andy-dml@levyclan.us)
Date: Wed Sep 01 2004 - 20:58:09 EDT


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On 8/31/2004 10:51 PM, Matt Brenneke wrote:

| David talking about not being able to get past 3400rpms reminded me of
| something I've been wanting to comment on for a while now. When I
| first bought my new Dakota (see sig) I was underwhelmed (to say the
| least) in it's acceleration and overall feeling of power, or lack
| there of. I had been driving a '93 Dodge Shadow with a 3.0L
| mitshubishi V6 and 5-speed manual for the last 6 years, and I guess I
| had just grown accustomed to it's driving style. When I pressed the
| gas pedal in that thing, no matter what gear I was in or where the
| rpms were, it responded accordingly. Even at 197,000 miles just before
| I sold it. Of course, it was all spent by 3200rpms or so.

You were used to a car, now you're in a truck. They're completely
different. Just by virtue of being larger, the truck will "feel" slower
than a car. You're also trying to get a lot more mass moving - the
truck *will* be slower anyway. Plus different axle ratios, different
amounts of rotating mass...it's a physics nightmare.

OK, short version - your Shadow was a small car with a large-ish engine
for the size of the car that loves to get up & go in a hurry. Your Dak
is a truck that's more interested in getting large amounts of stuff
moving, at the expense of getting it in motion quickly.

| When I press the gas in my truck, the new 3.7L V6 magnum just sits
| there putting along unless I'm at or above 3000rpm. I find myself
| frequently running up to 4500rpm or higher just so I don't get run off
| the road on interstate onramps. Now that I have 7000 miles on the
| truck in the last 3 months it's gotten a little better, but I can't
| tell if it's the truck improving or me getting used to there being
| nothing there.

Well, the engine is getting a little better as it breaks in. If it's
anything like the 4.7L it's based on, it takes a lot of miles (as many
as 10K) to fully break in.

But look at your torque curve. What gear are you in when you try to
accelerate? Have you tried downshifting? This is an overhead cam
engine, it loves to rev. My 4.7 revs easily and doesn't mind staying
over 3K for a while if I'm accelerating. I too find that if I try to
accelerate *in the wrong gear* I'll just "putter along" - solution is a
quick downshift. For best results, you do need the RPMs to be a little
higher than you might expect - once you get used to it, it's not bad at
all. You aren't going to hurt it.

What rear axle ratio did you get, BTW? The 3.55 is a dog when it comes
to acceleration.

| For those of you looking for a new Dak, I'd suggest getting the V8
| unless you like to a) not go anywhere or b) run your engine at high
| rpms constantly and therefore burn it out well before it's time. I
| know I'll be trading this thing for a v8 when it's worth more than I
| owe.

There are a lot of very happy V6 owners around here, but very few with
the 3.7. The 3.9 is a slightly weaker engine on paper, but its torque
comes on lower in the RPMs, so it behaves a little differently.

| -Matt Brenneke
| '04 CC SXT 3.7L V6 5spd
| http://web.umr.edu/~mbrennek/Truck/

- --
- -andy

http://home.rochester.rr.com/alevy/dakota - andy-dml@levyclan.us
- --------------------------------------------
"Whatever Adam does, do the opposite and you'll be fine"
        -Bob Tom
- --------------------------------------------
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