My 89 Dakota 4x4 LE 3.9l auto now has 197,000 miles on it. The truck still runs
great burns/uses no oil between changes (3k intervals), is tight with no
rattles, has no rust, the black paint is still in great shape as well as the
cranberry interior. A good friend of mine purchased this truck new and I bought
it from him last year. With the exception of tranny noises starting at 60k miles
and repaired at 90k miles under warranty (after much arguing by my friend) there
has not been any other significant issues with the truck. The vacumn switch on
the transfer case that disconnects the front axle when not in 4wd tends to stick
and has been replaced several times (it stuck this past winter but corrected
itself after a couple of weeks).
Current repairs planned or needed are;
. the right front half shaft was just replaced with a remanufactured item
because the outer CV was worn and making noises. I cleaned, repacked and
installed a new boot on the left side (it will need replacing in the future).
. the exhaust is due for replacement and will get a Y-pipe back 2.5" hi-flow
system. This can be done for close to the same price as a stock system.
. the right side axle seal is leaking enough to coat the bottom of the engine
and undercarraige. I have the new seal but have not taken the time to pull the
stub axle and have the bearing pressed off so the seal can be replaced.
. The aluminum wheels are looking pretty bad. I will strip the remainder of the
clear coat and refinish or will replace with after market chromed steel wheels.
. One or both front brake rotors have some runout causing brake pedal pulsation.
There appears to be enough metal left to turn them one more time but just have
not taken time to do it. I did the rear brakes a couple of weeks ago. I still
have an annoying resonance from the rear brakes under the right pedal pressure.
Since the 3.9 is a 5.2 with two cylinders loped off I see no reason not to
expect the engine to last well past 200,000 with proper maintainance. I just
recently retired a Daytona 2.2 turbo with 240,000 miles (the engine/turbo were
still running great but son had beaten the rest of the car into the gound) and
my old D100 /6 had 268,000 miles when the bed rotted off the truck.
Dave Clement
89 4x4
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