Frank Ball wrote:
Lot's of transmission stories from Dodge owners. Should I be worried?
Frank, People always tell you there bad experiencies they've had, who wants
to hear the good? My personal experience, I purchased a 1987 DAKOTA LE new in
1986, it has lot's of goodies including a Dodge A-998 3 speed auto
transmission. I am the only owner this truck has ever had, The pan has never
been off the tranny,let alone changing the sump. The truck now has over
225,500 miles on it. I have to add a total of about a pint of fluid each each
year to replace what seeps out the pan gasket, the gasket has hardened with
age and heat and the pan bolts are as tight as I dare get them.
No car maker makes perfect vehicles and nobody can predict the life of a
tranny but there are some things you can do to get the maximum service out of
it. Do not overfill, ever. Much better to run a little low than a little high
and if you have to add fluid periodically better find out where it's going. Do
look at the fluid color often for darkening, the fluid should be bright red,
also smell the fluid at the times that you look at it, if it smells burnt even
if bright red or if dark take it to a dealer or tranny shop right away and
have the sump & filter changed. The shop will probably tell you if you have
other problems. Weather or not you have permanent problems is again
unpredictable, but at least you will know you have done the right thing, A
normal automatic transmission from any car maker should last at least 100,000
miles, if not abused.
Jack Collins........Older than old.
87 DAKOTA LE with 225,000+ miles 98 DAKOTA SLT CC with 2,000+miles
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:08:09 EDT