Hey everyone,
It's been a while since I have written. But I have had a string of bad luck with my Dakota. Last month I noticed a rattle noise in my transfer case. It started to get louder, and with myself working a lot I didnt have time to diagnose the situation. I took it to a reputable tranny shop. They told me that there was no fluid in the transfer case and then showed me a crack in the bottom of the case where the fluid must have leaked out. I don't do heavy four wheelin just on occasion romps. I had 83,000 miles at this point in time. So they put in a re-manufactured one from Mopar. And I was on the road again.
In two weeks, my fuel pump went out. I was getting on a highway and kicked it down a little, to get in with traffic. I felt it hesitate a little bit. My low gas light was on and I thought maybe just low fuel. So I pulled into the next gas station to fill up. When I got done, I got back in to start it back up. It wouldn't fire. I poured some gas in the throttle-body and it started up and burned off the gas I dumped in there. I tried a few more times and eventually had it towed home. The easiest way to remove the pump, I thought, was to take the bed off, rather than drain and drop the gas tank. It went like clock-work. I had to wait a day for the $182 fuel pump to arrive and then I had it installed in 15 minutes, then another half hour for the bed. (It took three of us to remove and replace the bed.) She was back on the road again.
And now on the way home tonight, I got stuck in a traffic jam. When I came to a slow halt, the truck downshifted to first with one hell of a jolt. I first thought I had been rear-ended. I looked in my mirror and no-one was behind me yet. I got to my exit off the highway and was sitting at a traffic light. When I went to go, it was slipping bad. I made it to the shoulder and turned it off. I sat for about 5 minutes and started it back up. I put it in gear and made it to a safe place to park. I went back at night with tools and a flashlight. I found the tranny fluid level low. I also found leakage around the tranny pan and at the rear of the tranny where the transfer case bolts to it. I have never seen any drops of fluid in my driveway since my transfer case was rebuilt, but I see fluid all over the tranny pan.
What do you guys think?
It hasnt been 30 days since I got my truck back from the tranny shop that did my transfer case. My receipt shows a charge for 5 qts of tranny fluid. My shop manual doesn't say anything about the need to drain the tranny to change out a transfer case. Do you think they just didnt get a good seal on those two areas? (tranny pan and transfer case)
I would love input from everyone. The truck now has 85,000 miles.
By the way look for some pictures to show up on the site of my Dakota. I emailed them in the other day.
Tad
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