2000 Dodge Dakota Engine cooling Problems

“My wife was driving home from work in my 2000 Dodge Dakota pickup truck. She heard a knocking noise and the engine locked up. Fortunately she was able to coast to a stop (she of course lost all power assist to the steering and brakes). The dealership denied my extended warranty claim so I purchased a rebuilt engine block and I am in the process of having it installed. There was excessive sludge buildup in the manifold and a piston rod had broken.”

“I've had my oil changed at the dealer the day I got it..and for the next few times, I changed mine twice and have one of the reciepts...but it still covers the duration of the two according to the owners manual. My 4.7l equipped Dakota blew up....I purchased a warranty for over $1k at purchase, but they will not honor it now because they say its lack of maintenance...how I dont know!!! Now they expect me to pay for a new motor....what a load of crap!!”

“The 2000 4 wd Dodge Dakota with the 4.7 engine that we own and bought new (last time...) had an oil pump failure at 60k miles. The dealer had the vehicle for a week to repair the problem citing sludge build up and lack of maintenance as the reason for the failure and the reason for the longer than quoted repair time. Originally the quote was for 6-8 hours plus the cost of the pump which also came in higher than quoted, we ended up paying more than twice the quoted hours for the replacement of the pump. …”

“Bolts broke on exhaust manifold shield and shield fell between steering shaft and motor, causing steering to jam in straight ahead position on highway. Could not pull over to breakdown lane to avoid other traffic. Bolts broke from heat stress I imagine, not too good a thing to happen on a highway but would have been worst in city if I could not steer away from pedistrians. Just cheap undersized bolts that break. Checked the other side and found one broke there too. Bolts are too small to hold the manifolds in place after they wear with age.”

“There has been a failure of the oil pump in my 2000 Dodge Dakota sle with the 3.8 liter engine.... 60k miles, out of warranty...!! 60000 miles !! The dealer service dept claims that it was due to sludge build up of the pick up tube of the oil pump. I changed the oil often and use a good quality synthetic oil... No way sludge could be built up due to the oil. I have seen other instances of this engine having been known to make sludge on the internet... Great...!! In a related matter, I had the oil filler tube replaced about two years ago as it was sludge up... …”