I want a DODGE Dakota I want to know what the most reliable engine is for it and if it is worth buying one or and they just junk
Clarification: Which generation?
2 gen
I have a 1990 with a 4 x 8 bed and regular cab. I gave 1500 for it years ago and used it as a daily driver for over two years. It has a V-6, which is basically the same as the V-8 except chopped off in the front. When I got it, the AC was dead and the pollution controls were all disabled.
I went through and replaced the water pump, Put on a timing chain kit, replaced all rubber belt and cooling hoses, put on a starter, alternator, new battery, tires, flushed the engine coolant, Changed the transmission fluid and filter, yada yada. It has remained a good running truck. About the third year I had it, a storm blew a tree down on it. Crushed the crap out of the bed, dented up the cab, etc. A friend came over with his chainsaw and we got the tree off. It started right up and has been driving and running fine. I still use it to haul wood and for various things you need a truck for living out in the country. It’s a real head turner, driving around with the smashed up body. The frame is still good, and it still starts right up and runs. I think there is over 190,000 miles on it currently.
I discovered Scotty Kilmer videos along about the time I got the truck. I emailed Scotty back in the day about changing the transmission fluid. He told me not to do it. I did it anyway. It worked out.
I heard from the car wizard that the 2 gen is good but I all here that they are good and that they suck I want a small truck like the Dakota and I love dodge
The older the better. A family friend had a '93 V8 4x4 Dakota and he had it 17 years. It still ran and drove well when he got rid of it. Not sure what the mileage was, but that thing was pretty well dented in a few places and still ran. The oil pump acted up on a surface street and he got it replaced. He got rid of it for a slightly used 2005 V6 4x4 back in 2007. That one blew the transmission at 102k.
Then you will want to find a "creamer" Dakota..........one that shows all signs of being babied and cared for. Otherwise after about 100k they go in the crapper
they’re actually very bad trucks?
They are not bulletproof super tough trucks like a Tacoma, but I have been happy with mine, having maintained it and driven it conservatively. A 1990, It served me well as a daily driver for a couple years, and now As a light duty occasional work truck. I’d say I’ve gotten my $1500 worth and then some.
Yah you can get a Toyota for as cheap as the Dakota
I have a first gen square body Dakota with 332,000 on the 3.9 v6, with the 5 speed and 4x4 they run forever if you fix the main power wire under the fuse box, it goes from one to 3 wires and is red with a white stripe, and that will solve the random misfires, idling issues, dyeing or stalling, and such, this truck has been in my family almost 20 years now, I am the 3 owner and it went from my dad, to my brother, to me, and I hope to see it last even longer, if you take care of them and maintain them, those dakota pickups should be decent
As others have said, the older the better.
My uncle worked delivering mail in the urban areas, lots of stop and go, getting up to speed and then stopping. He would buy Chevy S-10s in the 80s and every year he would tear the transmission out and get a new one. He switched to a Dakota and it lasted two years on the mail route, then he gave it to his son, which drove it like crazy, and it lasted a good long while. That was in the early 90's, I would say about 93. Not bad little trucks back then.
Of course, then he switched to a toyota truck and couldn't wear it out.
