While driving my1998 durango the oil pressure gauge suddenly started to go up and down .with in a minute or two total engine failure I called a mechanic he stated this was a common problem with durangos said it would cost over 3000 to fix I have had this vehicle 1 yr and have replaced brakes AC compressor ball joints and tie rods I can not afford this kind of repairs I am a single mom and recently lost my job.
1998 Dodge Durango engine complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 66, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I purchased a 1998 dodge durango in march of 1998. The car was brand new with 3 miles on it. The car was excellent until about 52,000 miles. 1st repair, water pump. At about 56,000 transmission rebuild. At about 61,000 heater core, and power steering fluid leaking. At 77,000 transmission rebuild again. At about 80,000 miles, steering wheel started to stiffen up and very difficult to turn wheel they told me I needed a new rack and pinion. Durangos do not have rack and pinions, they have gear boxes. At about 94,000 transmission rebuild. At 106,000 trasnmission rebuild and installed a transmission cooler this time around along with an aftermarket transmission gauge which tells me the temp of the trans(price was $125.00 for gauge and wiring). Called dodge was like talking to my dog, they said that it wasn't their problem. I swore to all my friends and relatives that the day I buy another chrysler is the day I eat s**t!!! Dodge cars and trucks suck, their customer service is crap and I had to spend money $$$ out of my own pocket for repairs alone almost $9,500.00, out of which chrysler kept saying its not our problem. You know when its their problem, when they screw with someone who isn't just joe schmoe walking in to buy a car. Someone with a degree in law so that they can royally ge smacked in the face and help all the other unfortunate ones who are stuck with dodge sucks (trucks). Whoever wants to buy a dodge, be prepared for a rude awakening. They are going to rape you!
Engine shut down on 1998 dodge durango.*mrthe vehicle was taken tot he dealer who indicated that in order to check the engine the consumer may incur a $1000 inorder to properly diagnose the problem. He was the told that the problem was likely a blow engine and that a neww one would cost $3000-$4000. The consumer feels that the manufacturer should be responsible for repairing the vehicle.
I purchased a 1998 dodge durango, slt, brand new. Over the last two years we have had the oil pressure gauge drop to zero and twice have replaced the oil sending(?) unit. In july, 2004, while on vacation, the oil pressure drops to zero, it starts knocking and before we can get to an exit it gets loud and dies. We coast into a filling station and the oil is running out on the ground. My husband walks to a u'haul and rents a truck and trailer, goes to a hardware store and buys a come-along to get the durango onto the trailer to tow it home. After doing research on the internet, I find this is a common occurance among the dodge durangos. When we started out for vacation, the durango had 69,000 miles on it. I had to rent a vehicle to tow mine home, buy a new engine, rent a vehicle to get back and forth for the next few weeks and without even being close to finished with this nightmare, I am at the $3,000 mark. I also bought the extended warranty. Any recourse possible?
During a drive oil pressure dropped. I stopped, to check the oil which was fine. 2 days later I completely lost oil pressure after having chnged my oil recently. I owned the vehicle less than 2 months and had to have the oil pump and screen replaced. After reading the web I realized this is a dodge defect that they have know about.
I own a 1998 dodge durango. In the last 2 years I have had to replace the engine and drive shaft, simply because they failed. The SUV has been meticulously cared for; all maintenance schedules have been followed. In addition, the ABS computer/system had to be replaced, and now 15 months later, the ABS light has come on again. I wanted to know if other customers have experienced similar problems with this vehicle. When I called customer service, the only people I have been able to talk to have been the low level employee. They will not, and probably have been instructed not to, forward the call to someone in upper management. They will not give me any information as to whether the problems I have had with this vehicle are common.this has been very frustrating.
Vehicle acquired in july of 2004. All component system failures listed have occurred since that timeframe. Engine overheated due to two (2) freeze plugs that failed between the rear of the engine and the transmission housing. Reverse lights no longer function and cause is still under investigation. Front transaxle assemblies were replaced as were the lower ball joints. Vehicle is currently at a repair facility requiring upper ball joint and tie-rod end replacement.
With 40,000 miles had to install lower ball joints and right side inner tire rod I installed left inner tie rod and upper ball joints when vehicle was apart, also installed mono-max kyb shocks front and rear and install new bf goodrich tires front and rear had 2 different people check and set alignment and can not get vehicle to stop drifting right andhas chopped wear patten on right front wheel has to install new thermostat gasket.
While driving 70 MPH the vehicle's oil pressure dropped to zero and there was a ticking sound coming from the engine. The dealer has informed the consumer that a new engine is needed. The manufacturer is aware of the problem.
I have had several problems with my 98 durango. I am the original owner, and the vehicle has 31,000 miles. The current problem, and the one for which I filed the complaint, deals with the electric windows not unctioning. The left rear window went out last year. Within the past two months, the passenger window went out, and the right rear has begun to operate inconsistently. As for repairs, a local chrysler dealer said they believe the problem are the window regulators. As to cost, I am currently working with chrysler corp.(national customer service center) as to what they will do to fix. My own investigation indicates that this is a common problem on this year durango. Just today chrysler has asked me to have the problem re-diagnosed at the local dealership (at my cost). They will then determine if and what they will do. However, the representative said he felt a total repair compensation for this problem will not happen and suggested I should have taken an extended warranty. I informed him of my research on this problem to little avail. He also said he was the final decision maker for this situation, and in case of my disagreement with his decision, I had no other recourse through chrysler corp. I also have a worsening rear main seal oil leak. The preliminary repair estimate is over $1200. Again, because of the low mileage, I've asked chrysler to assist in the repair cost. They said they would consider, but feel this problem is not their responsibility.
Front brakes (replaced 3x's in one year) keep failing on dodge durango causing uneven tire wear and alignment to shift. I've had to replace the front tires 4 times and the rear tires twice since I bought this vehicle january 2,2000. All tires wear at an angle with several bald spots in different places. I also replaced the water pump and radiator february 2003. Now the air conditioner is not working. The transmission went out a couple of months after I purchased the vehicle. It was still under warranty, but I still had to pay 300.00 out of pocket for whatever reason.
While driving 65 MPH vehicle stalled. Driver restarted the vehicle and drove it to the dealer for analysis. The mechanic could not resolve the problem. *ak vehicle was taken to the dealer for seat release failure, whining noise in reverse, and knocking sounds while accelerating. Mechanic test drove the vehicle and noticed a loose and wobbly steering wheel. He replaced upper ball joint and left upper control arm.
My 1998 dodge durango continues to show problems with steering and front. There are only 57000 miles on this vehicle and the miles have been easy miles, (all on road and easy driving). I've replaced the power steering box, and the lower ball joints plus the front wheel bearing and drum. All of this has cost $550 the first time and $880 the second time. This cost come in addition to replacement a head gasket and rear windows that don't work.
I had to have the ball joints replaced 6 months after I bought the truck. The dealership said that my wheels were getting ready to fall off and the truck was to dangerous to drive. Then the transmission went out in august of 2003. I barely had 50,000 miles on it. The brakes on it are terrible. When it is raining I hydroplane just about ever time I put on the brakes. The anti lock brake system is not working properly. The light is now on. The speedometer is now broken. It stays at zero most of the time but will occasionally jump up and down while driving. The electric door lock makes a horrible sound when it locks. Last but not least whenever I drive on the interstate and go over 60 MPH the engine makes a rattling noise.
Engine failure due to oil pump failure and sludge buildup. First incident happened on 2-11-02 at 65,499 miles. Engine replaced and second incident occurred on july 16, 2003 at 91,749 miles.
Accident, airbags did not deploy, seat belts didn't work proper. Loss of of control from steering problems. Steering problems on wet roads. Transmission problems, doesn't shift proper, no air condition, can not drive with windows down in back, very hard to control. Car is parked because I am afraid to drive it. Been back to dealer with problem after problem.
Returning home from a business trip, the durango started making a loud noise, then quit within seconds of the original noise, with a loud clunk. The "check engine guages" light did not come on prior to the loud noise. I live in the mountains, and fortunately the engine quit next to a vehicle turnout. If the engine failure had occured a few seconds earlier, or a few seconds later, my life would have been in serious danger, and I would have endangered the lives of the people at risk of hitting my stalled vehicle. My mechanic found a used engine and installed it. New installed engine ran quite well for about 300 miles. This time, the failure was forwarned by a "check engine guages" light and bell. Checking the guages, I found nothing out of the ordinary - oil pressure and temp were ok. This happened with the second bell as well. The third bell, and I turned the engine off due to the oil pressure guage falling to zero. Towing the durango to a local mechanic, he advised that we should change the oil pump, but advised me that metal shavings were found in the oil pump screen, and that further damage was probbable. My mechanic told me that I should have the pump changed, and drive it to his shop for inspection - a distance of approximately 35 miles. The durango made it 15 miles before quitting. The catastrophic failure of this engine creates a definite safety hazard. The manufacturer should be allowed to do a recall on this engine. If the manufacturer does not think a recall necessary, the federal safety agency should force a recall. This engine will create serious harm to someone. It is just a matter of time....
Check engine light came on; cracked left cylinder head at 40,000 miles. Dealer repaired under warranty; claims to not know why head cracked. Exactly 40,000 miles later, left cylinder head cracked again. Dealer will not repair; car is 3 months outside of extended warranty. Dealer still can't give reason for cylinder head failure. Other mechanics/dealers believe cylinder heads fail due to faulty casting. *nlm there was a scraping noise when the steering wheel was turned. The service dealer found internal damage in the clockspring and replaced the unit. The consumer requested reimbursement.
Faulty clock spring. $178 to replace/repair. My vehicle apparently not affected by recall of 216,000 vehicles. Clock spring failure results in failure of airbag to deploy. I guess I'm extremely lucky I was not involved in a life-altering accident. *nlm refer to recall # 01v153000. Per invoice, the engine light had come on and there were rattles upon acceleration, the service dealer found #5 cylinder misfire and removed the #5 spark plug and viewed signs of coolant on the spark plug. (recommended removal of the left cylinder head for further inspection/consumer declined) there was also a scraping noise when the vehicle was turned, the clockspring was found faulty due to internal damage, the clockspring unit was replaced.
The fan on my durango came off the water pump and destroyed the fan shroud the radiator, the idler pulley the belt and the water pump shaft. I was traveling about 60 MPH and the fan can off and it cost me $855.31 to fix I was wondering if there was a way to recoup the cost for the repairs to my durango.
Oil pressure dropping....dealer told us that they thought it was the gauge...not to worry. The engine seized up that evening....we were slightly over the mileage on the warranty so was told that it would not be covered.....we had the engine rebuilt and the lines cleaned out (oil was sludge....lots of metal shavings) and when the pressure started dropping (about 10000 miles) again we immediately took it in for service.......again there was lots of sludge and metal shavings......we had the oil pump replaced and the durango functioned for a short time and is now in the shop again with the same problem.......the mechanic feels like it has spun a main bearing and that is the cause for the metal shavings that keep occurring......there is something seriously wrong with the engines in this particular model vehicle....
This trouble mimics dozens and dozens of the same problem I have read about on multiple websites, including this one concerning 1998-99 5.2 v8 dodge durango's. Oil pressure gauge will go to zero. Truck is turned off and oil checked, confirming correct oil level. Upon restarting of truck the pressure returns to normal. When the pressure gauge bottoms out the valves will begin to tap shortly after if the truck is not immediately shut down. This has occurred 4 times within 2 days and has since been taken to my mechanic. Per a conversation with the dealership where I bought the vehicle, they do not wish to get involved as they are not a dodge dealer. I need some sort of assistance; judging by all the other reports on this problem my engine is due to fail and there is nothing I can do about it!!!
Dodge durango sludge engine
While driving down interstate on the way to work, oil pressure goes to 0 and truck stalled. Got truck towed to shop and was informed by shop that the engine had seized up. Engine failure due to oil sludge. This is the first and only problem we have ever had with this truck and now I search the internet and find hundreds of people this has happened to and that the company does not stand behind their engines and doesn't admit there is any problems. Now we have to come up with the $4,000 - $6,000 to get a new engine and still make a truck payment.
First failure oil light kept coming on intermitently took it to dealership they replaced oil pump. No mention of sludge or any build up of material in pan. They said they had seen this happen often at this mileage range. One year later and 4 oil changes the same thing happened only I lost all oil pressure. Was towed to dealership for repair and was told that we should have the gasket replaced between the head and the block because the head was aluminum and the block was steel and over time and heating and cooling the gasket gets extruded and the antifreeze will get into the oil and sludge up the oil causing the failure of the pump. I feel dodge has a problem that they are not telling the consumer.
When co. Rep said the co. Would not compensate due to age and milage even though parts failed far short of normal service life. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Dt
Abs lights came on intermittently for several months then finally stays on all the time. The dealer said that the ABS unit is defective and charged her $750 for replacement. The consumer was rather upset because the vehicle was just outside of warranty.
Engine check light has come on, and from time to time light will stay on when getting vehicle checked out. Spark plugs were melted and , head cylinder was cracked.
While driving on highway heard a loud clanking noise. Then, engine check light iulluminated. Took vehicle to dealer, and they stated that crankshaft had broken. Consumer had a lack of brakes and steering. Took vehicle to dealer again, and they stated that crankshaft should not go out. Please provide any further information.
Consumer notices a banging noise coming from engine. Vehicle was serviced, and technician noticed no cooling. Engine needed to be replaced. *ak metal chips and sludge were found in the motor after the dealer diagnosis. The bearings for cylinder 1 and 5 spun the crank shaft, dealer replaced the pitman and idler arms.
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