1999 Dodge Durango: wrong fuel gauge reading

Filed Nov 20, 2011 · 150,879 miles · FL

I was driving down the road, and the vehicle just shutdown. I check my gauges, and noticed that a "no bus" code was showing, and that the fuel tank indicated there was no fuel. Another driver behind me assisted me in pushing the vehicle out of the road, because the vehicle would not restart. After sitting there for 20 -30 minutes, trying to restart the vehicle, it finally started. The fuel gauge showed almost a full tank of fuel and everything seemed to be fine. Before I could make it home, it shutdown on me again. This is an ongoing problem, my vehicle has shutdown on me six more times, and now it is parked in my driveway. I have been very lucky, and I am not going to push my luck by driving this vehicle. I have heard about problems with the new front suspension on this model durango, and yes, I replaced the ball joints on my vehicle which would give me a couple more years before having to replace them again. Is toyota the only auto maker stepping up being responsible for their product? Comon man !!!!!!

Filed Oct 13, 2011 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 173,000 miles · GA

This has happened on numerous occasions. While driving, especially in extremely hot or extremely cool situations, the vehicle engine shuts down unexpectedly. First symptom - check engine light. Second symptom (3 seconds later) - fuel gauge from half full to empty. Third symptom (immediate) - low fuel warning light. Fourth symptom (2 seconds later) - low fuel warning light. Fifth symptom - engine shut down at highway speed. Completely lost vehicle control. No power steering, no power brakes. Muscled car to the side of the road and barely avoided an accident. Could have been easily killed. Problem appears PCM-related, but from what I've read, numerous people have paid $1,000 for a new PCM only to have the same results. This is a serious problem and has been reported thousands of times on the internet. I hope somebody does something with dodge on this before a child is killed when the truck dies at highway speed.

Filed Sep 14, 2010 · Electrical · 143,048 miles · OR

I own a 99 dodge durango, 5.9 liter, the events to the failure were stalling while driving on freeway, at stop, in intersections, without warning. When attempting to restart, dash cluster would not function, read no bus on odometer, and show I had no fuel on gas gauge. Also when it would stall I would lose brakes and power steering, making it hard to get out of the way of traffic or move to the side of the road. The first time it happened I had my wife and 2 infants with me on the freeway doing 65 in the middle lane. Not only unexpected, extremely dangerous. Since then I will not allow my family in this car. Things that were done to correct the issue were fuel pump, cap and rotor, plugs, wires, crank sensor, and PCM. I have receipts for all work and parts. Old PCM not available due to core.

Filed Oct 27, 2009 · Steering · 134,800 miles · CA

Car auto-stopped while conducting driving lesson for my 15-year-old stepdaughter. We were traveling 40mph on a country road at the time. She drifted off the side of the road, said the steering wheel was stuck. I told her to apply the brakes. She said she was and they weren't working either. We went through a stop sign and were very nearly t-boned by cars from both directions. My stepdaughter sensibly did as I instructed and pushed as hard as possible on the brake, managed to stop the car before plunging into the river in front of us. I had been having problems with the car for six months previous to this incident. Two diagnostics reported that the vehicle was auto-stopping but not why this was occurring. A local mechanic suggested it was probably the gas gauge sensor in the fuel pump which made sense to me because everything but the gas gauge worked whenever the car auto-stopped. It would typically restart within 15 minutes or so. I assumed we had solved the problem when the mechanic replaced the fuel pump. I know now that the fuel pump was not the problem although I don't know what is wrong with the car. I have researched this on the internet and found there are hundreds of other people going through the same difficulties with 1999 dodge durangos. My wife, stepdaughter and I were very lucky not to have been seriously injured during the driving lesson. This situation needs to be addressed before someone is hurt (if they haven't been already).

Filed Jul 29, 2007 · Engine · CA

Car stalls. My car stalls while I am driving or at a stop light, just idling. It has stalled on the freeway, which is very dangerous. Before the car stalls the battery voltage sensor and the fuel level indicator goes all the way down. Then the odometer starts blinking and saying "no bus". The autoshops I have been to do not know what "no bus" means. I have to turn the ignition off and on several times before the battery voltage and fuel indicator go back up. It takes anywhere from a couple seconds to 20+ minutes for the car to finally start. Sometimes it won't start. The check engine light comes on, when the car stalls. But once the car starts, the light goes away. I have took the car to several mechanics. They ran diagnostic testing on it. The obd found no problems. My injectors and everything are working fine. Pls help. These is one of several problems w/ these car. Coolant leaks, ball joints always going out. I fixed these problems several times. I am tired of this car.

Filed Jun 20, 2007 · Fuel system · 118,225 miles · CA

Durango was parked at a business lot when my mother tried to start it the gas gauge didn't register, so she called my husband to come and see if he could get the vehicle started. He couldn't get it started after about half and hour of trying so he called a friend to tow it home. I went with them to tow it and tread before we hooked it up to start the durango. The gas gauge registered and the vehicle started. I drove it about three blocks before the vehicle shut down on me in the middle of traffic. It started back up and I drove about half a block before the durango shut off on me again. I was lucky enough to manage to pull over to the side of the road this time, but I was still in the lane the vehicles were driving in with a vehicle that wouldn't start. Once again the gas gauge wouldn't register and vehicle wouldn't start. A police office stopped by to check on me and to inform me that where my vehicle had broken down in a very bad place. We then towed the vehicle home. After ariving home we checked the durango and it started for about 3 min. After whitch it died again, it restarted right after it died but only to shut off wiht in another minute or so. This is the vehicle I use to take my child places, and other children also, I am only glad that my mother had barrowed the car for the day and I wasnt stuck with my son in a vehicle that could have turned in to a death trap had I been on the freeway. We just put on a new startd last week and have had no problems before this, other than the heater not working.

Filed Apr 20, 2005 · Suspension, Visibility · MS

My 1999 dodge durango has had many problems. The ball joints have already been replaced but are still making noise when turning a corner. The electrical panel for the windows has been repaired twice and finally replaced. The back passenger window still will not operate. The fuel gauge is not reading accurately either.

Filed Nov 3, 2004 · Body, Electrical · KY

While driving there was a popping noise. The vehicle was taken to the dealer in which they found that the upper and lower ball joints were completely worn out. *ak the cover under the hood was ripened, the black guard under the front of the vehicle was hanging, the coolant resevoir was leaking, the power steering fluid leaked, the A/C was not cooling due to an open wire from the low push switch, and the fuel gauge did not read properly.

Filed May 22, 2003 · Engine · 58,500 miles · WA

The vehicle dies when coming to a stop, this has happened twice approximately 2 weeks apart. Both times when it happened the gas gauge went to the empty position then after trying to restart after a few minutes the gauge started reading again and the vehicle started and ran fine. We took it to the dealer and all they did was let it sit there and idle to try to verify the complaint. They told us that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle.

Filed Jan 1, 2003 · Engine · 61,109 miles · KY

Check guages light comes on, oil pressure gauge goes to zero then back. Had fuel gauge do the same. Took into dealer and dealer attributed to wires and did a "wiggle"test. Vehicle had no more problem with fuel gauge. Several weeks later the check gauges and the oil gauges did same thing. Took to dealer and they stated it may be oil pump. After removing oil pan, dealer stated to much sludge in pan and had extended warranty send an adjuster to check out. Dealer then took engine apart to find that sludge was through out the engine but no damage to bearings or vital parts. Warranty company "western diversified" declined repair stating that to infrequent oil changes. Warranty stated that even with proof of oil changes that this is an oil breakdown problem and not their problem. Dealer stated now that it was our responsibility and wanted us to pay for a new engine. Consumer refused and fortunately got to trade in vehicle towards purchase of a new one. Only after reviewing the federal safety agency website did we realize that we were in a no win situation and luckily got out from under the vehicle. This is a problem that dodge obviously knows about, I am waiting for this company to do the right thing. We have shown our commitment to the company by buying several vehicles the least they could do is pay us the same respect!!!!!!!!