2004 Dodge Durango: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Sep 5, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 130,000 miles · TN

Cowl under windshield does not divert water from engine bay. Water pools on engine, getting into the coil-over-plugs (cop) and intake(gasket) causing hesitation stalling and engine failure after being exposed to water. Rain, car wash, using the windshield washer. Chrysler has made 7 different versions of the cowl to address the issue but has never issued an official recall. Those who do not have the latest version of the cowl (part# 55362453ak) have to pay for the part and have it installed or risk having engine failure while driving down the road in the rain. Part that should be included in recall 55362453ak "cowl" this is a known issue reported by "durango" owners that is all over the internet

Filed Nov 4, 2014 · Engine · 96,000 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 dodge durango. While driving during inclement weather, the vehicle hesitated to drive on multiple occasions without warning. Also, the vehicle failed to start occasionally. The contact was a mechanic and diagnosed that water seeped into the motor and caused the motor to fail. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 96,000.

Filed Apr 15, 2014 · Body, Engine · 90,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 dodge durango. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and would not start. The contact shifted into neutral and was able to restart the vehicle. The failure was recurring and on some occasions, the vehicle would not restart until after several attempts. Additionally, the vehicle would hesitate to engage when the brakes were applied. The exterior body and the undercarriage exhibited extensive rust. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where it was diagnosed that a rod had penetrated and damaged the engine, which would need replacing. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90000.

Filed Apr 10, 2014 · Engine · 120,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 dodge durango. The contact stated while attempting to pull out of a lane to pass another vehicle, there was a loud knocking noise. The contact had to reduce speed and coast the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop who diagnosed that the pistons and rods had broken resulting in damaging the block which would require the engine to be replaced. The vehicle was to be repaired. In inclement weather, during heavy rain there had been intermediate hesitation and sputtering in the engine without warning at random. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120000. Updated 6/10/14

Filed Jun 1, 2013 · Engine · 236,988 miles · GA

After doing extensive research on the issues associated with my vehicle, I am disgusted to find out how common they are on this make/model/year. Being a parent of four children, two sets of twins, who are of toddler and school age, I have always been compelled to maintain my durango. Not to mention because it had alot of miles, I factored into my budget high-mileage maintenance as scheduled. Several times my durango has stalled or hesitated to start during the rain. The problem could never be pin pointed, but reading what I researched I now understand the issue involved my cowl panel. Moving on to the most major of my added stress...I just had an oil change completed 2-3 wks ago. I was picking my 2yr olds up from daycare on friday. I proceeded to the stop light which was less than 200 feet away when I heard this loud banging/knocking noise out of nowhere!! I was horrified so I pulled over and shut my car off. I noticed that there was a trail of oil on the ground coming from underneath. I then called my husband to explain what had just occurred, a family member for an alternate ride, and a towing company. After having the shop that performed the oil change take a look at it, I was told that I would need a new engine because there was now a hole in my engine from a rod being thrown. I was emotionally distraught for this to happen me out of the blue. Not only because I am not sitting on thousands of dollars to spend on a new engine, but because this happened on an extremely well-maintained vehicle...how?? I am now having to pay for a rental every week. I truly believe something should be done to correct such a common issue with these make/model/year vehicles. If more than one person has the exact same problem than there is something wrong with the manufacture, not the drivers. I feel that these engines should be replaced at the expense of the dealer/manufacture.

Filed May 8, 2013 · Engine · IA

I was driving the vehicle on an interstate during a pretty heavy thunderstorm. I noticed that the vehicle was starting to hesitate and lose power. As I started to slow the vehicle down to pull over the engine quit at about 50 MPH. Thankfully I was on a straight part of the road and without power I was able to guide the vehicle to the shoulder of the road with out an incident. After waiting out the storm to pass on the side of the interstate, with traffic flying by, I was able to get the vehicle restarted after some hesitation and drive it home. During the night the vehicle sat in the driveway while we had some pretty good rainfall in the area. The next morning I went and attempted to start the vehicle to go to work. The engine turned over, it started, followed by a grinding noise and then the motor quit and hasn't started since. After having the vehicle looked over we have found that two of the cylinders had quite a bit of water in them which had appeared to hydro lock the engine. Dodge needs to be held responsible for this issue and stop pushing the blame and cost off on to the vehicle owners. This is a huge design flaw and safety issue.

Filed Apr 29, 2013 · Engine · 124,000 miles · MD

My 2004 dodge durango was garage kept for the first 8 years of its life. We recently moved it to be parked outside and it began to have trouble starting. It was diagnosed as hydrolocking, but they could not reproduce it at my repair shop. After sitting outside again, starting caused a thrown rod ruining the engine and block. It requires a new engine. I have found out that my neighbor had the same thing happen. His vehicle would hesitate when going through car washes, then one day threw a rod when starting. Many other instances seem to be similar in online posts. Please investigate this flaw in the 2004 dodge durango vehicles. This is a financially devastating situation for families.

Filed Sep 27, 2012 · Engine · 88,000 miles · RI

I was driving in the pouring rain and all of a sudden my durango started skipping and had a hesitation when giving the gas then stalled suddenly. Had to pump gas to restart and continued stalling as soon as it restarted. Per shop, 2004-2005 have defective cowl on windshield with huge gap. Water is just pouring onto motor causing misfire. This is a known issue and dodge refuses to recall. I have contacted my local dodge dealer who has ordered the part however part has been back ordered for over a month. This is a very dangerous situation. Not only is the vehicle stalling suddenly but once it stalls I lose my power steering and barely make it to the side of the road. Since this started, I still feel a hesitation/skip in the motor when driving in dry condition. Something needs to be done here. Why isn't dodge being held responsible for these dangerous issues?

Filed Jan 15, 2012 · NJ

I have been on several site and people who own dodge durango are have the same problem. I had the car diagnosed they said it was the o2 sensor and the durango has 4 so I had them replaced. The problem stopped for about 2 months then started again said its missing because I need a tune up got the tune up still doing it. Then its still bucking shutting off while your driving hesitating when you back up and pull off. So I had it diagnosed again said the coil need to be replaced. Replaced that check engine line still on still bucking shutting off when when your driving hesitating when you back up and pull off. Had it diagnosed again said its the PCM but it can mask itself as the map sensor, tps, crank or cam positioning sensor. Dodge knows this is a ongoing problem and refuses to do anything about because of there shotty workmanship no matter how many times you replace it you still end up have the same problem down the line and its very expensive. Its not right that dodge or shall we same damien chrysler want rememdy the problem. The crazy thing is the wiring harness is affected to and the parts alone for that is 1180 PCM 400 and thats used and you have to get it rebuilt which causing a problem because it can still be defective.

Filed Nov 26, 2010 · Engine · 123,000 miles · PA

2004 dodge durango with 5.7 hemi engine was purchased in 2007. In july and august of 2010 I experienced several occasions of stalling and hesitation, many times while traveling at highway speeds of 65 miles per hour as well as 30 miles per hour in local traffic. Vehicle has stalled with no power in traffic. Several times this has occurred during raining and sunny conditions. Various times check engine light has come on and vehicle was taken to dealership for service and keep for days. Chrysler dealership charged for sensor replacements and complete tune-up of plugs wires, adjustments, etc. This all happened in the summer of 2010. The vehicle had been allow to sit in our driveway for several weeks to cut down on driving it due to the performance issues and trips to the dealership. On november 25, 2010, thanksgiving day, I when out to start the vehicle and a loud thumping noise came from the engine without any previous warning of this type of problem. My neighbor told me that it sounds like a blown piston or rod in the engine. I have then found many similar incidents and complaints on the website describing this same dangerous and defective vehicle and engine as mine. Someone will be seriously injured or killed if chrysler is not forced to replace or repair these defective engines. If this were toyota, you would have no problem taking action against the manufacturer. You must do the same thing against chrysler who has given the public a bad and defective product with an extremely high cost to repair and should not be shifted to the consumer while the company is provided the ability and protection to ignore their responsibility. Please do your job as the american public depends on you for justice and recompense on products that are inferior and unsafe. Please take action for recall and replacement and/or repair of all 2004 and later 5.7 hemi engines right away. There are more than sufficient cases and reports as I found out that I am not alone.

Filed Sep 27, 2010 · Electrical, Engine · 38,000 miles · TN

Purchased new 2004 durango limited 5.7 hemi: after 3 1/2 years and the warranty expiration, when driving in city traffic or highway and it starts raining the engine starts to hesitate violently, to the point it will stop. This occurs if the SUV is parked in the rain and the engine is started. I have to wait for a few minutes then the engine will start, but have another heart attack as I drive down the road.. I have had fuse panel, engine wiring, ECM checked and no one can find any problems? The engine recently started missing and my scanner showed p0308 : I removed the spark plug, checked the coil,wiring,injector,spark plug ..all ok and erased the code: the engine has about 79,000 miles on it and is properly maintained and garaged at night.. A stalling engine in inclement weather is a very very dangerous thing that dodge/chrysler seems to be ignoring..the fact is evident that there are hundreds of dodge customers with the same dangerous problem I feel we should not be partners to dodge/chrysler's defective dangerous vehicles and intervention by our federal government based on the number of complaints should be implemented immediately.

Filed Feb 14, 2010 · Electrical · 135,000 miles · IN

While driving 2004 dodge durango hemi, hesitates, has died a couple of times. Can't steer when dies. I have been reading about dodge durangos. There has been thousands and thousands of these complaints and nothing has been done about it. This is a very dangerous situation, especially when you can't control the vehicle when it dies, while driving. We have not done anything to correct the situation, because no code comes up to tell us what is wrong.