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Buying a 2004 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  RobertsonTech 
#1 ·
I was so not expecting this but we just found a 2004 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab with a 4.7 V8, no rust, repainted, and has a lot of new parts like an alternator, belt 4 wheel alignment, inner and outer tie rods, front upper and lower ball joints, new tires, all for $3700. The guy selling it is a body tech so he has pics of the process of him fixing it up. The only issue is the speedo doesn’t work but I think it has 4wd. It also has 190k miles but runs and drives great. Is there anything I should know about that gen Dakota if anyone knows anything and do you think it’s a good buy? It’s a truck for my dad. The owner also removed the cat and replaced it with a pipe. He left the rest of the exhaust alone so it has a little rasp to it.
 
#2 ·
Sorry that I don't have any personal experience with the 4.7 to offer.
It does seem to be a bit of a different animal, though -- OHC & coil over plug & probably other things. I have read that it is "twitchy about being overheated".
I have read a ton of gen 2 posts related to suspected PCM failures . . . quite often the OP never comes back to the thread to confirm whether it was, in fact, a bad PCM or not. I know that my own ('03 RT) DAK PCM took a crap around 68k.
I'd probably recommend going to the 4.7 forum & reading posts to see if there is a recurring theme to the issues that owners encounter.
Here is another site, similar to this one, that is only for Dakota owners, & you might also find some good 4.7 insight here:

Lastly I would say that although engines are a lot better & last a lot longer than they used to, 190k is still quite a few miles.
 
#3 ·
. . . also, if an operational speedo is important to you & your dad, I think you should ask him what's wrong with it?
I mean, if he is a mechanic & he hasn't figured it out . . . .

If it comes down to you deciding that you really want to go ahead & buy this Dak, maybe tell the seller to fix the speedo (if he tells you it's something simple & easy) & you will pay for the parts at the time of sale (providing the speedo is working then).

I dunno . . . just something to think about . . . .
 
#4 ·
. . . also, noting that the seller replaced the cat with a piece of straight pipe, I am assuming that you don't have emisions inspection in your state? If so, the act of removing the cat would fail it on emissions. I am not sure what has to be done to the O2 sensors when you do a cat-delete, but you might want to check that it was done correctly.
 
#5 ·
I have some history on the 4.7, it seams to be prone to head gaskets when overheated and oil sludge causing main bearings to fail.
On mine before I bought it,
Motor was replaced then it overheated, both heads were pulled and milled.
A year later the left head gasket failed again not overheated.
On 4wheel drives the front drive shaft has a CV joint replaced with custom shaft.
A tic, I found rub marks on the Crank position sensor. Solved one tic other is there unresolved.
Loss of oil pressure the gauge drops to zero driving, then pops back not normal idle problem.
Loss of power form plugged cats.
This was a friends I was working on. I bought it as is needed paint and I'm giving up on this 4.7 and will rebuild a 5,7
If the 4.7 was well maintained and you keep it up that will be a good buy, I paid 3500 for a project truck that needs paint and motor and I'm happy I did.

William
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