Looking for vehicle advice

[AirportFF]

Well the old Tracker may have finally met its end. With a 151000 miles and a bad front bearing seal that can't be changed, I'm in the market for a new (used) vehicle.

I like the look of the Dodge Dakota quad cabs. I need something that my kids can fit in, but I can still haul shit around in.

Anyone have one or has anyone heard anything (good or bad) about them?

[Wild Coyote]

Both my father in law and brother in law have Dodge Ram extended cabs, other dodge trucks before that, and they always have transmission problems, so check into that. They do haul around a lot of heavy steel product in them, and drive in shitty Chicago traffic, which may add to the problem. That's all the info I have on Dodge trucks. Hope that helps.

[RAZOR]

what are the symptoms of the the tracker,what year is it????

[AirportFF]

The Tracker is a write off......I put it in the shop last week for the bearing seal and timing belt and also a new fuel filter. The thing ran fine (for a 1.6 litre) just leaked oil out of the seal. So I figure while he had it apart throw on a new timing belt too.

Here's the list of shit that went wrong from that point.

The fuel filter was installed backwards.

When they put it together, they didn't tighten the upper rad hose clamp. (antifreeze everywhere)

They couldn't get the center bolt out of the crank to remove the harmonic balancer so they couldn't do the seal. But in their efforts to remove the bolt, they fucked up the bottom accessory pulley. That in turn wore a hole through the plastic timing cover.

Somehow it jumped time, I think he didn't adjust the tensioner right, and with the timing off, the oil leak, and it leaning out because of the filter raised the exhaust temp high enough to ignite the oil on the cat converter when I stopped. Didn't do any real damage, luckily a friend happened by at the same time and we put out the fire with Gatoraide. (hey, it's all we had) But the damage had been done by that point. We dragged it back to the firehouse later that day, and it starts but when you even move the throttle, it dies out, no power at all.

This added with the fact that it'll need a new radiator soon. And the brand fucking new O2 sensor is now shit cuz of the lean condition, and the oil seal is still shot. It's just not worth the effort.

If I had the time I would have done it myself. The guy in charge of the shop is a great mech. But he let the other guy work on it. He refunded all my money ($300) for the work. But given the amount of things that were fucked up, I've been considering small claims court to recoup at least the value of the vehicle.

[TinyUFB]

I've heard good stuff on it. They claim to have to have the biggest inside room of all the mid size trucks and even some of the large ones. The only thing I have heard as far as trans goes is that once it hits past 100,000 start thinking about trading it in - but they say that about all Dodge vehicles.

Tiny

[RAZOR]

YEP your pretty much bent over on that one, it really wasnt even worth the money to do what you got done on it at first---that was good that you got your
money back.are u looking for like a good suv or a car or a small size truck??
i wouldnt rec dodge,ESP the cars and mid size suv/trucks,basically a throw away
vehicle once they start messing up.the only way i would go with dodge is
with the diesel.but even those have their problems.

[navillustoo]

Clint,
Don't forget about the ball joint problem Dodge had with their mid-sized trucks. I don't know if that's been corrected or not, but that's enough to make me look elsewhere! Like has been stated, the transmissions are a real problem. Can you spell FORD? Don't have a Ford truck myself, but when I replace my Chevy van, I'll be looking at Ford and Japanese trucks.

Brian

[RAZOR]

Clint,
Don't forget about the ball joint problem Dodge had with their mid-sized trucks. I don't know if that's been corrected or not, but that's enough to make me look elsewhere! Like has been stated, the transmissions are a real problem. Can you spell FORD? Don't have a Ford truck myself, but when I replace my Chevy van, I'll be looking at Ford and Japanese trucks.

Brian

you cant beat TOYOTA,funny for me to say that working with GENERAL MOTORS
for almost 8-years,but there really is not a difference between GM vehicles
and TOYOTA vehicles,TOYOTA is built to last long and for some reason they do
not have as much electrical nor mechanical problems compaired to GM vehicles.
from all i could tell mostly the smaller TOYOTA trucks run longer cuz they
have an ISUZU motor in them,just with toyota labels,to make u think its a TOYOTA.

[Mr.Sinister]

My Ford leaks oil and the tranny slips . Both of them , the truck and the car . It is like owning 2 Harlys .

[RAZOR]

My Ford leaks oil and the tranny slips . Both of them , the truck and the car . It is like owning 2 Harlys .
i cant knock fords i had an 85 ford f150 with a 351 winsor engine .it got through
high school,grad in 98 and my mother had it up until last year sold it.and as far
as she told me she still sees it running around town.when i gave it to my mother
the thing had well over 300,000 mile on the original engine.the only major
problems i had with it was an tranny o/h and a used rear end put in it.
-(the tranny and rear end was my fault cuz, well u know in highschool girls
beer,drugs,girls,and more girls.plus driving offroad,like a maniac :jamming:

[AirportFF]

Clint,
Don't forget about the ball joint problem Dodge had with their mid-sized trucks. I don't know if that's been corrected or not, but that's enough to make me look elsewhere! Like has been stated, the transmissions are a real problem. Can you spell FORD? Don't have a Ford truck myself, but when I replace my Chevy van, I'll be looking at Ford and Japanese trucks.

Brian

I read the TSB om that. The dealerships are still correcting them as they come across them. That would be one of the first things I checked on.

[Galager]

Subaru Forester.

[RAZOR]

u know what u and susan would look good in.
A MINI COOPER.!!!!BWAHAHAH
:luxhello: