Dodge Durango Engine and Performance Problems

hunter131

Ok, I got rid of my Durango and the guy that bought it fixed the prob...lol. It turned out to be the crankshaft sensor. Turns out that even though it had been changed there are alot of faulty sensors that are being sold. After over $4000 and over a year later the problem was solved for under $50. It is now running like a brand new truck.

michaeldefillo

I love the internet. My 2002 Durango 4.7L w/auto trans, is doing the same thing right now... only sometimes but the frequency has increased recently. Symptoms: Sometimes, when the vehicle is started it sounds like the motor is racing and it wont shift out of first gear. After a few moment to a minute or two it goes away and all is normal and without symptom. So yesterday the battery died and I replaced it, it started right up and the symptom was present. It appeared to me the mechanical fan was spinning at to high of a rate and very loud and moving an excessive amount of air for low idle and upon engine rev. so, I conclude the fan clutch is bad since it should turn freely when the motor is cold and have only mild resistance when the motor is at operating temperature according to my chiltons manual. After inspection I see mine has resistance when cold... although mild I believe it should turn freely without any resistance whatsoever like a pinwheel in the wind...Not sure if their is a mechanical fan speed sensor or some other sensor that prevents it from shifting out of first gear... but once the fan stops spinning at an excessive rate the vehicle shifts and operates normal. Hmmm. I will replace the fan clutch and comment mare later. Mike

michaeldefillo

Hi Mike here. I ended up troubleshooting the engine cooling system as a whole. I discovered the electric fan was not working, and the engine coolant temperature sensor was below the minimum specification. So I flushed the radiator, replaced the engine coolant temperature sensor, the thermostat and installed a new electric fan. So far the check engine light has not come back on and it is running like a champ. Turns out the mechanical fan clutch was not the problem at all. Hmmm. My reference material was the Chiltons repair manual found at the local auto parts store. Very easy to follow if you have a little bit of mechanical ability. A word of advice if you are working on the cooling system get the fan shrouds out of your way there is two bolts at the top half and the window wash connectors and two bolts at the bottom half. Happy

hagron

Contact your Attorney General's office and file a complaint: the mechanic is not finished until the replacement engine is running.

melcwdurango

Last winter, my 2005 Durango V8 4x4 (no hemi :-( ) with 50K miles came up with a Knock Sensor error code. I purchased the sensor, but didn't have the money to have it installed. The truck ran fine, with the error code coming on and off occasionally, but no trouble with the performance.

But this year, since the temperature has dropped to 20 degrees, I now have both knock sensors tripping my check engine light at the same time. This happened all the sudden and my truck will not run right at all!! It looses power, feels like the engine is seriously misfiring. I seriously doubt that both sensors are fowled up at the same time with little or no warning and causing problems like this.

What else could be wrong? I don't have the money to waste changing knock sensors when that isn't the problem. I read in another post that it could be my distributor instead....... Help please!!!! Thanks!!! :confuse:

advocate6

When attempting to put my car in gear the engine surged. The car was out of control. I could not stop it with my breaks nor could I steer properly. I collided with a parked car in a private parking lot. No injuries.
Has anyone else experienced something similar?

akcamai

Yes... I have experienced something like that... I had just gotten my Durango SUV out of the shop for its 90,000 checkup ($800 ouch) and drove it two miles. It surged and I managed to get it out of traffic, into parking lot and impaled it onto a snowberm and a tree. I was freaked out. I had it towed and it turns out that the dealership had oops dropped a plastic spark plug wrapper into the throttle cable housing. Check to see if you have something blocking your throttle cable. Scary but I got lucky. However, now every tube, pipe and gasket down on the bottom of the engine needs to be replace because they are all leaking... I'm up to $750 in bills from these replacements and the dealership says that its is not liable. have you ever had a transmission coolant line crack and leak?

jadedangel29f

Hi,
I have a 2000 Dodge Durango 5.2 Engine.. I haven't had any real trouble until now. My check engine light keeps coming on and I took it to advanced auto and they told me that 4 of my 8 cylinders were coming back as something wrong with the electrical wiring ? Has anyone else had this problem ? The cylinder's don't have wiring in it... Could it be the computer ? Is this an easy fix or should I just sell it and get a new car ?

gixerryder

I have a 2000 4.7 Durango that runs very bad.
I had a tune up done and replaced injectors. After$1500 it still runs very rough and engine light is on. Also the same codes come up ie: injector malfunction and multi misfires. now I am told it might be ecu/pcm. I hate to invest another $500 on a might be. Any ideas? thanks in advance.

jadedangel29f

Like I said, I haven't had any problems really with it until now... I took it to advanced Auto and they said that 4 of the 8 cylinders were kicking back some kind of electrical problem.... I'm lost because there's no actual wiring in the cylinders.....I'm just wondering how much it would cost to fix ? And what are the long term effects ? I'm on a fixed income so it would take me some time to save up the money to get it fixed.. If I don't get it done right away could this blow my motor ?

gixerryder

Sorry for last reply. I am new here and wanted answers to my problems.
I also took my Durango to advance and go the error codes, I then went to Goodyear and they did a tuneup. After that didn't work they said it was the injectors. Another $1100 and that didn't work. I then took it to Americas garage and spent $700 on test to be told it might be the pcm/ecu. Yes I did hve the multi cyl misfire as you do. Saying all this, I to am in a very bad place. I did a title pawn to pay for this and it still doesn't work and now I can't without my car.

jadedangel29f

How much did you have to pay to get the cylinder's fixed ? I am just wondering... I have to call garages tomorrow....

gixerryder

I paid $250 for tune up and injector cleaning.
Then it was $1100 to have all injectors replaced. The car still runs like crap.
I just ordered an pcm/ecu today for$250. I pray this works. I should have it by Wed. I will post if it works out.

jadedangel29f

I called a Dodge dealership today and they told me they could run a diagnostic on it for 32.50 ... He said that since the Check Engine light is not coming on all the time, that's probably something minor... My truck is still running great, it's just skipping a little....The C/E light comes on periodically.. It's only come on 2 times in the past 2 months and that's when the problem started..... The "skipping" happens even if the C/E light is not on...Ours runs great except for this 1 issue... Occasionally... What is a pcm/ecu ? LOL....

gixerryder

The ecm/pcu is the computer for the car. Wow Dodge is gonna do it for $32.50 wish I was around that dealer. They want $200 to install the pcm/ecu. it only has 3 plugs and 3 screws holding it. I took it off in less than five min. Diagnostic started at $90. Good luck with it and let us know what it turns out to be.

jadedangel29f

I live in a very small town.... Not much around here... It's so small there's only 1 gas station... LOL

durangomom

have a 2005 dodge durango. For the past 3-4 oil changes my knock sensor continues to come on and you could smell oil burning as well at each oil change which was done every 3000 miles my oil would be almost empty and my truck would start to knock. Secondly now my battery keeps dying but the knock sensor does not come on anymore. I have takin my vehicle to auto zone advanced auto parts as well as 2 mechanics. I had a tune up done and had it put on the diagnostic machine. auto zone & adv auto parts said my battery, alternator, & starter were reading fine but i was loosing almost 4 volts somewhere. the mechanic said nothing was wrong at all i had no oil leaks and cld not figure out why sensor was going off.

durangomom

I am having the same problem with my 2005 dodge durango as well it wont hold the charge to the battery they say its pulling 4 volts from somewhere so its draining my battery. Im going to try to get it to the dealer for a $110 diagnostic. Wonder how thats going to turn out.

leb712

2000 Durango 4x4. Recently, my check engine light came on and my truck started to run a little rough. When the light is on, I let Off the gas and it acts like it will die for about 10 seconds then dies. When I Accelerate, the truck almost dies then the RPMs jump up. It starts up fine and usually this Problem only arises after about 10-20 minutes of driving. It has never died while driving only when I let off the gas and come to a stop. One time i got so frustrated with the constant problem on my way from work, i smashed down the accelerator and took off really fast and it actually made the light go off and it ran fine the rest of the way home. It acts like it's not getting fuel or running out of gas even though I have a full tank. The code is P0108 but the mechanic thinks it's a crankshaft sensor but my symptoms don't exactly fit. Any ideas?

burdawg

Have a look at this: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0108
This will at least explain the code your getting.

lalleyne6847

My 2000 Dodge Durango 4x4 V8 just stopped the other day. Took it to shop and they said the engined locked up because it was 3 quarts low, but there was oil in the engine so how did it lock up? I dont think this is the problem I dont think the engine locked up because my truck sounds like it wants to start. We have replaced the battery and its cables, put oil in it, put a new fuse in it that was blown next we are goin to see if it is the starter that needs to be replaced and we took the alternator out and had that checked and that was fine.
Now i have come to a fork in the road..could it be something else wrong with it...i am trying to find a sight that will show me how to take my starter out so i can replace it.

jadedangel29f

What issues are you currently having ? When your driving it does it act like it wants to stall out ?

ajs211

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone else has this problem. My Durango has been running rough on and off for a couple years now. I have to keep replacing the wires. Once I do runs good for a month or two and then back to running badly and the check engine lite comes on. I have repaced caps plugs and all that and also some sensors too.

jadedangel29f

What exactly is it doing? I may be able to tell you what it is....

lalleyne6847

well it sounds like it wants to start or turn over, it was low on oil had to put 3 or 4 quarts in to get it up, but starter was checked and there was nothing wrong with that. IDK if it is a wirer or sensor or what it does have some milage on it.

ashke

I have a 2000 Dodge Durango 5.9 L Magnum. About two weeks ago it started running really rough during acceleration and cruising speed. I have replaced the Air Filter and checked all the spark plug Wires, I have replaced a fouled plug after getting a code reading from Advanced auto parts. It said #7 was misfiring. it fouled out again the next day. I am at a loss as to what it could be. If anyone has had this issue or knows what it could be please help. I cannot afford to take it to a shop unless absolutely needed. Thank you.

floter

the mechanic found 3 broken bolts on the right side passenger manifolold. it fixed like 75% of the noise but still doing it every morning . what else I can check. it seems like this issue is world wide.

Thanks

madmejia

I found that the durango's do not like any sparkplug but Champions. i had the same issue. brand new sparkplugs then 3 days later, 2 blown. Also, make sure that you put that gunct on the sparkplugs that help not shorting out. it seems that they have an issue with that too.

madmejia

Its a known issue. Mines been doing that as long as I have own it. get use to it.

joshw224101

Hi there, it sounds like you blew the motor. most of those v8 durangos are 5qts of oil. if you were that low the heat builds very quickly even on a cold day. this heat can cause the pistons to swell and get pinched at the top of the cylinder. I had this happen to a suburban when Firestone left a drain plug loose.
Do not start throwing money at it ( replacing the o2 sensors, starter, battery, distributor/ coils ect ect..) If it is what it sounds like you either pre seized the engine, bent a piston rod or intake/exhaust valve.

there is a small chance it will start up again after sitting a few days. do not drive it like this as it will cause unrepairable damage to the engine.

At this point I would take it to a good ASE mechanic shop and ask them to see if they can turn the motor by hand and if it needs a new engine or if it is possible to rebuild the stock one.