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13 Posts
Good morning class. My 98 3.9 dakota sport 2wd has a few issues to get sorted out. Starting with the engine temperature. The gauge never goes but a hair over 130 degrees. When I have hooked up scan tool, the real time events shows about 144 degrees running. After 30 minutes of driving I can stick a finger in the radiator and its just warm....I would imagine that should be scolding hot?
I tried flushing and back flushing the heater core, and that made no difference. I believe because the coolant just doesn't get hot.
I have no engine codes.
My other problem is a slight engine idling surge and I think it is idling high too;(1200rpm) I replaced the iac valve and throttle position sensor. When I removed the iac it was covered in so much gunk, I decided to take the throttle body off and clean it also. After all that it idles at 1000rpm now and still surges a little.
Also gets terrible fuel economy 12.5mpg.
I'm getting ready to replace the thermostat with a 195 I picked up from the dealer. The Haynes manual seems to think its something else because I have no check engine light codes. It has a new fan clutch, most likely a different junkyard radiator, different engine, possibly transmission too.
The truck has been nothing but a can of worms after another. Ive read all over the Internet about no heat problems with possible solutions, but I haven't found one that quite fits the bill.
I'm thinking the bad fuel economy may be because the engine never really warms up right. Maybe that could also be my no heat problem? I've seen several places that a new thermostat has been tried and still did not fix anything. Well, I have one so ill give it a try. Far as the engine surging, I think the only things left are the map sensor and air temperature sensor.
I tried flushing and back flushing the heater core, and that made no difference. I believe because the coolant just doesn't get hot.
I have no engine codes.
My other problem is a slight engine idling surge and I think it is idling high too;(1200rpm) I replaced the iac valve and throttle position sensor. When I removed the iac it was covered in so much gunk, I decided to take the throttle body off and clean it also. After all that it idles at 1000rpm now and still surges a little.
Also gets terrible fuel economy 12.5mpg.
I'm getting ready to replace the thermostat with a 195 I picked up from the dealer. The Haynes manual seems to think its something else because I have no check engine light codes. It has a new fan clutch, most likely a different junkyard radiator, different engine, possibly transmission too.
The truck has been nothing but a can of worms after another. Ive read all over the Internet about no heat problems with possible solutions, but I haven't found one that quite fits the bill.
I'm thinking the bad fuel economy may be because the engine never really warms up right. Maybe that could also be my no heat problem? I've seen several places that a new thermostat has been tried and still did not fix anything. Well, I have one so ill give it a try. Far as the engine surging, I think the only things left are the map sensor and air temperature sensor.
