Faults:
At 38,000 and barely over the 3/36,000 warranty the battery goes bad ($65.00)
At 40,000 miles the right tie rod went bad. ($300.00)
Then at 44,000 the other side went bad.
($300.00)
At 48,000 I noticed 2 shocks were leaking so I replaced all 4 shocks. ($175.00)
At 51,000 the check engine light comes on and upon investigation of the situation, I am 4 quarts low of oil. I immediately go in and replace the oil, and in another 500 miles I am 3 quarts low once again. There is no blowing of smoke and no oil leaking on my garage floor to indicate a leak. I take the Durango to the dealer where I tell them what is going on. They tell me, " Oh, you have the 5.9litre engine, this is a common problem, You have an intake manifold leak and the oil is getting sucked into the engine" The cost to get this fixed ($786.00).
Now we are at 54,000 and all the sudden the engine is pinging horribly when going up hills. The check engine light flashed for about 10 seconds one time when this started, then has not come on since. I use only premium gas so Its not the gas. Once again I take it to the dealership. This time they asses the problem as being a bad head, which is allowing Anti-Freeze to enter my number 8 cylinder thus causing the lack of performance in the engine. The cost to fix this one is ($1700.00) to replace the head.
General Comments:
We bought this SUV new and is mostly freeway driven.
The service at the Dealership here in Washington is terrible.
This vehicle is becoming very expensive to maintain, as if all their parts are designed to fail after they reach the end of their warranty period.
I'd will not buy another Dodge product.
If you only want a vehicle to look good, then buy a Durango. If you want it to run reliably for any length of time, I'd spend my $$ somewhere else!!
25th Dec 2002, 02:08
What were the symptoms of your Durango when your oil pump went out?
My '99 Durango does not hold idle; just dies when gas pedal is released after starting...