6th Jul 2004, 13:23

The automatic transmission seems to be the only major problem with these trucks. Mine lost third gear at 90,000 miles. Other than the transmission, this truck has been amazing as far as reliability is concerned. Get these trucks with standard transmissionss and I don't think there's anything bad to say about them. I routinely see these mid 90s Dakotas with near 200,000 miles on them.

12th Mar 2005, 13:18

We have a 1995 Dodge Dakota that has ran great. But, all of a sudden the automatic transmission went out. It is the V-8. We put in 4 different transmissions (used and re-manufactured) and none of them will work. To make a long story short, I wrote the Dodge Corporation and they say "too bad". I just can't imagine that there's not a transmission that will work in a 1995 Dakota. Wow! So now we have a truck that we loved and can't use it.

6th Apr 2005, 09:37

I have a '96 Dodge Dakota. I bought it at 96k miles. I drove it down from NY to FL 4 Years ago. I ts at 145k now.

Since in FL, I've had the water pump changed, new radiator and new battery. It's an automatic, it starts every time. It's got a lot of power... My only problem right now is that it doesn't change gears as freely as it once did. I think it goes just beyond 3000 RPMS or more before it switches into 3rd or 4th. I've noticed also that I can get it to change gears by letting off the accelerator at 3000RPMs, then it jumps to the next gear and so forth.

For a while in '93 I couldn't get it to go in 5th gear.

Recently my air blower died, then the power for my radio went out too. Does anyone know if this is just a FUSE problem? and which fuse it might be? I don't have a '96 Dodge Dakota SLT Owners manual. I Love my Truck though.

8th Jan 2006, 21:03

I have a "95" Dakota that has had no problems other than the drive shaft recall. I admit that it only has 68,000 miles on it, but am happy with it so far. The Magnum V8 is still running like new and isn't as bad on mileage as some suv's I've been around.

5th Apr 2008, 01:24

I have owned a 1992 Dakota LE 3.9 Regular cab and a 1995 Dakota SLT 3.9 Ext. Cab and the only problem I had with either one were the brakes which just needed replaced on the 92 because it was old and used, and the 1995 because it sat and never got driven so the calipers ended up freezing.

26th Sep 2008, 12:43

I have a "96" Dakota SLT. It is nearing 200,000 miles on it now. This truck has been wreaked, tortured, and abused. It's still running strong and I've never had to replace anything but the normal maintenance parts, except the parts that were damaged in the wreak., and in my opinion, it's the best truck ever built.