01 durango slt 5.9

[drakon543]

soo i dont have a gm product again but im still around. i didn't buy this one it was gifted to me through a family member passing. body isnt in bad shape and interior could be worse but thats mostly where the positives stop. it does run and drive and i do feel its road worthy besides its bleeding cold. its previous owner was a typical dont fix it until its broke and even then as cheap as possible. family does seem pleased with me giving it some love and as i got it for basically just transfer fees i think its worth dumping some money into.



 

[adventurenali92]

Before my 2006 Denali xl I owned a 2001 Durango 4x4 SLT plus with the 4.7L powertec V8. Was a solid car. It just had alot of miles and parts weren’t cheap for that car. I did enjoy it though. Went just about everywhere in it and never got stuck in snow or left me broken down on the side of the road.

 

[grouch]

soo i dont have a gm product again but im still around. i didn't buy this one it was gifted to me through a family member passing. body isnt in bad shape and interior could be worse but thats mostly where the positives stop. it does run and drive and i do feel its road worthy besides its bleeding cold. its previous owner was a typical dont fix it until its broke and even then as cheap as possible. family does seem pleased with me giving it some love and as i got it for basically just transfer fees i think its worth dumping some money into.



The 5.9 Magnum design goes back to the mid 1950's and is a solid engine. How many miles on it? I had a decent running 3.9 Ram once (6 banger version of your engine) and the timing chain was really noisy. I pulled it apart and slapped a new chain set in there. The temp gauge had been barely in the operating range on the gauge. The new chain set put it right in the middle where it belonged. Once back together, the heat would nearly cook you and the fuel mileage went from 17 to 24. Now, this was a 6, you won't get that, but the worn chain was really costing me money because the computer stayed in open loop mode. The old truck had a lot of miles but it was like a new one as far as it was running. If you're over 150K on the engine, Ill bet you need some maintenance. There is also a problem with the intake plenums leaking oil inside.

 

[drakon543]

@grouch @adventurenali92 phone is acting up i cant reply correctly. ya had a 99 ram with the 5.2 so this is just a bigger version of the past. its only got 125k on it atm but it definitly needs some help. that plenum is already on the list. far as im aware the 5.2 and 5.9 were equipped with a stronger chain than the v6 and its not an overly common issue as it is on the v6. if you had that 4.7 when it was newer i can imagine it was expensive later part of the 90s and early 2000s that engine design was new. they changed alot with the 4.7.

 

[grouch]

@grouch @adventurenali92 phone is acting up i cant reply correctly. ya had a 99 ram with the 5.2 so this is just a bigger version of the past. its only got 125k on it atm but it definitly needs some help. that plenum is already on the list. far as im aware the 5.2 and 5.9 were equipped with a stronger chain than the v6 and its not an overly common issue as it is on the v6. if you had that 4.7 when it was newer i can imagine it was expensive later part of the 90s and early 2000s that engine design was new. they changed alot with the 4.7.

I had one 4.7. Unless I get a screaming deal, that will be the only one. The timing set I put in the 3.9 was a one size fits all. The front of the engine on the 3.9, 5.2 and 5.9 is the same across the board. The bore is the same on the 3.9 and 5.2. This was a common practice back then. Basically, on the design sheet, the back half of the first two cylinders and front half of the second set of cylinders is removed. This was, the design and parts for the front is the same and saves on design time and parts supply. t just makes sense to use the same brackets, water pumps, timing covers and so on across the board. Ford went one step farther with the modular engines like the 4.6 V-8. There was a little work towards that in the 1930's but it never went anywhere.

 

[adventurenali92]

@grouch @adventurenali92 phone is acting up i cant reply correctly. ya had a 99 ram with the 5.2 so this is just a bigger version of the past. its only got 125k on it atm but it definitly needs some help. that plenum is already on the list. far as im aware the 5.2 and 5.9 were equipped with a stronger chain than the v6 and its not an overly common issue as it is on the v6. if you had that 4.7 when it was newer i can imagine it was expensive later part of the 90s and early 2000s that engine design was new. they changed alot with the 4.7.

I owned mine from May of 2012 to February of 2015. So it wasn’t by any means new when I owned it. Think it had 135k when I bought it and just shy of 200k when I sold it.

 

[drakon543]

@grouch i see that however never heard of this being such an issue on a v8 equipped model. maybe there was some issue with the internals on the v6 that was causing it to happen more often. used to be hardcore dodge we used to regularly ask this dakota guy if he did his chain yet. regardless im aware its a common practice with mfg to use parts across the board as it makes sourcing them easier.

 

[grouch]

@grouch i see that however never heard of this being such an issue on a v8 equipped model. maybe there was some issue with the internals on the v6 that was causing it to happen more often. used to be hardcore dodge we used to regularly ask this dakota guy if he did his chain yet. regardless im aware its a common practice with mfg to use parts across the board as it makes sourcing them easier.

Over the years, metallurgy has advanced. I've owned well over 100 vehicles of most makes. My '54 Dodge with the 241 Hemi V-8 jumped time around 60,000 miles. Get up to the early 70's and my Chevelle jumped time at about 120K. Move up to the 90's and I had a '94 Ram with the V-6 and a '93 Dakota with the 5.2 both had excessive slop around 180K. So the chains are becoming more durable, but like anything mechanical, they do get wear. If the previous owner only fixed what was broke, something basic like the oil changes may have been neglected.

I bought a car from an estate that had been owned by a miser. Literally. It was a 1980 Caprice with the 350. About as tested and reliable a car as you will find. He had bought it new. He kept a book with every expense the car incurred. Tires, wipers, adding a quart of oil, a door handle that broke and so on. It had 72,000 or so miles. Nowhere in the book was a mention of an oil or spark plug change. The car looked new. The engine had no power. I had to run it until warm to change the oil. It was nearly congealed when cold. As it came out, there were lots of little bits of metal. I eventually pulled the engine. The cylinders looked like the rings were made of sand paper. Rather than rebuild it, I put a different engine in it. In short, poor maintenance costs in the long run.

 

[drakon543]

@grouch still cant quote or reply correctly

im definitely aware of the old chevy engines getting stretched. for me the worst chain setup is the ford 4.0 of any version. sometimes they last sometimes they dont and when they dont just junk the whole vehicle.

 

[swathdiver]

soo i dont have a gm product again but im still around. i didn't buy this one it was gifted to me through a family member passing. body isnt in bad shape and interior could be worse but thats mostly where the positives stop. it does run and drive and i do feel its road worthy besides its bleeding cold. its previous owner was a typical dont fix it until its broke and even then as cheap as possible. family does seem pleased with me giving it some love and as i got it for basically just transfer fees i think its worth dumping some money into.



Always value your contributions to this forum, someday you'll get another GM! Those early Durangos with the old school motors were my favorite.

 

[drakon543]

god i hate my phone right now

might be taking



another forum hiatus if my phone keeps acting.up no i didn't intentionally type it like this my phone randomly does random stuff while typing on forums.

 

[drakon543]

magnaflow y pipe and dynomax with thier welded straight through muffler installed. sounds amazing btw

brakes are also now fully operational. had a wheel cylinder give out after the initial repairs. eventually drum to disc conversion but for now its got brakes again.

 

[drakon543]

more toys going on the 5.9
ditching the stock kegger intake for this hughes airgap fi unit with thier big gulp tb. been working almost nonstop had to actually take a day off just to have some fun with this.

 

[adventurenali92]

Dang…. Been missing my little Durango lately. Almost tempted to find one. And I’d love a 5.9 variant. My SLT plus had the 4.7 but it jammed pretty good. And then I drove a close girlfriend from high schools Durango that had a 5.9 R/T abs damnnnnnnnn did that thing jam hahaha. It was quick!

 

[drakon543]

Dang…. Been missing my little Durango lately. Almost tempted to find one. And I’d love a 5.9 variant. My SLT plus had the 4.7 but it jammed pretty good. And then I drove a close girlfriend from high schools Durango that had a 5.9 R/T abs damnnnnnnnn did that thing jam hahaha. It was quick!

supposedly i will lose a little low end with this intake but it will permanently solve the issues with the stock kegger intake.

 

[89Suburban]

I had 2 co-workers had those trucks they got a VERY LONG good life out of them.

 

[drakon543]

so truck runs amazing. i didnt notice any loss on the low end and it seems extremely more responsive. the previous condition of the truck still has me chasing annoying issues but ive got most of them ironed out. did the front brakes a bit ago and now the driver side caliper is hanging. replaced the front o2 sensor for a fault now the back sensor is faulted.
also yes my brakes always get greased with the good stuff. ofcourse my luck continues to be crap. the day i was about done just putting the accessories back on i heard a breaker trip behind me...... yup well pump died. oh it died because the well tank was shot? oh should i just hack my damn arm off now or later?

 

[drakon543]

brakes are re-re-re-re-fixed lol
so took her out for a longer drive now that i wasn't concerned with setting my pads on fire. DEFINITELY runs way better. the mfg claims alot of people see better mpg ontop of everything else. still no noticed loss on the low end it even feels possibly stronger better around 1500. climbs the hills near my house easily with no need to downshift anymore. ill find out about mpg on Tuesday and Wednesday.