01 durango slt 5.9

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drakon543

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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.

 

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adventurenali92

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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

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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.
 
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drakon543

drakon543

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@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

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@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

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@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.
 
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drakon543

drakon543

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@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

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@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.
 
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drakon543

drakon543

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@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

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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.
 

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