I haven’t driven it much for 5 1/2 years. Haven’t needed to and it’s had an ongoing battery discharge problem I put off. When I did drive it, short trips, I haven’t had any problems with it other than battery staying charged after sitting. Only thing is a slight clunk when going from park to gear right after starting so trans might have been low. I assumed it was a ujoint previously. It has 101K miles on it.
Well I’ve gotten around to it and have been doing some work on this 99 5.2 Magnum 4x4 Durango lately. Changed oil, new battery cable ends, charged up battery, pulled trans pan and installed Dorman pan with drain plug, new Mopar filter, and I used a Mopar gasket with metal insert. Sealed up good. Transmission and transfer case fluid EDIT NOT been changed previously.
It’s only supposed to require 4 QTs to refill trans after dropping pan, but I let it drain for about 3 days while busy with other stuff and I got about 5.5 plus qts collected/spilt/soaked up with paper towels. I have 6 QTs of ATF+4 back in. Still not up to full line on dipstick while running in neutral. Currently showing about a 1/4 inch on the stick in neutral but not really up to temp.
My next plan is to drop the skid plate so I can drain whatever is in the transfer case next, providing that doesn’t fight me to bad. It’s had a very slow drip for a long time so I don’t know what I’ll find in there. Perhaps some of the fluid I’ve added to the trans has migrated to the transfer case if seals are bad ??? Trans is pretty dry but transfer case has been leaking at both ends.
Anyway while I’ve been doing all this I developed a water pump noise that went from nothing, to something, to a hell of a racket in pretty short order. I drove it maybe 20 miles or less in a couple trips after changing trans fluid to get up to temp, then the water pump went south. Not leaking but making a lot of noise. Didn’t overheat on my test runs.
So trying to complete the trans fill to level I removed the serpentine belt so I didn’t wind up with a larger problem with the pump before I’m ready to deal with it. Not diving anymore just starting in neutral to add fluid gradually and checking level.
Next thing not long after removing the belt, the right/passenger side lifters started making noise. I used a Lisle mechanics stethoscope and it’s quite a bit louder on the passenger side. Drivers might be normal. The injectors sound a little noisy too but I’ve never put a scope on them before so I don’t know what normal is. maybe they are noisier because alternator isn’t alternating at present ? I have the battery fully charged btw.
Any ideas or suggestions on the trans taking so much fluid to refill or the onset of the lifters rattling? The lifters really have me worried.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to lay out as much pertinent info as I can.
Thanks for any help
Well I’ve gotten around to it and have been doing some work on this 99 5.2 Magnum 4x4 Durango lately. Changed oil, new battery cable ends, charged up battery, pulled trans pan and installed Dorman pan with drain plug, new Mopar filter, and I used a Mopar gasket with metal insert. Sealed up good. Transmission and transfer case fluid EDIT NOT been changed previously.
It’s only supposed to require 4 QTs to refill trans after dropping pan, but I let it drain for about 3 days while busy with other stuff and I got about 5.5 plus qts collected/spilt/soaked up with paper towels. I have 6 QTs of ATF+4 back in. Still not up to full line on dipstick while running in neutral. Currently showing about a 1/4 inch on the stick in neutral but not really up to temp.
My next plan is to drop the skid plate so I can drain whatever is in the transfer case next, providing that doesn’t fight me to bad. It’s had a very slow drip for a long time so I don’t know what I’ll find in there. Perhaps some of the fluid I’ve added to the trans has migrated to the transfer case if seals are bad ??? Trans is pretty dry but transfer case has been leaking at both ends.
Anyway while I’ve been doing all this I developed a water pump noise that went from nothing, to something, to a hell of a racket in pretty short order. I drove it maybe 20 miles or less in a couple trips after changing trans fluid to get up to temp, then the water pump went south. Not leaking but making a lot of noise. Didn’t overheat on my test runs.
So trying to complete the trans fill to level I removed the serpentine belt so I didn’t wind up with a larger problem with the pump before I’m ready to deal with it. Not diving anymore just starting in neutral to add fluid gradually and checking level.
Next thing not long after removing the belt, the right/passenger side lifters started making noise. I used a Lisle mechanics stethoscope and it’s quite a bit louder on the passenger side. Drivers might be normal. The injectors sound a little noisy too but I’ve never put a scope on them before so I don’t know what normal is. maybe they are noisier because alternator isn’t alternating at present ? I have the battery fully charged btw.
Any ideas or suggestions on the trans taking so much fluid to refill or the onset of the lifters rattling? The lifters really have me worried.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to lay out as much pertinent info as I can.
Thanks for any help
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