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supercrackerbox
04-10-2007, 06:25 PM
A friend of mine has a '95 Dakota, extended cab, 2WD with a 318/auto that just turned 159,000 miles. She says the truck only gets around 12mpg, even on the highway. Does this sound about right, or should it be doing better than that?

Frank
04-10-2007, 06:31 PM
Almost positive that is lower then normal and it is probably due to driving habits...

supercrackerbox
04-10-2007, 06:33 PM
Almost positive that is lower then normal and it is probably due to driving habits...

Possibly, but she drives the thing like my Grandma, and always turns the OD off in town and back on on the highway. Unlike my Daytona where I know the 17mpg is from driving habits. ;)

I drove it a bit yesterday, and it almost sounded like the rear brakes were dragging, I'll probably start there.

supercrackerbox
04-10-2007, 06:35 PM
Nope, scratch that. Her husband already checked that noise, it's the rear bearings.

yogurt_slinger
04-10-2007, 08:01 PM
check the o2 sensor and the cat. My old dakota had a huge chunk of the honeycomb get lodged in the exhaust pipe, I couldn't go faster than 55mph because of it..had a hell of a time getting up to 55 too, took forever... anyways, it caused my mileage to drop.. replaced the cat, new plugs and wires, and bingo mileage came back up.

dds78910
04-10-2007, 08:14 PM
I had a 93 with a 3.90 rear end and it would do about 14.5-15 mpg doing 79mph, with a best of 17 only a couple times.

Vigo
04-10-2007, 09:07 PM
the cats have a bad habit of falling apart and clogging up on dodge trucks from the 90s.. id definitely check that.

should be able to get about 18 straight highway i think.

Birddog
04-10-2007, 09:09 PM
12mpg is pretty good! Rear bearings...BAD...

I average 14 in mine(5.9) driving like a 90 year old...

Vigo
04-11-2007, 12:44 AM
what rear gear you have? most of the old 318 dakotas came with 3.50s i think.

BadAssPerformance
04-11-2007, 12:52 AM
With the 3.55 in my '92 2wd/318/A-518 I got over 20 on eth hihway, but it also had headers, 3". MSD, K&N, UD pulleys...

Now with the 3.91 gear MSD box died I do not see 20 on the highway and get crap around town :(

supercrackerbox
04-11-2007, 01:45 AM
Yeah they know they need to get those bearings replaced ASAP. I know from experience used rearends are NOT cheap around here. Hell no used Dakota parts are easy to find around here, because they're still all on the road!:thumb:

Plugs/wires/cap/rotor are all new within the last 6 months, and I'll look into that cat.

Birddog
04-11-2007, 08:38 PM
Yeah they know they need to get those bearings replaced ASAP. I know from experience used rearends are NOT cheap around here. Hell no used Dakota parts are easy to find around here, because they're still all on the road!:thumb:

Plugs/wires/cap/rotor are all new within the last 6 months, and I'll look into that cat.

Is there such a thing as a cheap part for a Mopar??:D

supercrackerbox
04-11-2007, 09:01 PM
Only for our cars. ;)

Scottmon
04-12-2007, 08:36 AM
With the 3.55 in my '92 2wd/318/A-518 I got over 20 on eth hihway, but it also had headers, 3". MSD, K&N, UD pulleys...

Now with the 3.91 gear MSD box died I do not see 20 on the highway and get crap around town :(

My experience is similar to JT's. Mine is a '94 Extended Cab Dak, 2wd 5.2 with a 5 speed, 3:55. ATR stainless Y-pipe then full 3" mandrel no cat exhaust, M1 intake, home modded TB, MP PCM, K&N filter in stock air cleaner and removed the plate over the front of the intake behind the grille. Gets about 17-18 mpg mixed. Best on the highway is about 22 mpg.

Vigo
04-12-2007, 08:20 PM
hmmm how come you people have these things and dont list them in your sig? granted i dont list all ten of my pieces of crap but if i had a decent 318 dakota id be happy enough about it to list it.

BadAssPerformance
04-12-2007, 08:28 PM
I dont list it.... cuz it dont have a turbo yet ;)

http://www.badassperformance.com/mrides/dakota/jtdakota.html

http://www.badassperformance.com/mrides/dakota/dakota-rt2.jpg

supercrackerbox
04-12-2007, 09:25 PM
Pretty sure if I suggested modding the truck they'd hit me with rocks.

BadAssPerformance
04-12-2007, 09:36 PM
Don't wantcha to get rocked over helping your friend but you can tell them that a higher performace setup that is good running will get better gass mileage if they can keep their foot out of it.

Scottmon
04-13-2007, 03:26 PM
hmmm how come you people have these things and dont list them in your sig? granted i dont list all ten of my pieces of crap but if i had a decent 318 dakota id be happy enough about it to list it.

I just don't list it in my sig 'cause it's not really decent at the moment.

I ordered my '94 new, and have driven the livin' crap out of it (234K at the moment). Still runs well but it's showing it's age, and it's not pretty to look at these days. I could buy a new truck if I wanted to, but I just don't think the new gas powered trucks could come close to matching the power to weight and gas mileage of the older V8 Dakotas. Will eventually do a resto on it, if the rust monster doesn't get it or someone doesn't run into it and total it.