Common Problems with the 2000 Dodge Durango - 4.7L V8 Magnum 

Hey brother, When you get the 1st gen Durango, task number one is to replace all, and I do mean ALL, of the sensors. Second thing is to drain the transmission fluid, change the filter for the transmission (both of them) and refill it. Next, swap the water pump and thermostat and check the radiator. Last thing, swap all the fuses and the battery. For the battery, make sure you are using a 750CCA battery, anything less with cause many of the sensors to have low voltage and not function. Do these things and all should run like a dream.

Loved ur video!! Thank you!!

The 4.7 Chrysler V8 is one engine you don't wanna overheat. They are prone to dropping valve seats. My brother has a 2000 5.9 Durango. It's got the same shift selector issue. It's got some really strange electrical issues. Airbag light is on and the TCC (torque converter clutch) won't lock up unless the stereo is on.😂 seriously 😂 If the headlights are on,the left blinker blinks twice as fast as the right one. 😂 Oh yeah,the overdrive button on the shift lever doesn't work, so you can't turn the overdrive off. (Good thing he doesn't tow anything with it). If you don't know how to fix cars,don't buy one of these, or if you don't have much $$ because they get horrific mpg. His gets 11- 12 around town and about 16,maybe 17 freeway on flat ground with the cruise control on and with 60psi in the tires.😂 BTW it's got a brand new engine. And the driver seat track is broken,very annoying. In fact every one I've found in the wrecking yards are broken too. Seat slides back and forth about an inch freely. I cut a 2x6 board jammed it between the back of the seat and the front lower portion of the back seat. Then I powered the drivers seat back until it stopped sliding back and forth. Other than that it's a good vehicle. Oh yeah, forgot to mention the leaky loose rack & pinion. It looks really nice, the paint and interior looks really good considering it's 23 yo. For a vehicle that doesn't even have 200k miles on it,it's got alot of problems. $$ pit.

Hi I have a 2003 Dodge Dakota 4.7 Magnum with 271,000 miles and I really haven't had any of the issues mentioned except the cold nature of transmission in cold weather. That's just a Dodge for they are all like that but they will run for years long as you do reasonable maintenance. It's true they are susceptible to over heating but routine maintenance of thermostat and regular checking of antifreeze level and of course always keep eye for signs of a water pump leaking and failing. This will prevent any over heating issues that they can have. I generally get my coolant changed about every 4 years and a new thermostat. Because they have aluminum heads with pressed in valve seats if they get to hot the seats can come loose and do all kinds of bad things. This is why these engines get so bad a rap is lack of maintenance and sometimes using these trucks like they are big full size and they wasn't made to do that. Hope this helps someone get more out of their Dodge.

Man, I've never seen the 4.7l. Mine has the common 5.2, but all the issues tend to be the same or similar. I like some of the setup of that smaller engine. No matter, I believe a car is only as good as the person that maintains it. I am always far more impressed with someone rolling around in an old vehicle they keep fixed up than someone rolling around in a new car that they're in debt over. Love my 2000 Durango. Was my mom's but when she decided to sell it, I swooped in and bought it because I couldn't stand to see it go. I'm not a Dodge person, but I'm not a "brand" idiot either. Love this thing and all the work I have to do. My surprise was when I changed the timing chain and how stretched it was a 200,000 miles. Glad something told me to fix that. My next project is going to be ford focus hatchback. I don't know why, but i love those cars. Doesn't even need to be an RS, though I prefer a manual over an automatic any day. If you get a 2014 ish focus on your hands, I can't wait to see your video on that. I've had an older focus that I drove until about 320,000 miles and sold it and it's one of the few cars I miss (I also miss my 2 door 1990 Toyota Tercel manual transmission that I sold off in 2014).

Confirm throttle body position sensor was a problem on mine soon as I changed it it ran so much better

My 2000 Dakota had a plugged radiator, that I blamed on not using distilled water when I changed coolant. New radiator and it was solid. Also had a transmission that didn’t like to shift into gear, and if pulling a load, would often go into limp mode. Finally did a fluid and filter change, and found the filter wasn’t seated fully into the transmission. Bolt in the back was in place, but filter without a good seal would allow air into the oil, and likely was foaming the oil badly. New filter and oil, and it has ran solid ever since. Saved me from buying a $500 transmission shift body I didn’t need.

For the shift selector issue, I ran a ground wire straight from the negative to the alternator ground and problem went away. My TPS went bad after that 😂

Your gear indicator issues and your trans issues are probably related. When all the gears are blocked like that your transmission control module is not sending proper information. The Durango’s that had common transmission issues were the 5.2 & 5.9. Completely different transmission in the 4.7. Usually they go 250-300k without transmission issues. Might want to look at the TCM if your getting a engine light.

I have owned 3 Durangos, 2 1st gens and 1 2nd gen. The 1st gens were beasts. The only issue I really had was the heater core plugged up on both of them. With a good set of tires the 4x4 was almost unstoppable. The 2nd gen was a different story. It was the only one with the 4.7. Bad tps's, bad crank sensors, bad abs control modules, bad heater blower resisters. Not to forget the collapsed lifters.

Some talk trash on the 4.7 but it is way better then the 5.2 or 5.9 the 5.9 didn't start out preforming the 4.7 untill 2010. I have had 6 first gen durangos. Crashed my first one second was a lemon 3rd was built up to be off road sold it the guy crashed it in 18 hours after I sold it to him. 4rth was amazing, no problem ever except the water pump cracked. Easy fix. The 5th was trash had it for a month the 6th I still have. And yhe only issue I have it when I go.from drive to reverse back to drive back to reverse ( for parking and reparking if I'm not straight or to close to another car) I start to hear a grind and a click or clank noise. Idk why so if anyone does plz let me know. But from my experience, the sxt is the best trim. Every SLT has had major problems. But every SXT was minor problems. I also have a 2021 srt Durango

Hi, great info! Had a question I had my battery changed and drove it a couple days and it stalled so I checked the battery and noticed one terminal came off the battery and the acid came out of the top so I got another battery. The next day I started it and took off fast because a car was driving fast behind me anyhow when I got to the top of the street It felt like it had a slight shake when I was stopped. I hit the gas and it didn't have the power it usually had. I brought it to auto zone for a diagnostic and it came up I needed a purge valve (2 hoses and an electrical plug) which was right on top closest to the windshield. It didn't fix the issue and the code reads the same issue. When i start it there's no problem when I put it into drive it shakes and when I hit the gas it drags reverse shakes worse. I heard you talk about the throttle position part and was wondering if you thought it may be that? I'm just curious if you have a suggestion. Check engine light has never come on. It ran great prior to all this. It's a 99 Durango 8 cly 5.2 I'm going crazy Thanks in advance for any type of suggestions.

My family has had my 2001 Durango since 2006. It was my moms last vehicle and It has the 4.7 v8. 184k miles. my common problem is the ignition switch behind the key tumbler lock. this problem presents when you raise or lower the tilt steering, the dash lights, hvac blower would stop. This was remedied by installing a new Dorman ignition switch. I have replaced the engine because the old one ran hot and we found out it did have a blown head gasket at 174Kmiles so i had a crate engine installed to take care of all the things i was about to do (timing chain and guides, lifters and any other higher mileage repairs that it needed were fixed with a new engine. I also have my dads 2003 Dakota with the same engine and it had 235k miles and its' still on the original transmission and engine. still runs pretty good but its smoking a lot these days. I'll have that engine replaced soon as well. I'll keep these old trucks going til I can't . thanks for the quick tips and ideas.

The truck is 23 years old and you bought it with 200,000 miles on it. What do you expect. You have not any idea how this truck was treated or serviced. Just fix the issues and stop getting down on the vehicle. All vehicles have issues new or old. It looks like it is in good condition and just needs some love put into it. Good luck.

Valve seats dropping into the cylinder wreaking major carnage is another issue these motors are famous for. $3300. is the price for a replacement motor. 👍

Yes i do have a problems. lol. I almost froze to death driving through Utah in -32 degrees. My heating was working but not coming out of my vents...very little. I could barley feel the heat. I cant figure out why. My check engine light comes on every other two weeks. It said my plugs I changed them and wires and 7 or 8 months later The check engine comes back on, then after a couple of days it goes out and 2 or 3 weeks later back on again. I thought maybe I gave a jump to someone and i had my engine running and it caused some kind of electrical problem or surge. Wont do that again! Also the Transmission doesnt change gears to 3rd or 4th until it warms up. I some times have change my gears manually while driving cause the rpm's get to high and shift down to neutral then back up and then it kicks in! lol I need some free help! lol

I have 2000 with the same specs the transmission is perfect

are these things really sore on fuel ? like im getting 11.2 mpg from my jeep cherokee with the same engine, my rear brake calliper is siezed though , so that wont be helping.

Yep changed my crank sensor twice within 2 years. Ridiculous to have your vehicle randomly shut off while driving💀

Hey sorry I have a question so I have a 2000 dodge durango and I have this problem where it will idle right in gear but if I put it in gear it will die what will that be

Trans issue, next time you start it put it in nutral for a minuite, Full flow to the converter isnt happening in park.

208000 and I've only had tps sensor and suspension problems. I love my dirty rango

I just changed my map sensor yesterday on my 01

THOSE DODGE DURANGOS ARE GREAT MINE HAS 400,8000 MILES AND STILL GOING FIRM

I just bought a 1998 with 5.2 engine. A little rust in body, a lot more underneath. 114,000 miles. Engine Runs like a new car. Transmission shifts perfect! Upshift, downshift, absolutely shifts smooth. My question is...with 114,000 miles and not knowing the service history, would it be safe to change transmission fluid and filter? By the way the interior is like new from top to bottom, so someone at least babied the inside.

Chrysler should check what they have their wire coating for their wire. Harnesses really made up if they find out what they're made of Then they can figure out what kind of Mess you'll have when you Check your wires. When I checked my Durango, the wires were chewed up like crazy so unless they just enjoyed chewing on wire coating. Or there's something that's in The Wire coating that they like. Maybe that could be changed.Maybe it already has been I don't know

How many miles or kms are on this vehicle?

First aguevo papi yatusabe

Transmission Ever Been Serviced? Every 30,000 to 40,000 miles?

Why this video when I currently own a 01 dodge Dakota with the same v8 4.7l.😮 is it that my data was used in such a way to as to seem like my phone is spying on me and someone or maybe lots of people know of me my life and everything I get involved with ? Because I began to get attached to my truck although it currently has a code p1294 or something like that for the IAC valve. Truck gets up and running but I have the same issues, transmission feeling like it's stuck in second gear at times, I just don't get a lot of smooth shifting. I think my truck goes fast but it really sounds like it only unless I'm on the highway then it feels good. But again, I have the same current electric problems, sometimes no radio. Yup,it also has 337k miles so that's really telling you something, like I know how to care for one of these trucks😅😅😅😅😅

Ik how to fix the trans problem

That was not the crank position sensor, that was the block heater lmao

Over drive is your issue. Get your dash working right or get new one. I got a working dash and overdrive worked after.

My Durango doesn't stay in overdrive

❤ good jobby job in the video humanitarians Rock the toy box and like the RV BLM will never die hold your head up😂

😂 I wish you made this 6 years ago I would have saved 600 bucks

Mines surges and then dies when you come to a stop

PCM. It will go, it's right next to the engine.

4.7 magnum was always trash.

Ok for overheating..... Run a hotwire from your fuse box inside to the green wire on your electric fan... That's the problem the sensor don't kick on the electric fan so it'll overheat the thermostatic takes care of the motor heat so you'll always have heat to the heater core... Now on my 04 Dakota 4.7 the bank 1 1 and 2 (drivers side is not getting power to the o 2 sensors I put bran new ones in no good still found out there is a ground that goes to passenger side fender well from regulatory for O2 sensors gonna add a ground from that ground to motor or battery will update you on that... Also the rear shackles suck on dodge trucks suck they break often. So remedy... Scissor jack with holes on side grinder cut pieces of the c channel install on outside of spring 2 bolts on each... Will squeek but not break got pictures can text me. 412 409 1105. Bungee

Map sensor sucks to change a little.. specialty screws and hard to get to.