2003 Durango?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Jan. 4, 2010 6:15 p.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

My wife's maxima has been too perfect for too long. It's an '03 that started life as a rental, was eventually totalled, and I've subsequently owned it to 145k miles it's at now. I can not imagine how much longer my luck will hold out. In that time I've bought one battery, one set of brake pads, and a couple of belts. ANYWAY, that's my motivation...

In a potentially straight across trade (or close), I can get a 2003 Durango really cheap with low low miles. It's wrecked, I'll fix it.
I did a brief search for used motors and tranny's. There's a million of them out there and they're cheap. I take that to be a good sign. What goes wrong with these trucks specifically?
Jan. 4, 2010 6:20 p.m. m4ff3w Dork

I keep thinking the Durango is a great vehicle, on paper it is (except fuel economy) but pretty much every thread here says STAY AWAY!

So I have followed that advice.
Jan. 4, 2010 6:27 p.m. kreb Dork

If it's a 4x4, beware the tranny. They're good for circa 80,000 miles. My Dakota's been great except for the crappy fuel economy and the aforementioned tranny failure.
Jan. 4, 2010 6:30 p.m. Datsun1500 Dork

The motors sludge up. Often. Comparing the reliability of a Durango to a Maxima is like comparing Halle Berry to Flo on the Jeffersons. Not even close.
Jan. 4, 2010 8:23 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork

Yeah, gotta agree there's not much good about Durangos. On top of the spun sugar transmission and engine sludge, the interior quality sux. Rattles, squeaks etc galore.
Jan. 5, 2010 6:17 a.m. 44Dwarf HalfDork

If it has the small v8 273ish sized it sucks....BTDT. trans will hunt while towing cause the motor makes no torque down low.

If you need a tow hitch i have a all most new one....Back in the day i had a company Durango put the plug and play light kit and Valley brand hitch the next month i got laied off I made them follow me home and i took my hitch and light kit off. I've got the bolts and plug/play lights everything you need. MAKE OFFER.
Jan. 5, 2010 7:39 a.m. GladlyTheCrossEyedBear None

I'm new to the board (looong time lurker and reader). I had a Durango of similar vintage. Here is my experience.

The Good: Even with the smaller V8 it towed a box trailer with 4-5 motorcycles, race gas cans, tool boxes, ez-ups, etc and 3 passengers with no problem. Using the OD button on the trans stalk kept it from hunting on hills. It was comfortable. It was that crazy Dodge blue which made it easy to find in the parking lot.

The Bad: Berkeleying (may I use that term as a newbie?) bad gas mileage!! 14mpg with hyper-miling techniques, empty, no passengers and a tail wind; 8 - 10 mpg towing at 65mph. Back when gas was $1 a gallon I could live with it, but I'd need a second job now just to keep it fed. I sold it at 60,000 but the tranny was starting to leak (4wd), the limited slip was starting to slip too much, and super glue was the only thing holding the interior trim bits in place.

Though I used it, I took really good care of it, so I was miffed that it was falling apart so soon. Glad I got out before it got expensive. YMMV, but I'd be careful...
Jan. 5, 2010 9:36 a.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

I've heard about the sludge issues. I wanna believe using synthetic and not dragging out oil change intervals might make a difference. In general I know Mopar doesn't make a lot of good transmissions. That was the first thing I did a search for. Even locally, there where many many used ones available and prices are low. I took that to mean the demand for them might not be too high, and therefor maybe they don't fail too often. My logic there may be flawed, but you see what I'm saying?

The mpg comment is more than valid though. The worst day of it's life the Maxima got 19, I don't know how bad I want my fuel bills to go up 50%-ish.
Jan. 5, 2010 10:27 a.m. 44Dwarf HalfDork

Ya mine got crappy MPG too but one of the perks was a company gas card.... Even with the OD off mine would jump between tacked out in 2nd and bog in 3rd. Most of the time when i hit the hills i just poped in to 2nd and matted it...hey it wasn't mine. This was towing my dwarf on the small open trailer see on my web page being towed by my 944 http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeyjt5o/index.html That 944 was one of the best tow rigs i've had.
Jan. 5, 2010 10:31 a.m. itsarebuild New Reader

dont mean to buck the trend completely but i still have a '99 and the only engine issue i have had is a dead battery and busted water pump gasket. tranny has 112,000 miles and does a lot of towing and hauling. in fact it pulled our 2009 challenge entry (and the ridiculously overbuilt u haul trailer) from atlanta to gainesville last year without issue. and i have the smallest v8 (though it is a 5.2 liter not a 273 cid.). i havent had a problem with sludge either, though i do only use synthetics. valid point with the fuel economy... especially in town. i usually see 10 to 12 depending on how many stoplights i catch. but i have to admit i have a heavy foot and that probably doesnt help. on the highway i have gotten up to 20. it likes to go fast as the milage is much better after TC lockup. 77 to 80 is perfect for interstates and 20 is very achievable at that speed. 55 to 60 is horrid as the point about low end grunt is very valid and the trans goes in and out of 3rd, 4th, and lockup constantly. my biggest complaint is the hatch and the back luggage area as i hate hatches and you cant fit plywood in the back. it sucks when a 3rd gen camaro can bring more plywood home! the interior is a matter of taste. it certainly has no bells and whistles, but i like that. put me in a mini cooper or prius and the switches and gauge setups make me annoyed immediately. the only thing that has failed on the interior is the back door lock motor. personally i dont care much. thats my $.02
Jan. 5, 2010 10:33 a.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

belteshazzar wrote:

Even locally, there where many many used ones available and prices are low. I took that to mean the demand for them might not be too high, and therefor maybe they don't fail too often.

It's one or the other, depending on which engine it has. If it's got the 4.7l, you will be able to find transmissions at salvage yards because the engines are so abysmally horrible. If it's got a 5.9l, transmissions will be hard to find and expensive, because the engines last slightly longer than the transmissions.
Jan. 5, 2010 12:34 p.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

I'm using car-part. com I was looking specifically for the correct motor and tranny for this particular truck (2003 4.7 4x4).

60k miles engines with warranty start at $850 locally, with several hundred to pick from in my area (midwest).

Transmissions are even less rare. Almost twice as many available, 40k miles units start at $300.