1989 Dodge Dakota SE from North America - Comments

This was my first encounter with a Dodge and it will be my last. I bought the vehicle brand new. Immediately I had a clunking noise somewhere between the transmission and the rear end. There was also a looseness that could be felt when shifting. I tool it to 5 different deadlerships and none of them could find any problems with it. At 28,000 miles the rear end went out, luckily this was still under warranty. At 72,000 miles the rear end went out again. This time not under warranty and cost me almost $2500 to fix. With this fix I got a 1 yr 12 month warranty on the work which saved my ass as the rear end went out again at 78,000 miles. I took it back had it repaired and then immediately sold this unreliable vehicle. When I sold it I found the Kelly Blue Book was a mere $1800. This was the wost case of vehicle depreciation I ever saw. I guess everyone, but me knew it was a piece of crap. I only hauled anything heavy one time. It was a 300lb motorcycle. The springs sank so much when the bike was loaded I bottomed out on every single bump. The truck felt like I was trying to carry 5000 pounds! The truck got terrible gas mileage and was terribly underpowered. Dodge rated the engine at 125hp, but it felt like 70 hp... every hill I came to I had to downshift to make it up the hill. This was not all of the maintenance issues in addition I had numerous visits to the dealer for a starter twice, tachometer, coil, water pump, alternator, front end pieces, front brakes twice, clutch twice, and transmission howl. I never used the truck to tow, and never "hot rodded it" My current daily driver is a 1993 Toyota Tacoma with 277,000 miles on it. The only thing I've ever had to replace on it is a starter and brakes one time. I will never again own a Dodge and hope they go out of business. I will however continue to buy Toyota's!!

My friend against my wishes just bought a 1999 Dodge Dakota and it is now 5 months old and has been in the shop 7 times for a lot of the same problems as I had. Last word...don't buy or support Dodge in any way!!! - Dave.

Don't buy a Dodge! They are the worst vehicle made. There are a lot of gray area's in the 7 year 70,000 miles warranty that Dodge is extremely good at finding so they don't have to fix your car when it breaks!

Owner should have be wary of a factory buyback... they only buy them back under the lemon law.

I have an 88 Dakota Le and have owned it for 3 years now. I have replaced many parts all parts consisting of hoses, water pump, radiator, and rear-end after 240,000 miles. I race this truck everyday and it has been reliable for me.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan.

Still have my ole gray mare - 1989 Dodge Dakota 4 cylinder. Close to 200,000 miles. A good work truck. Hauls dirt, rocks, lumber, you name it - anything and everything. Needs a new paint job and the AC fixed - can live without both, not necessary for its purpose. And it truly has a great purpose. I don't know what I would do without my ole gray mare. Has had general maintenance over the years (I got it used in 1994), but nothing serious - thank goodness. I hope to keep it around until it just won't go anymore. I also own a nice nice 1999 Jeep Cherokee Sport - just turned 20,000 miles on it.

I also own an 89 Dodge Dakota 2.5L 4 cylinder manual. Wonderful truck! I drive it around 40 miles everyday to work and back. Decent gas mileage. I did replace the rear end at 145,000 miles from a junkyard. $300 fix... still running fine, odometer a little off because I used the rear end of an 87/88, bur probably around 170,000 now. I did beat the truck quite hard, so I blame myself for the rear end. Clutch has only been replaced once, used original until last year. Replaced the heater core and AC compressor. Everything else has been standard maintenance. I hope to continue driving this truck for a long time!!

I have a 1989 tuck jet black nice looking lil truck and it runs great.

"I had a clunking noise somewhere between the transmission and the rear end"; that would be the transfer case for the 4x4. A typical problem for the shift and go 4x4.

And the guy is right; if it was bad when you bought it, the lemon law makes the company buy it back. It also has to do with they way you drove it. If you drove like a idiot (pedal to the floor and high speed off road travel) it would have done that.

We drove ours to the Rockies. Did just fine, but it could have been an defective truck too.

I own a 1989 dodge Dakota v6 3.9liter SE. I have had it since December of 2007 when I bout it it had 95,000 miles on since then I have had to replace a by pass hose and a thermostat I also have had to put new front brake line on it I also put new shocks on it all the way around I had to put a new starter on it I have to say I love the little truck I drove it from New York to Florida about two months ago and it ran great and still does run great I have 105,000 miles on it and hope to have it until the motor dies on me.

I have owned a 1989 Dodge Sport Dakota for about 5 years now. It just hit 180,000 miles about two months ago and it runs fine. I did however have a problem with timing, but that is fixed now.

The brakes have caused me a little bit of an issue, but other than that it has been a nice reliable truck, especially for my first truck.

I am addicted to the Dodge Dakotas, and I will continue to buy them and keep this one till it dies on me.

I own a 89 Dodge Dakota and it has worked great for me. The only thing giving me trouble is the radio won't turn on for some reason. Everything else works fine.