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Dodge Durango Maintenance and Repair

718 messages,  Last post on Nov 15, 2009 at 8:59 AM

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#682 of 718 Power streering fluid sensor nightmare by mucuna Mar 21, 2009 (10:05 am)
Replying to: kando (Mar 20, 2009 6:43 pm) This is so easy to do yourself and your immediate attention is needed to avoid the possibily of thousands of dollars of repair. You can purchase the sensor from your dodge part dealer. they will look up the part for you. (power steering sensor switch) it is about 25 bucks!. they will ask for your VIN # so have it handy when you go there. Buy a quart of PS fluid also. To remove the old sensor, you can locate it on a metal tube right below the backside of the PS fluid resevoir. Easy to work on and freely visible. It is a silver color - looks like a lug nut- with a black connector and two wires coming out of it (black, green w/red stripe). Uncouple the connector at the sensor (it has a little side clip you squeeze in with your fingers (should come off freely). The sensor itself can be unscrewed with a common wrench . PS Fluid will come pouring out but this is better than draining the entire PS system- you should only lose a small amount of fluid out of the resevoir which you can top off later- use you finger to keep to much fluid from leaking out while you switch the sensors. With all these components you should used firm tighting but don't herf on it and strip the threads. replug in the connector and your done. Spray off the PS fluid from any painted, rubber parts by using a water hose (PS fluid corrodes paint and rubber). A bigger issue however is if you have PS fluid in the harness wiring from the bad PS sensor leaking into the wiring. If that is the case it will (or could) eventually travel through the harness down under the car and contaminate the ground wire of one of your O2 sensors. When this happens you performance gets so bad the car is virtually undrivable. Dogde dealers in general have no clue about the causality of this problem and proceed in doing thousands of dollars of needless repairs, There are allot of 2000 dodge durangos out there with this problem and dodge dealers are making $book$ on the repairs. I believe this is one reason they don't invest in educating the repair techs on a national level. The proper fix should only run about 400 dollars replacing an o2 sensor and doing a o2 wiring bypass through the harness. Check the PS sensor connector immediately for PS fluid leaks. You may have even notice losing PS fluid on the ground. If you have any PS fluid in the connector when you remove it from the PS sensor leave it disconnected until you make the sensor replacement repair. Your car will run fine- in fact it may stabilize your idle RPM since a bad PS sensor sends bad signal to the PCM - idle control module.
#683 of 718 Re: o2 sensor + power steering pressure switch Dodge Durango Nightmare [mucuna] by durangoroo Mar 21, 2009 (11:09 am)
Replying to: mucuna (Mar 19, 2009 8:18 pm) Mucuna thanks for your reply. I did disconnect the upstream O2 sensor, and did notice that the connector itself was saturated with PS fluid. However after I disconnected the sensor I am happy to say that my Fiance can at least drive the vehicle now until we find out more details on the repair. I did contact a dodge technician from the dealership that does side work, and have yet to hear back from him on the issue. again thanks to everyone on here who is helping out.
#684 of 718 Re: o2 sensor + power steering pressure switch Dodge Durango Nightmare [mucuna] by ncdodgeowner Mar 21, 2009 (1:20 pm)
Replying to: mucuna (Mar 15, 2009 10:15 am) I do not know the original sensor wire colors. The trial and error was just that. I thought I had spliced into the correct wire, until it set a transmission code. I only realized that there were two wires of that color after reviewing the wiring diagram. When I switched to the other, the O2 reading showed correctly.   Update: I have put 350+ miles on the Durango with no further O2 issues. I was finally able to get it to pass the state OBDII emmissions test and back on the road. The Bosch universal sensor seems to be working fine. I read elsewhere that it is later model Durangos that must have an OEM sensor to work. Way to go Dodge - plan your own obsolescence!   The wiring that I installed for the bypass was very rudimentary and "fly by night" so I plan to get back under there and clean it up, since I do not believe it would last the long haul. I just did what was necessary to prove weather it would work or not, and so far it has been sucessful. I am getting an overall average 16 mpg, which is "unfortunately" good for this vehicle, but better than 6mpg, which I was getting when all of this started.   Start this repair by purchasing a bosch universal fit oxygen sensor for your car since your sensor is likely bad anyway. Follow the instructions as written to match up wiring. The instructions give all of the wiring codes. Once you identify the signal and ground wires, do not connect them as instructed. Instead, utilize the splice supplied, but do not hook up the corresponding signal and ground wires from the old connector, only hook up the two heater wires. Run two wires separately from the splice kit up to the PCM from the signal and ground, carefully routing them with wire-ties and or some wire braiding cover to protect them since this is all located near the hot exhaust pipes.   Once you have the two wires routed to the engine compartment, you will need to cut open the large wire bundle that snakes around from the back of the engine to the PCM (a box with several wire bundles leading to it, NOT the fuse box) I made my splices between the back of the engine compartment and the PCM where you can open the bundle cleanly along about a 8" section. For the signal wire, you must cut the light green wire with a red stripe on it. NOTE: there are two of these, the other one goes to the tranny, so you can either continue cutting the bundle open to figure out where each one goes, or try one, then the other. Connect your signal wire to the end of this wire that leads to the PCM. As for the other end of the wire, you can just leave it hang. It is the source of contamination, and leaving it in the circuit defeats the purpose of the bypass.     For the ground wire, locate one of a couple of black wires with a blue stripe on it. There are a couple, but according to the diagram they are all common to one another, so it should not matter which one you use. They are all isolated signal ground. Again, you can spend a lot of time tracing this out if you want, but once you see how difficult this is in the tight space, you again understand why dodge just said bypass it. For this connection, you do not want to cut the wire, but rather splice into it. They sell crimp style connectors for this at all auto stores which enables you to connect one wire to an existing wire without cutting it and having a big nasty three wire splice. If you cannot find these connectors, you can just cut the wire, but you must connect them all back together to keep other sensors connected also. That is the extent of it. After testing, you can neatly incorporate your bypass wires into the wire bundle and close it up with zip-ties or electrical tape. Of course, you will need to reset your codes, and it is helpful to have a scanner available that you can read O2 sensor values to ensure all is well before closing up. Good luck! Replies to this message: cloves (Jun 15, 2009 8:43 pm) cloves (Jun 19, 2009 1:58 pm)
#685 of 718 Re: [mucuna] by go1 Mar 24, 2009 (1:52 pm)
Replying to: mucuna (Sep 19, 2008 4:41 pm) after reading this I googled ps pressure switch and got nothing did I read you correctly I need to replace this part to stop the o2 sensor problem..? thanks go1 Replies to this message: durangoroo (Mar 24, 2009 2:06 pm)
#686 of 718 Re: [go1] by durangoroo Mar 24, 2009 (2:06 pm)
Replying to: go1 (Mar 24, 2009 1:52 pm) yes, replace the sensor asap. then inspect the wiring behind the connector to see if there is any power steering fluid on it. if it has contaminated the wiring, welcome to our world.   P.s.- mucuna is the man. our savior thus far on this seeminlgly crazy battle.
#687 of 718 Re: Random Starting Problems with '98 [ceckert] by 2000dd Mar 30, 2009 (2:13 pm)
Replying to: ceckert (Mar 25, 2006 5:22 am) Hello, I know you posted this quite a while ago, but I'm now having similar problems. Sometimes my 2000 Dodge Durango simply will not turn over at all. If I move the shifter from "Park" into "Neutral", it will start up. I replaced the switch on the side of the transmission, but that did not solve the issue. Any suggestions?   Thanks!
#688 of 718 Re: ABS/BRAKE light stays on... [98durangoslt] by ncdodgeowner Mar 31, 2009 (8:44 am)
Replying to: 98durangoslt (Dec 10, 2007 9:31 am) (2000 Durango SLT) My ABS and brake light are on and stay on. They were intermittent as you described for several months. I finally investigated and found the rear speed sensor to be cracked. I replaced it, but the lights remain. Needless to say, I have no ABS as it will lock the wheels up real easily on a wet road. I have heard that the ABS must be reset by either the dealer or an ABS diagnostic tool. I have also heard that once it is repaired properly the lights go out on their own. I have let this go for a long time to fix other problems (like the O2 sensor fiasco) but now I am back to driving the truck and trying to get the rest of it right. I am trying to figure out if I need to fix something else, or just get it reset? I do not like going to the dealership unless I absolutely have to because they are as corrupt as they come. Has anyone worked on a 2000 SLT ABS system?
#689 of 718 2002 Durango by cdean1121 Apr 03, 2009 (8:25 am)
I have never had any problems till now. 5.9l motor the truck starts fine but will not shift to any position i was told by dealer it is neutral safety switch i am currently in the process of putting new one on. old one came off simple new one is a real pain just dont want to go in....... PLEASE any help would be great
#690 of 718 Re: All 2000 Durango 4.7L Owners [durangofan] by rchii Apr 03, 2009 (4:08 pm)
Replying to: durangofan (Jul 02, 2006 6:52 pm) Hey! This is exactly what we are having trouble with. We just purchased a 2000 Durango with a 4.7 in it. It started by giving me a 551 code(power steering switch). Then it added a misfire detected on cylinder #8. Now it has several other codes. However, it has started running extremely rich and idling rough. Black smoke comes pouring out of the tailpipe, especially when excelerating. Please! tell me what you did to remedy the situation. I will put the steering switch in tomorrow.   Thank you!   Bob rchiihotmail.com Replies to this message: mucuna (Apr 16, 2009 12:00 pm)
#691 of 718 Help! How much can a Durango tow? by iubound Apr 12, 2009 (1:31 pm)
How much can a Durango, with Hemi, Tow package , and 3.55 axle ratio tow? The dealers I speak to our clueless. Do I need the 3.93 axle ratio?   What experiences does anyone out there have?   My boat weights 4350 lbs, and my trailer 1500 lbs.   thanks.

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