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Sjorge450R
10-09-2006, 07:04 PM
Okay well let me start off. I bought a 87 dakota back in august as my first truck. Well I go for my lisence next saturday. I am in no hurry or any thing. The thing is, all I really need to get my truck to pass inspection (i hope) is i gotta replace the brakes. (doing it sunday) But here is the thing. None of the gauges work good. The all jiggle back and forth in an inconsisent pattern. Like the Speedo will just go back and forth. The oil presue just goes all the way up, then all the way down. The battery gauge works. and the fuel gauge works. Whats up with this. This is the first time that my dad encountered this. (worked on a lot of vehicles in his day) Help me out!!!

Steve
rider250ex
10-09-2006, 07:07 PM
my first truck was an 87 dakota 4x4. same thing happened to me. i never fixxed it and never had any problems.
Sjorge450R
10-09-2006, 07:16 PM
Originally posted by rider250ex
my first truck was an 87 dakota 4x4. same thing happened to me. i never fixxed it and never had any problems.


nice, how was the gas milage? I probaly wont fix it, but it would be nice. I hope i get some time out of this truck. Its got some balls for an 87 3.9. 161,000 on her.
CannondaleRider
10-09-2006, 07:18 PM
Sounds like my '91 Dodge Ram, Cummins, 1 Ton.

Oil pressure gauge inconsistantly works(very scary the first time I saw it peg at zero), speedometer never works, but sometimes pegs, fuel gauge works fine, and voltage works fine.

I know it's common for the Speedometer to stop working on my type of truck, apparantly a $32 sensor that reads the speed off the back of the tranny or transfer case will fix the speedo problem

Not sure on the oil pressure gauge.
Sjorge450R
10-09-2006, 07:24 PM
Originally posted by CannondaleRider
Sounds like my '91 Dodge Ram, Cummins, 1 Ton.

Oil pressure gauge inconsistantly works(very scary the first time I saw it peg at zero), speedometer never works, but sometimes pegs, fuel gauge works fine, and voltage works fine.

I know it's common for the Speedometer to stop working on my type of truck, apparantly a $32 sensor that reads the speed off the back of the tranny or transfer case will fix the speedo problem

Not sure on the oil pressure guage.

yeah we were thinking along the lines of that. I will try to mess with it once I get some time, but now I have to get my 300ex motor back together.
rider250ex
10-09-2006, 07:43 PM
it was pretty good on gas. yea it had alot more balls than i thought it would. not only that but it would go though anything. it was so good for offroading. you should look around for some dakota forums. i used to be on a few and they were really good but i forget what they were. i think one might be dakotausa.com
Stevie-D
10-09-2006, 07:57 PM
dodgedakotas.com


:cool:
firefighterjosh
10-09-2006, 11:55 PM
12 MPG average. My fuel guage went out but other then that they all work great.

All I can say. "Thats a dodge for ya":p
Hornbreaker
10-10-2006, 11:24 AM
Check to see if the back of the dash has a printed circuit. A friend of mine has an 84 Dakota that had the same problem as you, all we did was removed the dash & replaced the printed circuit. We did this about 3 years ago. His truck now has over 250,000 on it with no more trouble. If Dodge changed things I would go to my local dealer & talk to the mech. Maybe one of them have seen his problem before. Good Luck.
CannondaleRider
10-10-2006, 04:19 PM
Originally posted by Kickstarts_Suck

buy all autometer gauges

That doesn't help if the sender unit/sensor/electronics arn't working
Stevie-D
10-10-2006, 04:22 PM
forgot to mention this in my last post...but dont expect great gas mileage out of it. speaking from experience...i got maybe 11-12 mpg out of my 95 fuel injected dakota. the 3.9 is too small a motor for the truck, requiring you to be on the gas more than if the truck had a 318.