The Durango engine had only 30,528 miles on it - the engine block light came on and there was a misfire. Mechanics were sure the engine had been submerged in water; unable to remove two of the spark plugs (broke). Had to replace entire engine. A year later, with a new engine, there is another misfire. Water again was the problem. Mechanics discovered that rain water was coming through the plastic cowl through two holes for the windshield wiper mechanism and going right onto the engine and causing a short and misfire.

The reason for low mileage is that I do not use this vehicle every day; was purchased to assist my local Office of Emergency Management so as to be able to tow an emergency assistance trailer.

The DAMN COWL is poorly designed and is the cause of the entire problem; there is no where for rain water to drain AWAY from the engine. Idiots should have seen this coming!

Temporary solution is to cover windshield and hood with a tarp secured to the body when parked and raining. (Or garage the car) Permanent solution would be to insert a metal containment system slanted to lead the water away from engine and insert a drain line to allow the water to drain harmlessly.

Sorry Dodge - I'll never buy another of your vehicles again.

Just paid this piece of CRAP off on Christmas day!

It started to overheat last summer. My wife and I noticed that when the A/C was on the temp needle would climb to 3/4 of the way up. We would just turn off the A/C for a little while and it would start to go back to 1/2. WE LIVE IN TEXAS! Winter came, no problems. When it started to get hot outside this year, it started doin its' thing again. Took it to the Dodge dealership and they did a test where I guess they pump a blue fluid into the radiator and check to see if it returns yellow, indicating combustion. Yep, you guessed it. Yellow. Chances are, either a cracked head, warped head, or bad head gasket. They wanted to charge me out the hole to dig into the engine. I told them that I would take care of it.

So we do the "turn off the A/C trick" for a period of time until a few days ago when my wife noticed that the check engine light came on. I had a buddy plug in his computer (code reader) and it said "cylinder #8 missfiring."

What I believe has happened is that coolant is now seeping into cylinder #8 after the "crack" has gotten worse because of running at a high temp. I have seen many forums online with LOTS of people complaining about these CRAP 4.7L engines. Its the SAME STORY across the board!

The Dodge dealership quoted me a "worse case scenario" of replacing both heads for about $4,000.00. I BARFED IN MY MOUTH!

Ok. Lets say I go that route. $4,000.00 to replace the heads and some other part of the engine goes? What about all this "OIL SLUDGE" I keep reading about? SCREW THAT! I'm replacing the motor.

I have gotten several quotes about just replacing the engine. (NOT FROM THE DODGE DEALERSHIP) About $4,300.00. Reconditioned motor, water pump, radiator hoses, 3yr, 100,000 warranty on parts and labor. Do it and be done with it. Hopefully it will last a couple of more years until I get the CASH (financing is dumb, debt is dumb) saved up to buy a FORD TRUCK!!!

My other vehicle is a 1991 Ford F-150 with a 5.0L engine. It's old, it's ugly, it's paid for, and THAT SUCKA'S A TANK!!!

I bought in April 2005 a 2004 Dodge Durango with 100 miles, in August 2005 I initially took my vehicle into the local dodge dealer due to my check engine light coming on. I was told two days later that there was NO problem with my vehicle, the the light never came on, and the shaking I was having was the way my vehicle was supposed to drive. In April 2007, my brother (a Chrysler Mechanic) borrowed my car for the weekend to drive up to school. When he returned my car, he told me to take it directly to our local Chyrlser dealer and have it checked out cause something was extremely wrong. I took it in and they said I needed some engine work, and my transmission looked at, but that they couldn't fit me in that week due to it being season in our town. So I brought it in the next week. Two weeks later I finally pick up my car, they had only done transmission work. The "engine guy" was backed up. Finally, early July I brought it in again. Well my car needed a new engine, and a ton of bolts and other adjustments due to a bunch of stuff was missing/installed incorrectly...now I've never taken this vehicle to any one other than Dodge or Chrysler, and they've tried blaming me ...On August 9th I received my car back, by the 10th I was ready to return it cause It was STILL shaking, and the 12th my check engine light came back on. I called Chrysler to inform them, they told me to drive it for a week, and see if the light went off. It never did. I went to take my vehicle in and Chrylser refused to work on it. told me to take it to Dodge. Well Dodge is on the other side of town, so I had to wait until I had more time to get there. The next week I was driving to my mothers house and the car started sputtering, not wanting to drive, the RPM's were jumping everywhere. It ended up correcting itself. But still first thing Monday I drove to Dodge, they said water had gotten into my sparkplugs, cause the techs used the wrong sparkplugs on my engine, and didn't screw in all the way. Had to pay for a $273. tune up on an engine that didn't yet have 1,000 miles. (I'm still waiting to have Daimler chrysler reimburse). Well two weeks after that, I had the same issues again, car is shaking extremely bad after 70 mph (i do alot of interstate driving), shakes bad at idle, check engine light is back on again, not wanting to drive. Well I took it in to Dodge again and they said I could have a harmonic balancer problem in the engine. Now remember, tomorrow would be two months that I've had my vehicle back from the new engine being installed. Of that time, my car has been in the shop close to a month. I've been out of it now three weeks. and the time with the tune up was 4 days. I get a call that because dodge is owned seperatly from our local chrysler, they can't warranty out my engine, and I need to take it to Chrysler, who by the way refuses to work on my vehicle. I've been assigned a special claims rep in Detroit with Daimler Chrysler, but have found pretty much that they are just a sounding board when your mad. They don't really get much done for you. Still waiting to find out what they can do to fix my vehicle. They tell me that I am a second owner on the vehicle so I'm not covered under the Lemon Law's, but Daimler Chrysler is the only other person to hold a title on the vehicle. I'm at a loss, I've basically got an expensive paperweight.

I have been having problems with my durango ever since I bought it. This is not a winter car in the north. My car started chuggin' (misfiring) and I took it to the dealership and they said I had water in where my sparkplugs were. I asked how it got there and they stated that it was caused for carwash. If that's the cause no one better take their cars through car wash because your gonna get water in your sparkplugs. I said fine, so i started washing my car by hand. Let me remind you this is only happening in the winter months that there is snow on the ground. this keeps happening and the only thing they are doing is putting lubericant in the sparkplugs to dry them out. I may be a woman but I am not dumb. It started snowing this week and my engine light came on again and it is misfiring. I have to take my durango back in so they can do their temp. fix on it. Thank god this is a leased durango but I do feel sorry for the next person that buys it because if they didn't fix the problem correctly now the next person is gonna get it.