Question buying a 1999 Durango 5.9 BOUGHT ONE

[kokxville]

Congrats John !!!Nice find,good miles !!!!
I bought a brand  new one Dec 98,white slt,318,no major options,kept it till Aug 2000 after seeing this new R/T model up on a display rack at the Dodge dealer I go to.And it was black !!!!!MMMMMM
My wife drove it sparingly the first year(10k miles),they started parking awfull close at her work,so started taking a spare car to avoid any unwanted dings/scratches,a VW jetta ,leaving this in the garage.
Then when that started becoming unreliable,she wanted to start driving the Durango again,and with two new young children spilling crap,puking,crumbs,toys,etc that was'nt gonna happen!!!!
So,a brand new 03 Caravan SXT was bought,which we still have and she loves.When we went to pick it up with the Durango,the manager commented on how well we kept it,and asked the miles,it had 12k on it then.
Fast forward to now,almost 9 years later,it only has 15k miles.2 years ago,the kid at the garage where I take it for emmisions, asked,don't you drive this, 15,208 miles????I told him about 100 miles a year.
A month ago when I went back,same kid doing the testing,did it again,comes out and says,are you F-ing with me It had 15,408,exactly 200 miles more !!!! Said,I told you,100 miles a year.
  Never sat outside one night,can't ever remember driving it in the rain,and def never rolled down a snow covered road yet.Actually,none of the wheels have ever been off it yet.I ignored the recall on the balljoints and clock spring in the steering wheel,don't want them monkeys touching it.
To late to sell now at this point,it's another garage ornament.NTM,oooooofffff,bad on gas with the AWD and 3:92's !!
I geuss I'm creating a future survivor for the tent @ Carlisle.LOL
,yes,i'm happy with it.But wow,that's a nice Durango you have there.
I guess i'll see that car i the survivor tent over 20 years,but that will be a senior meeting by then.
 

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[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

I used to have a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9Ltd. which was a pretty good vehicle overall...

Sold it when it hit 129,000 miles and got a fair price (something like $5,700 bucks) and had to little to the vehicle in the 10 + years we had it...

One thing the 5.9 L is known for, is leaking oil into the intake manifold

The other thing I had an issue with was one of the transmission sensors which caused it to bang off the rev limiter

Anyways, the Durango was not as sporty as I recall vs. the 5.9L Jeep. The difference was the frame, mostly.

To add to this post, two ways you can tell your 318 or 360 (5.9L) has a leaking intake... Take the air horn off the air inlet housing and you will see lots of oil when shining a light into the engine. That, or drive it and it will ping and knock like a son of a gun...

MOPAR Top End engine cleaner works well as a cheap fix, but does not cure the leak - pinging will come back...

[Dave Kanofsky]

Congrat's!  Good luck with it.

[kokxville]

Thanks