Ot-General question about my old truck

[JIPJOBXX]

I have a 1986 Dodge Dakota four cylinder powered truck. Since I have never owned one of these before and I have noticed that it lacks power to accelerate after reaching about 60 miles per hour. It has good compression, new tune up, new gas filter and everything seems to be up to snuff but still if I'm accelerating up a hill I haft to keep on shifting down to keep it going. Any ideas about my problem or is it just the nature of my slug? Were the old Dodge Dakota's underpowered to begin with? Kind of frustrating but it is a good weekend truck for moving stuff as long as I do not haft to go fast. Thanks any answers will be appreciated. Jon

[greg g]

check the many vacuum lines for leaks.

[JIPJOBXX]

I have installed a vacumm gage and it shows no leakage. Any other ideas? And the gage runs real steady at idle speed and of course it drops when I accelerate. I just kind of feel that this is a dud of a truck that was put out to the general public to sell for it fuel economy.

[52b3b Joe]

It might just be the nature of the truck. The 2.2l 4 cylinders are rated at 97hp in the Dakotas I think. I had a ranger with just under 120hp 2.5l and it wouldn't like overdrive up overpasses.

[Dodgeb4ya]

A plugged up Cat will cause the vehicle to be lethargic too.

[JIPJOBXX]

Cat

[Niel Hoback]

Even a bent tailpipe will do that. Or a potato in the end of it.

[48mirage]

I had the exact same truck new. Underpowered.

[Frank Elder]

A plugged up Cat will cause the vehicle to be lethargic too.

Cat

You are priceless your cat as in converter.............catalytic converter. Now you haft the rest of the story.

[Don Coatney]

A plugged up Cat will cause the vehicle to be lethargic too.

Cat

I am surprised, You understand lethargic but not Cat??? Red Green could do better:D

[LAKOTA169]

as long as I do not haft to go fast. Thanks any answers will be appreciated. Jon

Just go half fast.

[Joe Flanagan]

Ever hear the one about the constipated feline?

[littlemo]

Sometimes this place is just a "plethora of insignificant data" !!! lol... Cass, alias littlemo...

[Dodgeb4ya]

A couple of helpful pictures. NOTE-one is correct, and this should help answer a bit of confusion over a blocked up cat that can cause cars to be lethargic.

But I suppose this might just cause more confusion about cats or create some bad cat jokes!

Bob

[Don Coatney]

Great photos Bob! Thanks for posting. Let the cat jokes roll...

[BobT-47P15]

I have a friend who drives a 4 cyl pickup.....Mazda I think it is.

Same deal........definite lack of power......has to shift a lot at times....but it gets good gas mileage. Glad it's his and not mine.

I have two cats -- but neither has learned how to operate the remote control

yet. They have tried to open doors, though. (I drank their beer when they

were asleep.)

[Socal48]

I had a 93 Ranger 2.3l 5spd, great little truck worked it hard for 4 years, I sold it for what I paid for it...very underpowered and forget about it when I had the A/C on, avg about 20-21mpg

My brother had a 96 Tacoma 4 cyl 5speed, ran circles around the Ranger and got 25mpg...but the chassis on the Ranger was twice the size...go figure.

[Young Ed]

Ya I heard toyota has actually been replacing frames on some of those under warranty.

[flatheadtim]

Check your "cat" with a back pressure tester it should stay below 2 psi @ 2500rpm at the front 02 sensor position or if you cant get one try removing o2 sensor before cat and drive if you have more power then you probably have a plugged cat. Also could be many things to cause lack off power--fuel filter,MAF/MAP, vac leak at map/maf etc.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Ya I heard toyota has actually been replacing frames on some of those under warranty.

I still have the Dealer letter from Toyota on my Tacoma. 218,000 miles and still OK even with the extended frame. It's a 4 banger and has plenty of power with AC/PS and the Auto transmission. Always fully loaded too. Great truck.

[JBNeal]

I had my '89 Dakota 2.5L for 7 years, it was reliable, got 25mpg around town and boy-howdy was it SLOW...I upgraded to a K&N filtercharger, and that seemed to help driving around town, but out on the highway, if there was a hill coming up, I had to make a running charge at it to make it over without downshifting. I rented a U-haul trailer (the small one) to move some larger furniture and stuff several times, and it would not pull in OD cuz it didn't have the guts. The 2.5L was rated at 99hp, but it was throttle-body fuel injected so it ran a li'l better than my previous Dodge, an '86 Omni with the carbureted 2.2L. Moving up to a '92 Dakota longbed with the Magnum 3.9L was night & day difference: that V6 could spin the tires, had plenty of grunt to haul stuff, and could get me into trouble on the highway with The Man. I test-drove a '96 Dakota Sport with that Jeep 2.5L, and it had way more power than the Dodge 2.5L, but neither were a match for the V6. And the Magnum V8? WHOA NELLY

[Captain Neon]

The two Dodge Dakotas my parents have had were both 4x4 V6 models. Great trucks! I keep trying to con them out of their '96 Dakota. If I remember right, the 4 cylinder model actually cost more than the V6. I didn't know any one with a 4 cylinder Dakota.

[JIPJOBXX]

Thanks for all the information! Someone in the past life of this truck took oft all of the emission control stuff (Well most of it) and I thought maybe that might haft to do something with the power range. But what I have read here its just the nature of the beast. I'm really quit surprised that these little four bangers don't better MPG also. I think mine might get 18 to 20 and that's stretching it. Don't like that feeling of no power on the freeway up a small hill so I think I might just sell it to another fool and buy a v6 model.

[Young Ed]

18-20 is pathetic. My v6 dakota gets that and I have some power. It will tow cars haul crap etc without difficulty.

[Plymouthy Adams]

sad part of buying a 4 banger..they require higher revs and lower gears to do equal work..often the trade off in the cylinders is not economical..never send a boy to do a man's job...