Dodge made a mistake when they were designing the Dakota

Automobiles are designed to discourage owners from trying to work on them . They have to keep their dealers in business at $90.00 per hour for labor & 1000 % markup on parts . The saddest part is that most so called mechanics , or is it technicians now , are nothing more than part changers . They keep replacing parts until they hopefully fix your problem . Meanwhile you get to pay for all the parts they replaced ( needed or not ) and all the time they spent replacing them .

Will trade you for about thirty Lbs of rank frozen hog meat.

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:cool: :angel: TRUTH & MERCY
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In order to change the headlight bulbs on our VW Passat, the bumper, wheel lining, and (I believe) the front quarter panels need to be removed. DH changed ALL the bulbs that day. The tail lights are not quite as bad - just have to remove the entire trunk liner.

Our 96 and 97 Accords are easy-peasy!

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Chixarecute...and tasty, too!

The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.

You mean to tell me the headlight failed BEFORE the engine and drive train on a Dodge? Hmmm, they must have changed things up since I was a kid.

hehehehehehe

What do you need head lights for anyway?

you never watch where your driving.

Dakotas are the K vard of today. Junk. BTW - I drive a Dodge truck. The Dakotas are rubbish.

Our '95 ram 2500 with the Cummons Turbo Diesel is going strong, and so is my '98 Durango. But both have the plastic headlights that yellowed and got car cataracts. I tried the headlight polishing kits. Finally gave up and had the entire headlight assemblies replaced. I had to. It was getting unsafe to drive because we couldn't see the road, even with high beams.

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

That's still cheaper than you taking it to the dealership, and them having to wiggle and finangle around for an hour.

And as WV Hillbilly said, the car makers don't want you to work on the vehicles.

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Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

Now that was funny!

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In order to add transmission fluid to my Town & Country van, it has to go in to the shop...and so far, no one but a Chrysler/Dodge dealer wants to mess with it! I can't even check to see if I need any!

Mon

Most transmissions are like this now days. Transmission fluid is good for 100k minimum.

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My 2005 Silverado has that, move the rod and both headlamps come out, then you can take out either the DRL or Turn signal.

I thought it was a good idea after having to remove the entire grill on my '93 Jimmy to get to the headlamps!

Then I learned that the 2007 body change made it an all day job.

That seems to be a darn sight longer than the TRANSMISSION is good for! Have 75K miles on my van, had the transmission replaced about 15K ago...and my transmission is slipping & clunking yet AGAIN!

Shame when the fluid lasts longer than what it goes in!

Mon

Some newer cars can't have the transmission fluid checked by the owner because they don't come with a dipstick. my old Durango has a dipstick. Hubby's new Jeep doesn't. I didn't realize that until I took it into Oil Can Henry's for an oil change. They let you sit in the car and see what they are doing. They keep a dipstick there to check all of the cars that don't have them. According to them, when it comes to dipsticks, one size fits all. I asked about it and the guy said that the newer cars come without one, and and that any dipstick would work. They open the cap, stick the dipstick down the tube, and if it needs filling, they use a funnel to pour some down the tube and put the cap back on.

If this is true, and the system is the same on all of the cars here, owners should be able to get a dipstick and use it to check their own transmission fluid and get a funnel to keep it topped off. Narrow tipped funnels are sold at auto parts stores pretty cheap.

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

BMW has a fill bolt like a manual transmission and Toyota has a stick...if it ain't leaking its full.

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On my 1500 all the bulbs can be replaced with no tools. On the Grand Caravan the headlights don't need tools, tail lights you can change with a butter knife or sharp rock.

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The internet - fueling paranoia and misinformation since 1873.

Run away from that shop and never go back.

Your Jeep probably has the NAG1 transmission. The dipstick for that one is Miller Special Tool #9336A. They don't come with a dipstick because the fluid level needs to be checked a particular way (I'm not a wrench, I don't know the procedure). If you don't read it while doing the hokey pokey exactly right, you'll get the wrong reading- and either not add what you need or overfill it.

Yes, it's a stupid system. But not as stupid as garages that don't understand that there actually is a system.

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The garden's getting bigger this year. Again.

I agree, one size does not fit all...cut 3" off the dipstick and test fluid level.

Vehicles have longer and shorter tubes...no way one stick can fit all.

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Heck my 96 Dodge Ram is easy to work on . To replace the headlight bulb all you do is reach around the battery and take the connector off and pull the bulb. It's probably one of the easiest I've worked on, you just have to find out how to take them apart. Once you find that info it's easy.

Bobg

They have different length tubes and differently shaped pans. A tube going into the sump at a different angle will also need to be a different length. If the fluid needs to be at a certain temperature, etc.

If you could really use a universal one, why would the factories waste so much money by having so many different dipsticks? Or bolts, bulbs or whatever?

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The garden's getting bigger this year. Again.