Check Engine Light On problems of the 2001 Dodge Durango

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Durango. The contact was driving approximately 30-50 mph when the vehicle suddenly stalled. The security, check gauges and check engine warning lights were illuminate on the instrumental panel. The vehicle was then inspected by a dealer and they advised that then failure could have been caused by the fuel pump, battery or ignition switch. All of which were repaired to no avail. The failure would recur on an intermittent basis. The contact stated that the dealer was unable to diagnose the exact cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Without warning the check engine light came on and oil pressure dropped, vehicle made a noise like a ticking sound. Truck was taken to dealer, who said he would check it out, and if the engine was bad it will have to be replaced at owner's expense. Manufacturer has not been contacted yet. Caller said there was a good possibility that the problem was an oil sludge.

Oil pressure dropped, check engine light came on, pulled on & checked oil - ok. Then lights came on again & Durango stalled as we were pulling over on the interstate. Towed to service center, sludge in engine, new engine $6000. Regular oil changed were performed, should not have had sludge in engine. I have learned that there are hundreds of Durango owners have had to pay thousands of dollars of unjustified charges because of Dodge's failure to admit that the engines of some Durangos develop sludge when you check the following websites you'll immediately see the pattern: consumeraffairs. Com, NHTSA. Gov, carsurvey. Org, or simply google "oil pressure Durango" or "durango sludge".

While driving my Durango on 09/01/03, my check engine light came on. The oil pressure guage began flucutating up and down. I immediately drove home,@ 2 miles, and parked the vehicle. On September 2, 2003, I drove the Durango @4 miles to the srvc. Dept. At darcars. Later that day darcars informed me that the engine was "sludged up" and was beyond repair. The engine has approximately 44,867 miles on it. I purchased it off of the show room floor as a demo. I immediately contacted the manufacturer, daimler Chrysler (daimler), to complain and seek some type of assistance. The representative at daimler stated that he would open a file on my vehicle and contact darcars to get some additional info. Daimler advised that in order for them to determine if they could provide any type of assistance, I would first need to provide authorization for darcars to tear the engine apart to do a further diagnosis. I gave darcars verbal authorization to perform the further diagnosis. On 09/10/03, darcarsadvised that they had removed the valve cover and detected sludge down in the engine. Darcars said that they decided not to take the engine apart because the labor cost (@15 hrs would be borne by me. Darcars already "knew what the problem was and did not see the need to add an additional labor charge to me on top of the cost for a new engine. At the invite of the darcars service rep I went to take a look at the engine. Everything on the engine was intact. It did not appear that the valve cover had ever been removed. At this point the service rep opened the oil fill hole,removed a plastic piece, and showed me the "buildup" on it. He stated that this was an indication of the sludge buildup in the engine. The daimler local rep looked at my Durango and listened to the engine and indicated that there was nothing he or daimler could do for me. This is a "catch 22": a labor cost on top of a new engine. Without taking the engine out, I don't know for certain that there isn't some type of engine defect.