Other engine problem on the 2001 Dodge Dakota
1 crash 3 injuries 4 of the 39 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Dodge Dakota report other engine problem at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 166,770 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
30% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11,330 miles | 32,732 miles | 73,150 miles | 95,875 miles | 178,100 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 3 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was driving through a tunnel in boston and my truck suddenly died for no apparent reason. I was able to pull over far to the side of the road but was still in the travel lane. The odometer was flashing "no bus" and all the dashboard indicator lights were on. The vehicle showed no mechanical signs of failure prior to stalling and made no noise when stalling - it just died. After being towed out of the tunnel (30 min. After the vehicle stalling), I attempted to start the truck and it started right up. I called the dealership and they had no service appointments for one week. This is unacceptable. Then, today (march 21), the truck died again in the same tunnel on my way home from work. This time, it started up after 5 minutes before the tow truck arrived. This is a safety issue and dodge seems uninterested in fixing it promptly. *jb
With only 48k miles on my truck, I had total engine failure. The problem was oil sludge that built up around the valves and blocked the flow of oil. The blocking of the flow of oil prevented the rest of the engine from being properly lubricated causing the engine to cease. *nlm
Ever since I purchased the vehicle, while using the A/C, I have noticed a bad oder.his oder is noticable once the A/C has cooled down the interior. I would describe he oder as a "powdery chemical" smell. When I took the vehical in for routine maintainance, I asked about it and was told "we wil look in to it" and the problem is still unresolved. I want to know if this smell is dangerus because I have two young infants as well as my wife I am concerned about. *ak
Also reported on the 2001 Dodge Dakota
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other powertrain problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other brake problem
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 39 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2001 Dodge Dakota?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2001 Dodge Dakota?
39 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed