Head gasket failure on the 2001 Dodge Durango
Only 2 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When head gasket failure gets reported
There are 2 reports of head gasket failure on the 2001 Dodge Durango, 2 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 115,000 miles. It is the 47th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 126,500 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
Putting it right typically runs $1,400–$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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 13; the 2001 has 0. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
(1) events leading up to the failure, while driving on a 20 mile dirt mountain road with very little grade at a slow speed of 10 to 20 miles an hour. Ac was not on!. 2) failure and its consequences, overheating for unknown reason. The engine would not stay cool and ended up using our 4 gallons drinking water to keep it cool. Consequence, the heads on the truck warped due to failure of the head gasket. *ak (3) what was done to correct the failure; I.e, parts repaired or replaced (and if old part is available) a dealer service mechanic inspected the vehicle the next day. Exhaust gases were detected in the coolant water. This was due to a head gasket failure. After the heads were removed and sent to a head shop for inspection and removal of components it was discovered the heads were warped. The mechanic contacted a dodge dealer and he was advised the head part numbers were changed due to a known issue with the current heads. New heads are on order at this time and other components will be inspected over the next 2 days. The expense and inconvenience of this failure is costing me approximately $5000.00 over the next 7 days of not…
The engine continue to leak oil near the head gasket and there is water coming out of the tail pipe and continue to leak coolant. Can not drive long distance without loosing the coolant. Had to be towed off the freeway due to this happening. I was told need possible new engine and this is problem with dodge engine. *tr
Also reported on the 2001 Dodge Durango
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other suspension problem
Other body or interior problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 2 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 2 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 head gasket failure happen on the 2001 Dodge Durango?
Across 2 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 125,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is head gasket failure on the 2001 Dodge Durango?
2 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 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