dodge dakota wont go into any gear

30

Asked by Alain Jul 07, 2018 at 11:23 PM about the 1999 Dodge Dakota SLT LB RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

i have a 1999 dodge dakota with 170k miles i bought it for 700$ i knew i had
to put money into it obviusly so when i bought it it was very hard to put into
gear. basically had to force it to get into 1st gear but when u would take off
the rest of the gears would still be a little hard but drivable so when i got
home the next day i check the clutch fluid and it was completly empty i filled
it up and bleed the system till it wouldnt take any more fluid it got a little
better for only a day then it got worse then when i bought it the next day i
replaced the clutch master cylinder and the slave i bought it from advanced
auto parts when i got home i installed it bleed it completely and i would say it
got worse wouldnt even get into first not even if u would try to force it then i
decided to do the clutch i took down the transmisson and the oil was very
dirty and strong smelling so i know it wasnt replaced in a while had thick oil
on the end of the drain bold never noticed any metal tho so i inspected the
clutch and it was completely fried im talking about it was smooth and the
flywheel was worrped so i didnt want to risk and shave that one i just ordered
everything brand new when i installed iall the new parts i filled it with the
gear oil dodge told me to use and also used the lucas trans. oil to help ita
little more i started the truck and it started just fine but would not go into gear
at all still it is super hard and now even with the truck off the gears wont go in
completely they go in half way but u have to force it i was able to get it into
first gear after trying for so long and turned on the car to get the fluid running
on the tranny i went to release the clutch and u move a very small amount of
the clutch and the truck is ready to go i also noticed that when i started it int
1st gear it rolled a little front like i was releasing the clutch when it was all the
way in the floor i have already looked and didnt noticed any adjustment on
the peddle what would be my next step i have tried everything and stil cant
get it to drive anything helps maybe some1 has been thru this b4 and can
help me out sorry for the lomg text i wanted to explain everything i have
done and thanks for the help

6 Answers

7,465

Did you install a new clutch fork also? If not it may be bent

2 people found this helpful.
30

no but i did clean it out and it looked good to me it was stra8 and i also put the new throw out bearing the kit comes with

7,465

You've really covered all the bases! How did you you bleed it? If by gravity (drip) there may still be air. How much travel does the clutch pedal have? It's unlikely but possible that the pedal itself is bent and not activating the hydraulics enough. Just for fun try "kicking" the clutch pedal to the floor to see if the extra pressure thats created by doing so disengages the clutch, please don't put your foot through the floor board or I'll feel terrible. Lol

30

i bleed it the way youtube said i took out the slave cylinder and opneded the cap and just pressed it against the tranny about 20-30x and kept filling it up till it didnt ask for any more fluid i had to refill it about 2-3x till it was tooped off and no more bubbles but what i did notice last night is that the clutch peddle has about 2-3 inches of free play idk if that can be something

1 people found this helpful.
30

and now that i think about it the clutch master cylinder that i bought from advanced auto parts when i opned it was 100% used it didnt look abused tho but u can tell it been used so now coming to think the day i changed out the clutch master and slave it were for it to be a little better than the day that i bought it not get worse i would say so maybe it can have an internal leak?? if its even possible cux idk what else i should do i really wouldnt want it to be the tranny but i guess only way to find out is take a loss on another $60 and get an actual new master cylinder and hope it helps me if not then i got to say its a bad tranny idk what else to think off that can cause this its first time i ever had that problem and ive done about 15 clutches in just 2018

2 people found this helpful.
7,465

2-3 inches of freeplay seems like a little much and probably explains why it wont disengage the clutch. Take it back and show them, they should exchange it for another seeing as how they sold you a used part. I used to work on the parts counter and although rare I did see used parts in New boxes. I suspect someone changed their part, put the old one in the box and that the parts person didnt inspect it before returning it. This is why it's so important that you as a consumer inspect it before purchase, i always opened up the box in front of the customer just in case. If there is an internal leak "kicking" the pedal will usually overcome that and create extra pressure, also if you push the pedal slowly and hold it down for a moment does it come back up or stay on the floor?

1 people found this helpful.

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