I drove my truck through an ill-placed river in Alaska. Now I need a new engine. There seems to be a shortage of them up here, however, and I need to know what years are compatible. Help!? It WAS a 1995 V8 318 5.2L…
For all things Dakota, this is a great site. I lurked here for years when I had my 95 Dakota.
Off the top of my head, the Magnum V6 and V8s were introduced in in 1992. The 1992 and 1993 Magnums had a few more horsepower than the 94 and 95 engines due to a difference in the exhaust set up. The last year for the Gen II Dakota was 1996, however OBDII was introduced so the electronics of the 96 are probably incompatible with prior years. Dakotas from 1992 to 1995 were OBDI and may be interchangeable. Note - the V6 and V8 used different auto transmissions, 42RH and 46RH respectively.
This is an educated guess on my part, your best bet for info is the Dakota site previously mentioned.
Good luck with the Dak,
Ed B.