[Kevin1990]

Gentlemen,

after 3 years of searching, a Dodge Dynasty finally appeared on the European market.
3.0 / A604, 213 800 miles.....

Interior like new, Mitsu does not run, trans ? .

The car´s 1000 KM away from my place, so it´s a pretty long way to go for a 100 € car.


Are there any known rust problems / spots i should know about / take a look?

My Saratoga is rust free, even after 21 hard winter´s, but always kept in very clean condition.
Also my Voyager, no rust except a small spot on the sliding door......

Please let me know where i should take a closer look on this one.
The Dynasty is from a junkyard in Iowa.


Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Yes - check the rocker panels and rear axle spring perches.

Also, there's a small panel just in front of the decklid... these have been known to rust out underneath that panel.

The good thing about that particular engine/trans combination is if the A604 gives you any trouble, it can be swapped for the A670.

 

[valiant67]

Also, always check the floorboards.

 

[Kevin1990]

Thank you gentlemen!

I can see some rust spots under the drivers side doors....hope it´s not that bad.

Are the AC Bodies the only EEK´s fighting with that rust problem?

I checked a few AA Bodies arround here, all Saratoga´s made in Newark, none of them got any starting rust problem.
1st Gen. minivans, rear fender, tailgate, sliding door. 2nd. gen. is a complete mess arround here...."Made in Austria"....110 % bodywork failure.

 

[B10alia]

Nope, spring perches are pretty common rust areas on all EEK's. For the Dynasty, I would look at the typical Spirit/Saratoga places: bottom of the doors, floors, trunks, wheel arches. That's where I see a lot of it in the Northeast. My Spirit has a bad rust problem on the rear jacking hardpoints (the triangular things with the holes). It's only those, though, the rest of the metal is fine...

 

[Kevin1990]

Nope, spring perches are pretty common rust areas on all EEK's. For the Dynasty, I would look at the typical Spirit/Saratoga places: bottom of the doors, floors, trunks, wheel arches. That's where I see a lot of it in the Northeast. My Spirit has a bad rust problem on the rear jacking hardpoints (the triangular things with the holes). It's only those, though, the rest of the metal is fine...

OK, didn´t know that. Now ehere you said it....my Saratoga also starts to rust a bit on that jacking point, i removed the rust spots before winter and repainted / sealed it.
But i dont see it as a rust "problem", after 21 years, definatly OK.

I don´t have any rust on the doors, trunk or so, just missing the little edge of my right side rear wheel arch...

You should see some Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz modles, like Golf III (Rabbit hatchback) or C Class.....that´s a complete mess, if you think about the price of those vehicles.

 

[AllThumbs]

I've seen a few posts about rust on the floorboards, especially in convertibles. I'm assuming that's because the floorboard has even more structural importance in a convertible. But they're also easy to cut out and replace, so am I missing something? My convertible floorboards have some minor rust, and I was just going to cut the relatively small areas out and put in new metal. I figure it doesn't have to be pretty since it's covered by carpet, but maybe I'm missing a key point. Am I? I mean, that's a whole lot easier to do than a lot of work I've had to do on the old car, so why should I be tremendously worried about it? I'm asking because I don't know.

 

[raymondo112]

Definately the spring perches and rocker areas, floorboards are major spots, under the doors can be taken care of and sealed if caught in time and they are not real bad, my 90 Newyorker Landau also started getting soft near the wheel well area too, noticed it when I change the cv axle one time, car kept going though, never missed a beat I even sold it after I bought my first Intrepid ES I was thinking I was only going to get $100.00 for it, but some guy gave me $150 and didn't care about the rust and never checked nothing, just drove it around for a bit and gave the money. I couldn't believe it.

 

[raymondo112]

Im also guessing since it has the A-604 it is from the 88-89 model year, since most A-604s were phased out by the 41TE in 90 and above years at least to my knowledge, that A-604 was the worst one ever, in the late 80's they broke before even hitting 20,000 miles, and when rebuilding them, you had to add a 3rd seal to the input shaft, and all kinds of things, sometimes due to the lack or seals it would engage the low/rev, and overdrive clutches all at the same time causing them to burn out. I hated that transmission, now 2 generation Honda Oddysey's are famous for puking transmissions too, funny how things work.

 

[Kevin1990]

Im also guessing since it has the A-604 it is from the 88-89 model year, since most A-604s were phased out by the 41TE in 90 and above years at least to my knowledge, that A-604 was the worst one ever, in the late 80's they broke before even hitting 20,000 miles, and when rebuilding them, you had to add a 3rd seal to the input shaft, and all kinds of things, sometimes due to the lack or seals it would engage the low/rev, and overdrive clutches all at the same time causing them to burn out. I hated that transmission, now 2 generation Honda Oddysey's are famous for puking transmissions too, funny how things work.

Well thats interesting to read!

Btw....the Dynasty was done..more than done. We tried to get it up by using the hydr. lifter.. the only thing we lifted were the panels...cracked like a cookie.

I might start a A 604 discussion, i know, NEVER had before, haha, but i mean some reviews from people getting in contact with those transmissions in the first years...i wasn´t even born when the first Ultradrive cam out...

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Im also guessing since it has the A-604 it is from the 88-89 model year, since most A-604s were phased out by the 41TE in 90 and above years at least to my knowledge

The A604 is the 41TE. It just got renamed. I actually like it, even after having to replace the one in the Imperial. Then again, by 1992 they'd already been made a fair bit more reliable than the first couple years.

 

[Kevin1990]

What actually was the mayor problem before 92?

I know they had those buzzing noise problems in Reverse caused by the plate on the balve body (what i have). Also the bearings on the shaft are worn out, so my bump shifts won´t disappear without rebuilding it...

 

[valiant67]

Yep, all the 41TE is a result of a common name system being applied to all auto transmissions including the A604.
4 forward gears
1 (torque capacity on a scale of 0-9)
Transverse mount
Electronic control

What actually was the mayor problem before 92?

I know they had those buzzing noise problems in Reverse caused by the plate on the balve body (what i have). Also the bearings on the shaft are worn out, so my bump shifts won´t disappear without rebuilding it...

The biggest problem was a broken snap ring especially in the very early failures.

 

[Kevin1990]

Oh yeah, already said before...

I´ve seen this problem once, friend of mine got kind of a Chrysler yard, especially Minivans and Cloud Cars.
He´s got a 89´ 41TE, snap ring came apart and destroyed a complete clutch package...tough that it still was drivable!

 

[B10alia]

Plus the non-ATF+3 use led to a lot of premature deaths. That still applies, but Chrysler documentation back then said that Dex/Merc could be substituted.