Over the course of the last week or two I have noticed several things
my 00 Dakota with 4.7 is doing. initially when I start the engine, it
revs higher than it normally does. It also seems to be down on power,
and a week ago while tooling down the highway, I noticed the clutch
converter disengaging for a second and then locking up again. I
thought it was my imagination the first time it did it, then I started
paying closer attention to the tach.. sure enough, it was disengaging
here and there on my way back from trip to visit family. I'm also not
very impressed with the fuel economy of this engine.. it's horrible.

Are there any tricks to making this engine any less hungry for gas??
most of my consumption is during in traffic and a 4 mile round trip
back and forth to work 4 days a week is causing the truck to guzzle
half a tank of gas. I love this truck aside from the annoying rear
view mirror and fuel economy. I bought the truck used back in November
with 64K on the odometer and it is equipped with one of those intake
tornados. I'm not convinced that it actually does anything except
blocking the intake path. I removed the 31 inch all terrains recently
and it seems to have increased my fuel economy just a tad on the
highway. It certainly has made my ride much quieter and smoother.

I'm also experiencing some rough shifting in the transmission..
although it's not all of the time.. periodically it seems to bump, and
normally when I hit the highway with the truck, and though not related
to the tranny, about 10 minutes on the highway, the truck seems to
burp momentarilly once and is fine from that point on. I'm also
hearing the cycle duty solenoids bumping more now since all of this
started.

I also currently own a Dodge Intrepid which is the second one I have
owned. My first 95 Intrepid suffered shuttering problems in the
tranny, and I fixed the problem myself by removing the Dexron and
replacing it with Chrysler fluid. My question here is.. I read some
place that the Dakota transmission is based on the transmission that
was used in the Intrepids, so I'm wondering what kind of fluid is best
for my tranny?? I have owned a lot of Chryslers in the past, and I
have had all sorts of transmission problems with them.. mostly broken
reverse bands in 904's and 727's.

Oh yes! the check engine light has not been on (thus far)

Thanks!!

00 Dakota Sport 4X4 4.7 Magnum