Here i will be posting information about my 85 Dodge Daytona Z and some helpful information about this and other 2.2L turbo I cars from Dodge.  I have had this car for going on almost 7 years now, however there have been many daemons to kill to get it to where it is now.

85 Dodge Daytona Z front

85 Dodge Daytona Z side

85 Dodge Daytona Z rear

Above are pictures of my  85 Dodge Daytona Z. It has the 2.2L Turbo I engine with a 5 speed manual transmission. Options include power windows, door locks, front and rear wipers, sunroof, leather interior, 6way adjustable drivers seat, AC, power steering, power brakes, pizza style rims,

Production of the 1985 Turbo Z: 8,023 It came with the 2.2L Turbo I engine that produces 142 hp and 160 lb-ft of torque, using a Garret AiResearch turbocharger with 7.5 pounds of boost at the 6000 rpm.

History:

This car has been in my family for about 10 years. When my Dad originally got it it it was in parts, and had not been running for many years. The car currently has only about 80,000 original miles on it. Because it had sat so long, it has been plagued with many issues. I bought the car from my dad shortly after he had gotten it running again about 7 years ago. Aside from the hours and weeks of labor he put into getting the car back on the road i still have poured alot of time, money and effort into it as well.

At one point the water pump died, and i limped the car home. but in doing so it cracked the headgasket and started letting coolant into the cylinder. long story short, the engine ended up getting pulled and completely rebuilt. However then once it was rebuilt from scratch after less than the 500 mile break in, it would not maintain oil pressure when the engine got warmed up. fearing something was overlooked in the professional rebuild it went back to the machine shop to be torn down and rebuilt a second time. We put it back together and again after less than 500 miles it was not maintaining oil pressure when warm at this point we suspected an internal crack in the block that was expanding when the block got warm.

So off we went to the local wrecking yards to find a new block. We then rebuilt the engine for a third time, however with a new block, and all new parts the engine was off and running happy as a clam… until… the turbo decided it was time to die. I suspect that with all the bearings going out junk was floating around in the oil that caused this.  So not really surprised, but man turbos are expensive.  Now with a new engine, new turbo, and a host of other new parts its been happily running for over a year and over 15,000 miles now, and after moving to Utah, it has passed the emissions tests with flying colors.

Other issues have been normal fare for a car that is over 25 years old.  I have replaced the tires, shocks/struts, alternator, battery etc. Recently i had a bad ground to the wiper motor. That was fun.  Thru all of these trials my dad has been a huge help, and done alot if not most of the work.  Its wonderful to have the help and guidance of someone that has worked on cars professionally for about as long as i have been alive.

First lets start with some resources for these cars. Allpar – Wikipedia – TurboDodge – to name just a few. These cars if well maintained can be a blast to drive, and can be found for usually 1000.00 or less. Parts are relatively cheap, however other than drive train are becoming more hard to find.

Onboard Diagnostics: These cars made it very easy to get the fault codes out of the car, using the dash board’s Power Limited light to blink codes. To get the car to display the codes simply cycle the key to the on position then off x3 (on off on off on off on) The power limited light will then begin to blink codes. Count the flashes. All codes are two digits long It will blink out the first digit then a slight pause and flash out the second digit. then a longer pause and it will repeat for however many codes are stored. (NOTE: it will always blink 55 at the end of codes indicating end of test. ) I was able to scan the fault code definitions from an official Dodge Manual. Its available here.