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new to me Durango, some noise when cold....

6K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  hemirunner[banned] 
#1 ·
ok, shame on me for buying it and all that, but it was pretty cheap. Its a 2003 4wd with the 4.7 and 155,000 miles. It was warm when I got there to check it out.....

The next day, when I started it there was some noise, some tapping....maybe the rods from what I can tell. It only lasted a minute, minute and a half then it quieted down. No noise at all the rest of the time it is running. We stopped at the store for an hour and a half, and no noise then either--still somewhat warm i guess.

Sooooo......my old B250 is noisy at first and I drive the heck out of that. Of course I ran right out and bought some Mobil1 and I will do an oil change--the oil seems dark to me, like it needs a change anyway.

My questions:
*If I let it warm up a couple minutes and dont hammer it, do you think it will last a while?
*Are there any oil additives that will REALLY help? No "overhaul in a bottle" now....
*How hard is it to drop the oil pan on these? Is there a ton of crap to move out of the way?---

I know by the time bearings are noisy that the clearances might suffer-and that replacing rod bearings only will do nothing to address the crank surfaces---but if I wanted to put new rod bearings in to make myself feel slightly better about it.....thats why I ask.

Thanks in advance for any replies/input!
Neil
 
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#2 ·
Do the oil and filter first. Then measure the oil pressure with a mechanical pressure gauge when cold.
Try to locate the noise to the front, upper or lower portion of the engine.
 
#3 ·
We got a carfax, after the purchase,...heh heh...but in any case it was a one owner, and it made 17 trips to the dealership for oil changes!! Good news I suppose. No accidents or anything either. Still havent got around to the oil change but I dont drive it much at this point.
 
#7 ·
We got a carfax, after the purchase,...heh heh...but in any case it was a one owner, and it made 17 trips to the dealership for oil changes!! Good news I suppose. No accidents or anything either. Still haven't got around to the oil change but I don't drive it much at this point.
Unless he changed his own oil that's about 9,000 miles between oil changes! That's not very good. Even though my Durango 3.6 interval is 8,000 miles I change it at least twice a year - after winter & before winter.
 
#4 ·
Our old '01 with 4.7 never had any significant issues, but it remains to this day, the most evil engine I've ever owned when it comes to keeping the oil in good shape. As long as the motor has been maintained well, (and from the carfax it appears it has been, ) I'd say just keep the best quality oil and filters you can afford in it and change it more often than you might think was necessary. I use Amsoil exclusively and on my '03 3.0L stratus coupe, I change the filter at 13k and the oil every 25k. (172k and going strong.) On the 4.7 using the same oil and filters I would change the oil every 5k becuase of how that motor treated the oil.
 
#6 ·
My 2002 Sebring was the same(2.7) the oil would be dirty at 2500-3000 miles. I ran full Mobil 1 and filter. I would change both at 3000-3500 miles, that was the most expensive car to maintain I ever owned. But I ran it too 120k miles with no engine issues, not bad considering the reputation that engine has.
 
#5 ·
ok, shame on me for buying it and all that, but it was pretty cheap. Its a 2003 4wd with the 4.7 and 155,000 miles. It was warm when I got there to check it out.....

The next day, when I started it there was some noise, some tapping....maybe the rods from what I can tell. It only lasted a minute, minute and a half then it quieted down. No noise at all the rest of the time it is running. We stopped at the store for an hour and a half, and no noise then either--still somewhat warm i guess.

Sooooo......my old B250 is noisy at first and I drive the heck out of that. Of course I ran right out and bought some Mobil1 and I will do an oil change--the oil seems dark to me, like it needs a change anyway.

My questions:
*If I let it warm up a couple minutes and dont hammer it, do you think it will last a while?
*Are there any oil additives that will REALLY help? No "overhaul in a bottle" now....
*How hard is it to drop the oil pan on these? Is there a ton of crap to move out of the way?---

I know by the time bearings are noisy that the clearances might suffer-and that replacing rod bearings only will do nothing to address the crank surfaces---but if I wanted to put new rod bearings in to make myself feel slightly better about it.....thats why I ask.

Thanks in advance for any replies/input!
Neil
ok, shame on me for buying it and all that, but it was pretty cheap. Its a 2003 4wd with the 4.7 and 155,000 miles. It was warm when I got there to check it out.....

The next day, when I started it there was some noise, some tapping....maybe the rods from what I can tell. It only lasted a minute, minute and a half then it quieted down. No noise at all the rest of the time it is running. We stopped at the store for an hour and a half, and no noise then either--still somewhat warm i guess.

Sooooo......my old B250 is noisy at first and I drive the heck out of that. Of course I ran right out and bought some Mobil1 and I will do an oil change--the oil seems dark to me, like it needs a change anyway.

My questions:
*If I let it warm up a couple minutes and dont hammer it, do you think it will last a while?
*Are there any oil additives that will REALLY help? No "overhaul in a bottle" now....
*How hard is it to drop the oil pan on these? Is there a ton of crap to move out of the way?---

I know by the time bearings are noisy that the clearances might suffer-and that replacing rod bearings only will do nothing to address the crank surfaces---but if I wanted to put new rod bearings in to make myself feel slightly better about it.....thats why I ask.

Thanks in advance for any replies/input!
Neil

That's called a Hemi tick. Dodge will do that lifter springs. replace them it will be back never fails. have it in my 2004 5.7 and in my 99 1500 sport with 5.9. no need for Mobil 1 just run regular 5w-30 in her you'll be fine.
 
#8 ·
Uhu.. a possibel sludger?
- Make sure the pcv parts are top notch.
- Try to find hdeo like rotella in xw-30 flavour or:
- Dope your oil of choice with a quart of redline xw- 3o or :
- Both;).
- Do a short oci no more than 3000 miles and repeat this a couple of times.
Do you live were theres a true Winter like below freezing and snow more than occasionally?
 
#9 ·
An oil change every 9000 miles is fantastic in my book, and better than what I generally do. Really. Remember when oil started getting really good and the manufacturers started touting longer intervals? Then it occured to them that they would sell less oil so they backed off of that marketing strategy real quick...Jiffy lube likes to tell you 3000 miles. Silly, but it makes more money for them. 15,000 miles is just fine for me. I will add that Ive had many cars go MUCH longer without. I cant believe this thread is still on the first page..I stopped by to ask about engine rotation and there it was......Ironic, as today I am buttoning the thing up from solving the root cause of the noise that led to me posting this thread. The ticking started lasting longer after start up. It was lifter tick...4.7 is notorious for it. Yes, it may come back but the lifters that were in it were very sloppy. Eventually the rockers will break, etc....I put some head gaskets on while I was at it. Engine was pretty clean inside as well...no sludge to speak of.

What trips me out is everywhere across the net, people have all sorts of strategies for using this oil or that oil to quiet up the lifters...if they shut up after 10 seconds, by all means drive the heck out of it. Normal even. With high mileage, they wear more and start tapping longer. Eventually stuff will break. Sad truth is the fix is new lifters...and yes the job is a bitch. Another thing that flips me out...my valve cover gasket was leaking on one side....SO many people on the boards were saying "Those are lifetime gaskets...they wont fail, there must be something else going on like a PCV valve clogged, excess pressure in crank case....HORSECRAP. When I took mine apart, there was a separation in that "lifetime" gasket...a crack...a break...RIGHT where it was leaking. Lifetime gasket could perhaps refer to the good people of the world who buy their cars new, drive them for 60,000 miles and then trade them in. My Durango has 189,000 miles on it at this point, and I plan on getting many more!

I take info from the net with a grain of salt. WHen I tore this thing down, I did NOT read a procedure first. People make things seem SO freaking difficult and you can psych yourself out majorly. ANd you just know that advice you get from alot of well meaning folks is just things they read somewhere. Case in point....years ago I pulled the heads off a 3.3 v6 to do timing chains and lifters. I was broke as hell then and can you believe I reused the head gaskets and the head bolts, and I drove it for another 3 years without issue until someone stole it? Over the years I've reused head bolts with a ford 1.9, a Volvo B21, and a Honda B16. No issues. Now, if I posted somewhere that I was planning to reuse the head gaskets and bolts, I would get 2000 people telling me what an idiot I was and that it would never work.Why? Did anyone of them try it and have it fail? No..they read it somewhere..( I tend to push the envelope...and of course you always SHOULD use new gaskets and bolts and form an engineering standpoint I know why.

I did in fact use all new parts on the Durango!
 
#11 ·
I had reused head bolts blow a new gasket thrice. All three times in K based cars. Drove K based cars a total of 1.7 million miles in 12 years. All I would drive every day to work and all over the state of Arkansas. I finally got so I carried a spare HG, TB, A/C belt in my car with tools. Could change a HG in a gas station parking lot in 45 minutes. LOL
 
#12 · (Edited)
re "lifetime" parts, I always have wanted to know which/whose lifetime it was. The part? The car? ...Hopefully not the owner?

My 4.7's been making a similar sound the last year when cold, but since it gets much louder the moment that I put the transmission in gear I'm pretty sure my noise is an exhaust leak. (Also, it started right after I did a silly torque-converter trick that came from my knowledge of wheel loaders... I needed to do an oil change, didn't have proper ramps but did have 6"x8" wood blocks available, so I put the pickup in 4x4 with the blocks in front of the front tires, then proceeded to slowly and steadily add throttle till the engine hit about 1300 RPM and was putting enough power into the converter to get the necessary output torque to make the pickup climb the blocks... my theory is that this procedure torqued the engine/transmission assembly in its mounts enough to make an exhaust connection slip and cause the leak)
 
#13 ·
An oil change every 9000 miles is fantastic in my book, and better than what I generally do. Really. Remember when oil started getting really good and the manufacturers started touting longer intervals? Then it occured to them that they would sell less oil so they backed off of that marketing strategy real quick...Jiffy lube likes to tell you 3000 miles. Silly, but it makes more money for them. 15,000 miles is just fine for me. I will add that Ive had many cars go MUCH longer without. I cant believe this thread is still on the first page..I stopped by to ask about engine rotation and there it was......Ironic, as today I am buttoning the thing up from solving the root cause of the noise that led to me posting this thread. The ticking started lasting longer after start up. It was lifter tick...4.7 is notorious for it. Yes, it may come back but the lifters that were in it were very sloppy. Eventually the rockers will break, etc....I put some head gaskets on while I was at it. Engine was pretty clean inside as well...no sludge to speak of.
Just remember this, regardless of oil quality, most of the dirt and grime and carbon and water, remains suspended in your oil, for the life of the oil change.
I'd prefer clean oil, without water, acid and carbon, not to mention microscopic metals, scouring the contact surfaces.
Oil is cheap, engines aren't. Don't waste money on synthetics and change your oil often and your engine will last thousands of miles.
As for the "Hemi tick", you first need a Hemi and VVT before it can be called "Hemi Tick" :cool:
 
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#14 ·
Just remember this, regardless of oil quality, most of the dirt and grime and carbon and water, remains suspended in your oil, for the life of the oil change.
I'd prefer clean oil, without water, acid and carbon, not to mention microscopic metals, scouring the contact surfaces.
Oil is cheap, engines aren't. Don't waste money on synthetics and change your oil often and your engine will last thousands of miles.
As for the "Hemi tick", you first need a Hemi and VVT before it can be called "Hemi Tick" :cool:


Up here in the great white north,synthetics are a must.Engine oil and diffs,makes a big difference at -40.My 07 Ram hemi ticks more and more as the miles pile up.Goes away when it warms up.Use a WIX filter and a oil grade suitable for your climate,and drive it.After 175k miles it doesn't owe me anything.
 
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