Dodge 4.7L in Druango's and Ram's

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Fuelman

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Mar 22, 2005
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Central, NY
I have an 02 Durango and 03 Ram, both with 4.7L engines. Durango has 66K, Ram 100K. Both owned since new and analy retentive about oil changes, 3K at the most. Always use 5W-30 and puralator filters.
As many 4.7L owners know, this engine likes to rattle the lifters a lot at start-up, both mine were no exception.
About 10 OCI's aqo in the Ram, I started using Val Max Life to see if it quieted it down, nope. Tried the Pennzoil HM, still tapped at startup. I went back to regular oil, no change, went to M-1, no change.
I saw Castrol GTX HM on sale at wallys and picked up 4 jugs since both vehicles were due an OCI.

Well, I noticed a difference the moment it went in. Completly quiet at startup, at any time. After 3K, it is still quiet in my Ram and will stick with it. Same story with the Durango, no lifter noise after about 1500 miles.

Needless to say, I'm a happy customer with this product and will stick with it.
To me, its not about wear numbers or TBN, since I do conservative maintenance on my vehicles, I am more concerned with how they sound and feel and operate.

I have one other noticeable difference on the Ram. It has a NV-3500 5-speed manual tranny. It gets fluid changes every 25K. Since the factory fill was replaced at 25K, I've used Red Line MTL, with no reportable problems except slightly stiffer shifting quality at all temps. I just changed it out recently with Pennzoil Syncromesh. All I can say is WOW, HUGE difference in how nice and smooth and quiet the transmission is now.

I figured you BITOG'ers would like to hear of my experience.

Brian
 
Thanks for sharing. The one time I tried GTX HM, the vehicle got excellent mpg. Have you noticed a difference in your mpg?
 
I too have had a hard time with my vehicles lifters being noisy and I found that the Amsoil 10w30 (summer) and 5w30 (winter) fixed the problem nicely. No noise at all. Thats why I dumped Mobil-1.

Just my experience! :)
 
I have a 08 Jeep Wrangler with the 3.8v6 and once i hit 500miles with it, it developed a lifter tick. It runs fine, just makes noise. Dealer wont do anything about it and told me that they used to spend a lot of time chasing noisy lifters on the 4.7 v8's and the hemi's in the dodges and kept getting burned on the warranty payback from chrysler, so they don't spend a whole lot of time on it. Apparently Chrysler is using junk lifters in most of their stuff.

Anyways, I tryed PP 5w-20 on my first oil change and noticed no difference in lifter noise. My second, and current oil change I switched to Castrol Syntec 5w-20 and noticed a reduction in the noise, but now that its almost due for a change again, I am noticing that the noise is louder every once in awhile. I may try something else just to see if it gets any better.

On a side note, I have a buddy that has a 03 Ram with the 4.7 and he has a lifter tick as well, but its there all the time, its not just a start up rattle. Hes been using Castrol's Syn. Blend from day one.
 
My dad used to work for Chrysler as a warranty inspector, and they aren't using junk-lifters, they just have large drain back volumes and this causes the noise. It won't cause excess wear it's just annoying. I have had this same problem with my Hyundai for the same reason (I have a dealer manual), and I found that my brand of oil and the weights I specified above seemed to cure the problem. I have no doubt it would cause no excess wear, but I just don't like the sound in a drive-thru or in the driveway. Bugs me! :)
 
That wouldn't cause the noise after its running awhile though would it? My lifter noise, and the one in my buddies 4.7 occurs all the time, not at start up. And I totally agree with you, I don't think it'll hurt anything, as both our vehicles run great, I just find it absolutely annoying, especially when mine only started doing it at the 500mile mark. I might have to give amsoils stuff a try.
 
I would have to check with my Dad, but when I asked him about it a few months ago that was his answer... Oil drains away too quickly and there isn't enough to cushion it from making the tapping sound. No metal on metal damage, just annoying is all. Aparently some of the early German engines that they put into vehicles when they first had merged with Diamler were absolutely terrible and sounded like Diesel engines from the '80s hehehe :)

I will ask him when he gets home, he's out at the moment.
 
Yeah, it is, sorry for using the incorrect terminology. I guess the correct term would be "cam followers" since the 4.7's are a SOHC. My jeep on the other hand isn't SOHC and uses hydraulic lifters.
 
I thought we were talking about Chrysler engines that use lifters in general... Sorry... didn't see that. :)

Will still ask paps when he gets in.
 
Yes, any sort of "lifter" in that engine would be the hydraulic lash adjuster; similar to those found in modular Ford's I would imagine.
 
Just not a great design. Nothing wrong with the performance or life expectancy... Merely annoying... My dad's Caravan with a 3.0 litre engine has a noisy lifter and it has been like that for almost 200,000km and it now has 315,000KM on it and still starts and runs fine!
 
I had a 4.7L Ram( 03 )and a 5.7L HEMI Ram( 04 ). The 4.7L engine never made any kind of ticking noise other than fuel injectors. The HEMI however had the infamous HEMI "tick" and yes it is extremely annoying. Royal Purple 5W-30 eliminated about 85-90% of the tick.
 
the 3.7 is basically a 4.7 with 2 cylinders lopped off. It too has a noisy valvetrain from 1000 miles on. mostly just one valve, but when it's at the 1/4 mark on the temp gauge there's a cacophony of junky noises until it warms up.

M1 has been very quiet on startup.

Mike
 
Originally Posted By: zrxkawboy
Thanks for sharing. The one time I tried GTX HM, the vehicle got excellent mpg. Have you noticed a difference in your mpg?

I have not noticed a mileage difference since Its a work truck I only glance at the mpg average indicator once in a while. The big difference I see with mileage is when we in Syracuse NY area switch over to the winter blend of gasoline in October, I lose 2.5 mpg easily and truck has less umph. The only other time I see mileage change is when I mistakenly fuel up with a brand that uses 10% or so ethanol, it drops at least two mpg more in mixed driving.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
My dad used to work for Chrysler as a warranty inspector, and they aren't using junk-lifters, they just have large drain back volumes and this causes the noise. It won't cause excess wear it's just annoying. I have had this same problem with my Hyundai for the same reason (I have a dealer manual), and I found that my brand of oil and the weights I specified above seemed to cure the problem. I have no doubt it would cause no excess wear, but I just don't like the sound in a drive-thru or in the driveway. Bugs me! :)


That is one of the reasons I was told at the Dodge agency a couple years back. They also told me that the oil supply passages to the top end were more restrictive to keep the pressure on the crank at startup, so on a cold startup, it takes a bit longer for adequate volume to supply the heads.

For the record, I think this is one of the better designed and running v-8's out there, with the abuse my truck gets in the loads I should not be hauling with it, it still does not use oil, runs like a swiss watch and never gives me any problems, nor does my wifes Durango.

I have a lot of experience with the ford 4.6 with my son's 95 thunderbird and at 70K it tossed a chain tensioner/follower and at 79K it tossed a rod. We put a new engine in it and seems fine now. My dad's f-150 has had its issues as well with less than 30K with exhaust manifold bolts breaking and gasket leaks. My son's 'bird also has always had a nit pickey array of engine sensors always going bad, its always something. Now, granted, my son and father do not drive their vehicles much and that is probably a big part of the issues they are getting, from lack of use.

BTW, I love this site, tons of great info and stuff to read.
 
Since changing the oil type inthe engines, the ticking at startup has gone away so that leads me to believe it is not the duty cycle purge solenoid.
 
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