Random praise for the Jeep 4.7 V8

[14Accent]

As I'm sure many among us would agree: the 4.7 V8 installed in countless Jeep and Dodge SUV's over the years has garnered somewhat of a bad reputation. Thrown rockers, sludging, timing chain failures, you name it.

Let me offer a counter point: my current Jeep, a 240k mile example, runs about as quiet as a Singer sewing machine. For all the flack that the 4.7 gets, it's hard for me to follow the crowd. Mine uses less than a quart of oil between changes and still idles so smooth that it's hard to tell that it's running at all. I am far from easy with the old girl: It regularly sees wide open throttle runs yet still continues to hum along. Same can be said for the 545RFE transmission, it shifts so butter smooth I can hardly tell it apart from a new model with the 8 speed.

Given the poor rep, I can't help but play devil's advocate. When taken care of well, the 4.7/545 combo is one of the strongest powertrains of its time! Anyone else have love for the 4.7?

 

[Skippy722]

I’ll agree on the 4.7, but the 545RFE is an abomination that should be righteously purged from existence. Sure, it’s reliable and usually shifts fine, but the gear ratios are absolutely horrific. 1st gear feels great, but that sharp drop from 3.00:1 to 1.67:1 in 2nd gear makes every vehicle I’ve driven with it fall flat on its face and it never recovers. And why does it need a “kick down” gear? Wouldn’t need one if you chose better ratios in the first friggin place!

/rant

But I do like the 4.7, I actually prefer it to the 5.2/5.9.

 

[2EHA]

other than poor overheat surviability it’s not bad for what it is.

they sound nice turning over because of the denso starter

 

[fisher83]

I think most poor designs are exacerbated by the general public's lack of vehicle maintenance. I'm not surprised that a BITOG member had an above average experience with this engine. Congrats!

 

[Nick1994]

How do you know they're original?

 

[clinebarger]

My mother had a 2001 Grand Cherokee Limited 2wd......The 4.7L/545RFE was never an issue.

 

[Redright9]

I owned a 2004 Grand Cherokee with the 4.7L. That engine ran strong and had great power for that Jeep. It gave me very little to no issues. I think a throttle position sensor and radiator were my only issues. Great vehicle and would easily own another... I do agree proper care makes a huge difference!!

 

[CharBaby]

Keep in mind that when a vehicle, engine or transmission get their bad reputation, it doesn't mean that every single one has those issues. It just meant that too high of a percentage have those known issues. I wish people the best of luck(not laughter) when they buy a vehicle new or used.
I don't want to see folks having issues with their vehicle, it's too expensive.

My Nissan has known CVT failures. So far, so good with mine and I am going to take good care of it the best that I can and hope for the best.
I've owned known, not good but GREAT vehicles from HonYota that gave me unbelievable dissatisfaction in terms of reliability and is was certainly shocking. My Nissan's have been better.

 

[RAR]

I’ll chime in here on the 4.7 that’s in my former 2008 Dodge Ram 1500.

My nephew bought it from me a couple of years back, and put 25,000 miles on it. Still shifts fine, has an occasional check engine light appear, then disappear. It’s his first vehicle ever, so he has an affection for the truck.

This week, things changed. The engine started with a hard metallic rap on the right bank on start up, a flashing misfire on cylinder 4, almost no power. We took it to an Independent mechanic we know for a diagnosis and opinion. Head rebuild. If you’re doing one, do the other. And with 275k on the bottom end, doing that alone is a waste of cash.

So his dad and I are assisting him with getting a reman to re-engine the truck. For the miles, it’s still very solid and worth it to him to throw in the replacement engine. The one we found is about the same cost as a salvage yard pull.

While it’s not a love of the engine, it is a comment on how durable it was, to go farther than some other engines might have.

And BTW, a replacement truck is way, way more costly than just putting in the engine.

 

[Kira]

There's an engine rebuilder near me and every time I pass it I think of what people here say about Jasper engines.
When the dust settles please post back with what you ended up doing and at what approximate cost. Thanks

 

[doublebase]

My son has the 3.7 in his 2002 Jeep liberty (a lot of similarities), it’s been good for us, knock on wood, with 188,000 HARD MILES on it. We bought it used with 160,000 miles a few years ago for my daughters first car, gave it to my son a year ago and he’s driving it much more than I expected (or hoped). Short trips, cold starts...probably putting 200 miles a week on it now.

Yesterday I changed the oil, hadn’t done it since august. Glad I did, oil was diesel black and barely touching the dipstick (my fault for not checking in on it). Put five quarts of Super Tech 5W30 synthetic in it, Fram filter. Checked the coolant, it was very low. Added a half a gallon, no visible leaks. Sent it. Love this engine!

I have seen some rocker failures on these. Seen some head replacements too. But if you get yourself a good one, they are reliable (4.7’s and 3.7’s). Take care of them and they tent to take care of you. Or don’t take care of them (like I haven’t really with my own), and it still might take care of you. Lol.

 

[RAR]

If the thing about Jasper engines was about my post.. no. Not using Jasper but a local rebuilder who specializes in Chrysler engines..

 

[jeepman3071]

My father owned a 1999 Grand Cherokee Limited 4.7L. He beat the snot out of it, we drove it on several road trips, towed trailers that were way too big for it, and battled several snow storms. He isn't one for maintenance, the oil was changed when he remembered, and I doubt the trans and driveline were ever serviced over its 230k mile time in his ownership.

I probably put 10-20k miles on it myself, and always enjoyed the ride and the 4.7L.

 

[meep]

If the thing about Jasper engines was about my post.. no. Not using Jasper but a local rebuilder who specializes in Chrysler engines..

Good. I used to hear good things about jasper. A good friend of mine had a jasper 6.3 installed in his Yukon xl. failed in 2 weeks and another was installed under warranty. The second one just failed this weeks at about 2 years. He’s about to go on the third jasper under warranty. Suspected HG failure.

i had a 3.7 in an 08. I liked it a lot. It did develop some scary sounds if towing on the interstate. Something like rod knock but a little deeper when really hot. i had some electrical gremlins surrounding the engine, but the mechanicals itself seemed well sorted except under hard use. It was really good on gas, 22mpg pre-mods.

 

[Lyman]

I just sold my Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.7. Still ran great with 207k miles on the clock. No major problems during its life with me.

 

[Blinker]

The 4.7 was a fairly good engine. It was thirsty, so there wasn’t any efficiency benefit to the 4.7 vs the 5.7, at least in the Ram pickup.

In 2008 the 4.7 was redesigned with 2 spark plugs per cylinder, and a number of other features. Power was up significantly with the redesigned version, but reliability wasn’t as great as the previous version.

 

[14Accent]

other than poor overheat surviability it’s not bad for what it is.

they sound nice turning over because of the denso starter

This is such a funny observation! I absolutely love the sound of a 4.7 turning over, it's almost got a German-like quality to it. Almost no vibration or mechanical feedback: just a couple muted whirs followed by the slight growl of ignition.

 

[2EHA]

This is such a funny observation! I absolutely love the sound of a 4.7 turning over, it's almost got a German-like quality to it. Almost no vibration or mechanical feedback: just a couple muted whirs followed by the slight growl of ignition.

most mopar, jaguar and toyota v8s used those starters until the late 2000s.

newer hemis sound pretty much identical to the GM truck starter.

 

[14Accent]

most mopar, jaguar and toyota v8s used those starters until the late 2000s.

newer hemis sound pretty much identical to the GM truck starter.

Learn something new all the time. Funny, I have to assume the 3.7 uses a similar starter as the 4.7, yet sounds completely different (and much more mechanical). Then again, that could be said of the 3.7 in general in comparison to the 4.7.

 

[IndyFan]

We've got an 04 Jeep GC with the 4.7 that my oldest son drives as his first car. It is smooth, quiet, and powerful. I have no complaints about the auto transmission, either.

The key to these things is to maintain the cooling system and never overheat it. I think we now have about 129k on it, so it's just breaking-in, lol!

I would have loved it if Jeep put this engine in my 08 Wrangler. It would have been a real game changer.